Probably no leather bookbinding is as easily recognized, even by novice collectors of bindings, as the so-called herringbone binding:
This type of binding was enormously popular in Scotland during the 18th century, and is in fact sometimes encountered on titles published as late as the 19th century. (The titles above are both Bibles. The one on the left was printed in London in 1685 and is now in the collection of the University of Glasgow; the one on the right was printed in Edinburgh in 1715 and is now in the collection of the National Library of Scotland.)
As the National Library of Scotland points out, this design
likely it owes its existence to a desire to fill the rectangular centre-panels that had by this time become a feature of so many designs. The herringbone usually consists of a vertical stem placed in the centre of the cover with 'ribs' of paired tools placed symmetrically on either side. A variety of tools including fleurons, stars and 'fishscales' were used to adorn the space between the centre and the borders....
Bibles were a popular title for such bindings, as were legal titles such as this 1788 Clarendon Press edition of King Alfred's Will (currently residing at the National Library of Scotland)...
and this 1776 Edinburgh printing of Joannes Anstruther's Disputatio Juridica (currently held by the British Library):
The British Library's Database of Bookbindings holds a number of additional examples of herringbone bindings, including the exceptional bindings below. (Both of the titles below are Bibles, and both were printed in Edinburgh in 1716:)
All British Library images © The British Library Board
Folks interested in pursuing such bindings for their own libraries might find it useful to track down one or both of the following titles: Sommerlad, M. J., Scottish 'wheel' and herring-bone' bindings in the Bodleian Library: an illustrated handlist (Oxford Bibliographical Society Occasional Publication, 1967) and Morris, John, Wheels and herringbones: some Scottish bindings 1678-1773 (Dunblane: offprint from Vol. I of The Bookbinder, 1987)....
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