royal bindings
A general term applied to bindings which have a
sovereign's arms in the upper or upper and lower
covers. Despite the presence of a sovereign's
arms, so-called royal bindings did not necessarily
have any royal provenance, as such bindings were
produced rather frequently, especially in the 16th
and 17th centuries. English bookbinders used royal
arms indiscriminately as a means of decorating
their books well into the 19th century. The
blind-stamped bindings produced in the reign of
Henry VIII, for example, which are embellished
panels of the royal arms, are all trade bindings,
as are almost all of the plain calfskin bindings
bearing the arms of Queen Elizabeth, or her
crowned falcon badge. Large prayer books or Bibles
with royal arms may have come from one of the
Royal Chapels, or they may have been bound for any
(loyal) local parish. (69 )
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