Cambridge Bookbindings : A simple binding for the University Library from the workshop of John Houlden, ca.1648

Moscato, Judah ben Joseph approximately 1530-approximately 1593

Cambridge Bookbindings

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>The best-known name in Cambridge bookbinding of the middle decades of the seventeenth century is John Houlden (d.ca.1670), who worked initially with Henry Moody and may have taken over his workshop. The bindery went on to produce some very elaborate books, but its bread and butter was the making of countless other much more ordinary bindings for the shelves of colleges and academics. The University Library accounts include numerous payments to Houlden for binding work, much of which looks like this, in simply blind-tooled calfskin. This is one of a batch of books in Hebrew, Arabic and other oriental languages which the Library gave to Houlden to bind in 1648-49. the smooth spines which were popular in the earlier decades of the seventeenth century were beginning to fall out of use by this time, and these bindings have raised bands.</p><p>Pasteboards, covered with dark brown calfskin, blind-tooled. red and green sprinkled leaf edges; two gilt fillets round the board edges; plain paper flyleaves, with separate plain paper pastedowns.</p><p>Dr David Pearson</p></p>