King 2010

King, John, ed. Tudor Books and Readers: Materiality and the Construction of Meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Authorial and editorial influence on luxury bookbinding styles in sixteenth-century England, by Robert J. D. Harding (116-137)

Tudor luxury bookbindings that "make a statement about either their contents or their owner beyond the simple author, title or ownership inscription more usually found -- where the binding becomes a physical object in its own right, being used as an extension as well as protection to the text. Indeed, in some cases the binding itself seems to supersede the text as the prime vehicle for the message. In a reversal of the normal role, the text becomes a mere appendage to the binding, with its images and exhortations tooled on the covers intended to capture the immediate attention of the recipient or any observer, no matter how casual. This requires both an intellectual concept of the codex and a creative input beyond the competence of the average, often semi-literate, bookbinder." (125)

argues that "this phenomenon" "disappears after the death of Edward VI" and "was particularly related to the English religious exiles in Germany and Switzerland" (125) -- but neglects later embroidered bindings??