- Queens' Binder
Queens' Binder (or Queen's Binder) is the name given to a small group of English bookbinders active during the Restoration period (1660-c.1700), often called the "Golden Age of English Bookbinding".
Etymology
The name derives from the fact that similar bookbindings were found in the libraries of both
Catherine of Braganza andMary of Modena . The term was first coined byG. D. Hobson in his book "Bindings in Cambridge Libraries" [*Hobson, G. D. "Bindings in Cambridge Libraries". Cambridge University Press, 1929.] and was a convenient term to refer to the characteristic drawer-handle tools and volutes withpointillé outlines rather than floral volutes much used by the other binders of the period.ubtypes
H. M. Nixon subdivided the bindings into three groups, Queens' Binder A, B, and C, due to the slight variations between them [*Nixon, H. M. "English Restoration Bookbindings: Samuel Mearne and His Contemporaries". British Museum Publication, 1974.] . Queens' Binder A is the most prolific of the three, but Queens' Binder B is considered the finerartisan . Although the bookbinders have not all been definitively identified, there is strong grounds for considering Samuel &Charles Mearne ,Roger Bartlett , andWilliam Nott as being at least partially responsible.References
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