Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

Notice to Readers

Bookbinding in Colonial Virginia ^{America ?} by C. Clement Samford and John M. Hemphill II was published in 1966 by Colonial Williamsburg, Incorporated and distributed by the University Press of Virginia as part of the Williamsburg Research Studies series. The following is the original manuscript from which the published version was produced.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD	i-vi
I. HISTORY OF BOOKBINDING TO 1800	1-9
II. BOOKBINDING IN COLONIAL AMERICA	10-31
III. BEGINNINGS OF BOOKBINDING IN MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA	32-46
IV. BOOKBINDING IN WILLIAMSBURG AND VIRGINIA, 1750-1799	47-78
V. ANALYSIS OF BOOKS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN BOUND IN ANNAPOLIS, WILLIAMSBURG, AND RICHMOND BY WILLIAM PARKS AND HIS SUCCESSORS, 1727-1799	79-97
VI. NINETEENTH CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS	98-102
CONCLUSION	103-104
APPENDIX I. REFERENCES TO BOOKBINDING IN THE HUNTER DAYBOOK
APPENDIX II. REFERENCES TO BOOKBINDING IN THE ROYLE DAYBOOK
APPENDIX III. IMPRINTS EXAMINED FOR BINDINGS

FOREWORD

Compiling a history of bookbinding in Williamsburg has been a long, slow process. For one thing, in spite of the impressively large amount of printing done in the various Williamsburg printing establishments between 1730 and 1780, there is but scant evidence from which a well-rounded picture of the binding activities can be drawn. None of the records of William Parks, who served as Public Printer to the Colony of Virginia from 1730 until his death in 1750, are known to exist. From the ten year period in which William Hunter operated the press as successor to Parks (whose foreman he had been), we are fortunate to have a single account book covering a two year span. Joseph Royle, who followed his brother-in-law Hunter, is likewise represented by a single daybook ^{also for 2 years}. From the several other printing offices which operated in eighteenth century Williamsburg, we have only scattered bits of information.

As a result, we have drawn on many sources in endeavoring to piece together the story of bookbinding in colonial Virginia. The provincial and Anglican church records of Maryland; advertisements in the Maryland and Virginia Gazettes; petitions and memorials to the House of Burgesses; extracts from the York County records; the printed accounts of Benjamin Franklin; and in the language of the time, other sources too tedious to mention, have provided the evidence from which this report has been constructed.

Although the master-printers of the Williamsburg printing offices are mostly known at least by name, we have been successful ii. in discovering the names of but six men who may have bound books in Williamsburg. There must have been others; the volume of binding indicated by the two existing daybooks and the large size of some editions known to have been printed at several times during the century point to the existence of other journeymen binders whose very names are unknown to us.

Since we found too little direct evidence of a documentary nature to enable us to tell the story of Williamsburg bookbinding techniques, we have been forced to develop that part of the story largely from secondary sources; but on some few points we have been able to cast additional light. Our examination of books printed and originally bound in Williamsburg, however, has been extensive. From a careful study of several hundred Virginia imprints, a number of tentative conclusions have emerged. The vast majority of Williamsburg binding was of a strictly utilitarian sort. When the need and the opportunity arose, however, elaborately designed covers of highly ornamented leather, tooled either in gold or in blind, were executed with skill comparable to the best work of the other colonies. So far as can be determined without a destructive examination of some original Williamsburg bindings, the techniques used here were the same as those employed elsewhere in colonial America.

Although little specific information seems to have survived as to Williamsburg bookbinding techniques and operations, the general similarity of methods throughout the colonial period has enabled us iii. to draw heavily on the records and studies of bookbinding in other colonies to reconstruct a composite picture of what the binding practices in Williamsburg must have been. It is clear that in most essentials, the procedures of 1640 were no different in 1740. The analytical discussion of Williamsburg bindings, on the other hand, represents the product of months of patient research on the original sources themselves — the books known to have been printed and bound here, and in a few cases, account or other record books which might have been made up in Williamsburg. The results have been gratifying. Far more original bindings remain than we had any hope to find, and comparisons of rubbings taken from these volumes indicate a regular family tree of Williamsburg binding ornaments.

Like the modern typewriter key, the bookbinder's tools leave a distinct and identifiable impression. Using the evidence provided by the covers themselves, an ornamental roll employed by William Parks in the 1730's has been identified on a book bound for Thomas Jefferson in 1799 by a Richmond binder who had formerly worked in Williamsburg. Other tools have likewise been established by constant association with Williamsburg bindings as Williamsburg ornaments. In years to come, this knowledge of the styles and even the very tools used on the imprints of the Williamsburg printing offices will grow larger. Enough is already known, however, to permit our bookbinding operation in the restored printing office to be carried on with complete confidence in the authenticity of the type of work done, the style of designs employed, and the techniques used.

iv.

The assistance of many individuals and institutions has alone made possible the compilation of this report. Colonial Williamsburg, in the persons of Dr. A. Pierce Middleton, Director of Research, and Mr. Minor Wine Thomas, Director of Craft Shops, has been unfailingly helpful and unusually patient in waiting for the results of our research. Mrs. Rutherfoord Goodwin and Miss Mary A. Stephenson of the Research staff have contributed invaluable details from their knowledge of the local scene, and Mrs. Goodwin's report on the Printing Office has been a model and a guide. Colonel Lawrence C. Leonard has supplied a number of informative advertisements culled from early newspapers. Both Miss Hannah Dustin French and Dr. Lawrence C. Wroth, authors of monographs on colonial binding and printing, have assisted our labors personally as well as through their writings. Mr. John C. Wyllie, Curator of Rare Books at the Alderman Library of the University of Virginia, in addition to placing the resources of his library at our disposal, has encouraged the project by generous gifts of his time and personal interest. Mr. Willman Spawn and Mr. William J. Barrow, restorers of manuscripts in Philadelphia and Richmond respectively, have contributed advice and counsel.

Our institutional debts are yet more numerous and cannot all be acknowledged here. They will be apparent upon examination of the check-list of imprints and bindings which forms one of the appendices of the report. In many cases, however, the assistance provided went far beyond merely seeing that we had access to the Virginia imprints v. we sought in a particular institution. Mr. Herbert L. Ganter and Mr. William G. Harkins of the College of William and Mary have helped from the beginning of the study. Mr. John M. Jennings, Director of the Virginia Historical Society, not only pointed out additional collections to us but also asked Miss Catherine Marks, Mr. Howson Cole, and Mr. James Fleming of his staff to take time from their own reorganization work to assist us. Mr. Randolph W. Church, State Librarian, and Dr. William J. Van Schreeven, State Archivist, of the Virginia State Library in Richmond showed us every courtesy; and their staffs, on whom our calls were heavy, proved patient, interested, and helpful. Mr. Robert H. Land, Assistant Chief of the Manuscripts Division at the Library of Congress, assigned one of his staff to conduct a stack-room search for old bindings on the Virginia materials; and Mr. Frederic R. Goff, Director of the Rare Books Division, and his staff facilitated our researches among his holdings on several occasions. In Philadelphia, Dr. William E. Lingelbach of the American Philosophical Society, Mr. Nicholas B. Wainwright, Reference Librarian of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Edwin Wolf, 2nd, Curator at the Library Company; in Maryland, Mr. James Foster and Mr. Fred Shelley of the Historical Society, Mr. Lloyd A. BrOwn of the Peabody Institute Library, and Dr. MOrris L. Radoff, Archivist of Maryland, and Mr. Gust Skordas of the Hall of Records; in Massachusetts, the staffs at the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, the Houghton Library and the Law Library of Harvard University, the Boston Athenaeum, vi. the Boston Public Library, and the Massachusetts Historical Society; in New York, the librarians at the New York Public Library Rare Book Room, the Columbia University Law Library, the Library of the Bar Association of the City of New York, and finally Mr. Charles Francis Gosnell of the New York State Library at Albany, all opened their collections for search in the most generous manner.

The list could be extended, but we shall conclude with a brief mention of the institutions which we could not visit in person where someone on the staff kindly examined their Virginiana for us, taking rubs or making photographs of the decorated bindings. Letters to Duke University Library, the Henry E. Huntington Library, the Massachusetts State Library, and the William L. Clements Library all brought prompt replies giving the desired information; and we should like to express our appreciation for the helpfulness of Mr. Thomas M. Simpkins, Jr., Messrs. Leslie E. Bliss and Herman R. Mead, Mr. Dennis A. Dooley, and Mr. Colton Storm of those institutions. And to many other persons, nameless here, we owe much.

I. HISTORY OF BOOKBINDING TO 1800

The history of bookbinding is inevitably linked to the written word, in whatever form we may find it. The earliest writing — inscriptions on stone and wood — by their nature required no protective covering. The small Assyrian clay tablets, of which the earliest date from about the eighth century B. C., with their cuneiform inscriptions recording the ordinary dealings of the day in slaves, loans of money and personal matters, are perhaps the earliest records of mankind which were provided with protective coverings. They have been found encased in clay shells, molded to the general shape of the inscribed tablet (Plate 1). Egyptian civilization developed the papyrus roll, which was commonly bound round with strips of the same material and sometimes sealed with Nile mud. Occasionally they were further protected by a hollowed piece of wood of similar size and shape. Books of tree bark, still found among some primitive peoples, were perhaps the next in line of development and are generally found in long strips folded accordion-wise. At Pompeii, boards hinged together at the back and hollowed on the inside, the hollows being filled with a kind of wax into which writing was scratched, have been discovered with still legible inscriptions from as early as A. D. 55. These dyptichs are the ancestors of the modern book.¹

2.

Prior to the evolution of the present book form, records were most frequently kept on continuous rolls. Rolls of papyrus, vellum or paper were written upon in three ways: (1) in short lines across the width of the roll; (2) in lines the entire length of the roll; (3) in short lines, page-wise, parallel to the length of the roll. The first type was rolled up and kept in cylinders, each with an identifying tag, in a box called a scrinium. The second kind, of which the Buddhist prayer wheel is a surviving form, was kept in a circular box with a handle through its center, on which it could easily revolve. The third, with its clearly defined page forms, is still used for the scrolls of the law in Jewish synagogues, and is kept on two rollers, one at each end. It was possible to fold this kind of roll, the folds coming between each column of writing. Each column thus became a true page, and the entire folded sequence, a book. The Chinese and Japanese orihon still follows this procedure. At first these books were simply guarded by wooden boards fastened to the front and back blank pages. The next development consisted of stabbing holes through the entire book along the edge, and lacing the hole together with cord or strips of leather passed through the holes. This "stabbed" binding is the earliest method of sewing the pages of a book together, and the present day oversew or "library" binding is its direct lineal descendent.

Recent research seems to indicate that the Copts of the upper Nile valley had developed binding to an advanced state as early as the second century A. D. Early Bible texts ascribed to this date 3. are all written in Codex form, that is, in sections composed of sheets of vellum folded once and inserted one within another, each section being fastened to the next succeeding one by suitable sewing. By the fifth century, the sections were commonly stitched through the center fold, the thread passing around supporting strips of leather or vellum held at right angles to the sections, one section being added upon the other until the volume was completed. Wooden boards fastened to the other sections protected the contents. This method of sewing sections together has persisted in the shops of the hand binder to the present day, with only minor modifications. Wherever valuable material requires preservation, this "flexible" sewing is employed as there is no better method.

It soon became apparent that books sewn in this manner needed some protection for the strips and cords at the back, and for the sewing itself. Leather, a flexible and readily available material, was the natural choice for this purpose. At first a strip of leather was pasted only over the back. The loose ends of the cords or slips provided a problem which was solved by lacing them into the wooden board covers. The boards also served to keep the leaves of vellum from curling and were generally held shut by metal clasps at the fore edge. For neatness and further protection, the leather was later carried partly over onto the boards fOrming the "half binding" common to the medieval period. Finally, a single piece of leather was used to cover the entire book, not only completing the book as we know it today, but providing an ideal field on boards and spine upon which artist-craftsmen were soon to lavish their finest decorative skill.

THE GOSPELS OF CHARLEMAGNE
PLATE II
By Courtesy of the Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum

4.

The early Byzantine Emperors appear from records to have had their laws and sacred manuscripts bound in massive volumes of red, blue or yellow leather with thin gold rods across the back, but none of these have survived. "Byzantine coatings" of the sixth century were decorated by the silversmith. The binder merely sewed the leaves and fastened on the wooden boards. The volumes then passed on to the silversmith who covered them with beaten gold and silver and precious stones. From the seventh to the tenth century it was the custom throughout Europe to cover elaborately illuminated manuscripts with equally elaborate bindings of metal set with precious stones and enamels. Outstanding examples are the seventh century Gospels of Theodolinda which is the earliest surviving "bound" volume, the Irish cumdach of the Stowe Missal, the Lindau Gospels, now in the Morgan Library, and the Gospels of Charlemagne in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Plate 2). The fourteenth century Limoges enamel bindings in the British Museum are later examples of these bindings.

One of the most remarkable volumes in the entire history of bookbinding is the manuscript Gospel of St. John known as St. Cuthbert's Gospel (Plate 3). This volume was recovered from the tomb of St. Cuthbert who died in A. D. 687 and was buried in Durham Cathedral. Bound in dark crimson leather over thin wooden boards and probably the work of the late seventh or early eighth century, its repousee design is considered the only known example of decorated leather binding prior to the twelfth century. After 1100, decorative stamps, cut intaglio, were used for "blind" impressions, that is, impressions PLATE III PLATE IV 5. without gold. English binders of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries excelled in this form of decoration, one of the finest examples being the Winchester Domesday Book (Plate 4), in the Society of Antiquaries, London. French bindings prior to the thirteenth century were uniformly plain and undecorated. Thereafter, blind stampings of considerable intricacy were done, often showing considerable Italian influence. German bindings were not notable for any decoration until well along in the fifteenth century. Later German binders used blind stampings and particularly "panel stamps" (cut sometimes to the full size of the book and worked in a press) with considerable skill and even artistry (Plate 5).

The advent of printing in the fifteenth century brought the decline and gradual disappearance of the large manuscript book with its richly ornamented binding. "Printing brought small books, cheap books, ugly books";² but towards the end of the century, a new art developed in the ornamentation of book covers with gold tooling. Gold ornamentation on leather probably developed in the East from whence it reached Italy, possibly by way of Spain. The Italian binders made excellent use of this medium, which soon spread to the rest of Europe and to the British Isles (Plate 6).

In the sixteenth century, French binding reached its pinnacle in richly gold tooled designs which were imitated throughout Europe, and have been more or less slavishly copied ever since. Among the most famous French binders are Nicolas and Clovis Eve (Plate 7), "Le Gascon" (otherwise unknown), and Geoffrey Tory in the sixteenth century (Plate 8), PLATE V PLATE VI PLATE VII PLATE VIII PlATE IX 6. and Pedeloupe and Le Monnier in the eighteenth century. Many bindings of this period are known today only by the names of certain famous bibliophiles who collected them, the identities of the actual binders having been lost. Perhaps the most famous collector in the sixteenth century Jean Grolier, viscount d'Aguissy and treasurer of France in 1545. His library consisted of around 8,000 volumes, most of which were bound for him. There are several distinct styles among these bindings, but a characteristic common to the majority of them is his legend in Latin, Portio mea domine sit in terra viventium [May the Lord be my portion in the land of the living. (Psalms 142:5)], and his name, Io Grolierii et Amicorum (Plate 9). Similar inscriptions are found on books bound for other famous collectors, such as Tomas Mahieu and Thomas Wottan. Geoffrey Tory, royal printer and binder to Francis I, seems to have been one of the binders who did work for Grolier.

In England, Henry Bertholet, Royal Binder to Henry VIII, seems to have been the first to employ gold tooling. His early work shows strong Italian influence, suggesting that he may have learned the art from an Italian master. He worked until about 1558. During the late fifteenth and in the sixteenth century, velvet and satin were frequently used for bindings in England. Some of these books, embroidered with metal threads, are still in excellent condition. Heraldic designs were first used on English royal books during the reign of Edward IV, and the fashion continues to this day. Private owners adopted the custom during the late Tudor period. Also from the Tudor period are 7. some small books with gold bindings, ornamented with enamels and provided with a ring at the top, presumably for attaching to the girdle.

Among the seventeenth century English bookbinders were John Norton and Robert Barker who bound books for James I. John and Abraham Bateman also did work for James I. Some of the books credited to these men have the sides literally covered with emblems and are exceptionally well executed. Two striking examples are a Pontifical of 1595 and Ceremonial of 1600, both tooled with alternate rows of thistles and fleurs-de-lys with daisies interspersed. On both books, the regal escutcheon incorporating the arms of Ireland and Scotland forms a center piece surrounded by other emblems, the whole enclosed in a narrow and elegant border. Binding at Eton, Oxford and Cambridge attained a high degree of skill during the seventeenth century. By 1626 a new style of ornamentation had become fashionable. It consisted of a vertical panel of fillets with flower or leaf ornaments at the corners (and sometimes in the center) with a narrow lace border around the boards. Blue or red morocco was commonly used. This general scheme of decoration, which in modified and somewhat simpler form persisted in England throughout the century and in Colonial America until well into the eighteenth century, is sometimes called the "Cambridge style."

Samuel Mearne, binder to Charles II, has long been considered the most accomplished English binder of the seventeenth century. He is credited with having developed "cottage style," a panel arrangement The binding above is in red morocco, by the "Mearne Binder," 17th Century English. Tool forms are in black and silver. At right, decorated fore-edge of the book. Courtesy of the New York Public Library, Spenser Collection.
PLATE X 8. resembling walls and roof which he developed in an extremely elaborate manner with small tools and inlays of varicolored leather. It was the first distinctly English binding, his predecessors having been largely influenced by European precedent. Mearne is also credited with inventing "fore-edge" painting. The fore-edge of the book was "fanned out," that is, twisted in such a way that a small margin of each page would show; and the book held tightly in a clamp. The picture was then painted on these narrow margins and the entire edge gilt over. When the book was closed, no trace of the picture could be seen, but it becomes visible when the pages are again slightly "fanned out." He also decorated his gilt edges with tooled designs, a process called "gauffering" (Plate 10). Recent investigations have cast doubt as to whether Mearne actually did the binding attributed to him. He operated as a stationer, a practice common to bookbinders of this and later periods, and employed a man named Zuckerman, a binder trained at Eton, who may well have done the actual binding. As there is no factual proof, however, it is now customary to speak of these bindings as the work of the "Mearne binder."

Some excellent eighteenth century bindings were done by Eliot and Chapman for Robert Harley, first Earl of Oxford, and his son Edward, who had a notable library of manuscripts and printed books. They were for the most part solidly bound in morocco, "with a broad tooled border, rich with gold, costly, and heavy, thoroughly characteristic of English taste at that period."³ Some characteristic Dublin bindings of this period are found excellently bound in red morocco with 9. a lozenge shaped inlay of white leather, generally richly tooled. Dublin binders were also well known for their vellum bindings. About 1780, two English binders, Edwards and John Whitaker, bound extensively in a style known as Etruscan from its classical designs copied from early vases.

In the latter part of the eighteenth century, English binding in general suffered an artistic decline; but Roger Payne, a meticulous craftsman and the most original and creative artist of the period, produced a number of superlative bindings in a new style. He had learned his trade as an apprentice at Eton and probably came to London in 1765. His books are beautifully decorated with both simple and elaborate patterns built up from small tools which he designed and cut himself. His end sheets were frequently a deep purple paper to which he was very partial; but he also lined the boards with silk and leather "doublures," and decorated them as elaborately as the outside. An eccentric and a heavy drinker, it was Payne's custom to include a detailed account of his work with each^{many of the} book^s that left his hands. The following account for a Bible which is now in the Princeton University Library is typical:

"Letter'd in ye most exact manner, exceeding rich small Tool Gilt Back of a new pattern studded in Compartments. The outside finished in the Richest & most elegant Taste Richer, & more exact than any Book that I ever Bound. The insides finished in a new design exceeding elegant. Bound in the very best manner sew'd with silk on strong and neat Bands. The Back lined with Russia Leather under the Blue morrocco. cover very strong & neat Boards… A hole in ye printing I have endeavour'd to make perfect by another Holy Bible. I cleaned all the printing part from ye other side required great care and time & several Back margins mended which cannot now be seen. Some few places had a little writing ink I took out quite safe."⁴

PLATE 82. American Colonial Binding.
PLATE XI

10.

II. BOOKBINDING IN COLONIAL AMERICA

32.

III. BEGINNINGS OF BOOKBINDING IN MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA

The earliest appearance of a bookbinder in British North America is probably revealed by the following item of 1647 concerning John Hill of Lower Norfolk County, Virginia:

These are to certify that Mr. John Hill appeared this day in Court, & declared himself to be bet. 50 & 60 yrs. of age & has continued in this Collony of Virginia 26 years & upwards & formerly lived in the University of Oxford of the trade, a Bookbinder — son of Stephen Hill of Oxford, fletcher. & sd. John Hill appears well, in good health & in likelyhood of life. ¹

John Hill, trained as a bookbinder at Oxford, preceded John Saunders to the colonies by more than a decade: There is no record to show that he ever did bookbinding in Virginia, and it is unlikely that any will be discovered. While there is no documentary proof that Saunders ever bound a book in Cambridge, there are strong grounds for believing that he was the first bookbinder to practice his craft in the colonies. His presence in the Bay colony in 1636, before the first press was set up and three years before the printing of the Bay Psalm Book, suggests that the colonists had need of someone not only to care for their old books, but to assemble and bind books of accounts and the like, even before there was any product from local presses. In fact, a large portion of the binding activity throughout the colonial period (as shown by extant work books and other printing office records) concerned the rebinding of valued books and the 33. manufacture of countless ledgers, journals, and blank books. One may only speculate as to whether John Hill was ever engaged in such activity.

The establishment of a permanent press in the southern colonies lagged behind the northern colonies by over three quarters of a century, and no bookbinding is known to have been done south of Pennsylvania until the arrival of William Parks at Annapolis in 1726. William Nuthead set up a press at Jamestown in 1682, and had actually begun to print the laws of the Assembly then sitting before the royal officials stopped the operation pending instructions from England. Within months an order arrived prohibiting any printing whatsoever in the Virginia colony. After this abortive attempt, Nuthead moved to Maryland. It seems certain that he was established in St. Mary's City sometime in 1685.² Whether he or his successors, Thomas Reading and John Peter Zenger, who worked in Maryland before 1720, carried out any bookbinding in connection with their printing activities is not known.

William Parks placed the press in the South on a firm footing which has continued without interruption to this day. His printing office at Annapolis began at once to produce a wide assortment of printed matter, ranging from printed forms, broadsides, official publications, and later a newspaper, to a number of pamphlets and other literary productions. Many of these imprints needed stitching, 34. and some required more substantial bindings. Very probably Parks had learned bookbinding as well as printing in England, where he had operated printing offices in three provincial towns before emigrating to America.

The circumstances which led to Parks's appearance at Annapolis in 1726 as public printer to the province are well known, but very little is known of how William Parks came to Maryland. Soon after the province of Maryland was restored to the Calvert family in 1715, the Lower House of the Maryland Assembly began a spirited struggle for wider powers in the proprietary system of government. Although the Assembly failed in 1722 to provide for the establishment of a press, the session of the following year resolved to give encouragement to the first person who would erect a printing press at Annapolis. Thomas Bordley, a leader of the anti-proprietary forces in the Lower House, seems to have undertaken the search for a printer. William Parks, the printer whom Bordley obtained, appeared before the Assembly in March, 1726; and before the end of the year his press was operating.³

The need for a bookbinder became apparent at about the same time that the Lower House of the Assembly began its quest for a printer. The public records of the province had suffered considerable damage from neglect and misuse during the years when the government and the revenues of the province were in different hands, and upon the reinstitution of proprietary rule in 1716, the Assembly passed "An Act 35. for repairing the Damages already sustained in the Records of the Land, Secretary's, Commissary's and County Court Offices; and for the Security of the Same Records for the future."⁴ Six years and one supplementary act later, a report was made to the Assembly on the condition of the records, and work began under the supervision of several Commissioners.⁵ At one of their first meetings, the Commissioners "Resolved That such Books as are now adjudged Good Ought to be Covered with false Covers of buckram Canvas or such like to preserve them from wearing And that for the future all the Books in the Office Ought to be so Covered and the Covering Removed as Often as it wears Through."⁶ The Commissioners also ordered that the paper-covered books should be covered with parchment and that new record books should be false covered like the old ones.⁷ Since all this work falls in the field of the bookbinder, the Commissioners at their meeting on November 9, 1724,

Ordered that Publick Notice be Affixed at the Several Court houses in this Province that whereas ye Comrs appointed to View the Publick Records find there will be great Occasion to have Several of the Records of this Province new bound if any Skillful Book binder is willing to undertake such business he may Apply himself to the said Comrs at Annapolis and he shall be treated wth accordingly wch was accordingly done —

36.

The Commissioners do not appear to have met with success in their quest for a binder until the arrival of William Parks at Annapolis in 1726. At their session on August 5, 1727, they arranged to meet again on the fifteenth "to Agree with Mr William Parks for the binding the Severall Books that want binding in the severall Offices." On Monday, August 15, the Minutes note:

The Comrs having Agreed wth Mr Wm Parks for ye repairing and new binding of Severall Records in the Land Office Provo Office and Chancery office in Considr of fifty Eight pounds Currt money, the said Parks appears and gives bond in ye Penalty of five hundred pounds Sterl to the Lord Propry wch Bond with the List of such Records annext thereto as are to be so Repaired & new bound is Ordered to be Lodged with the Clerk of the Council for ye time being —

Later entries in the Minutes indicate that Parks was asked to false cover the records with "Canviss," that he rebound more books than his original contract called for, and that his total compensation for the work done until June 4, 1729, amounted to £ 60.⁸

Although William Parks came to Maryland in 1726 to be public printer to the province, he was soon soliciting private business as well. At the end of the session laws of the 1728 Assembly, he printed the following advertisement:

All Sorts of useful Blanks,…are Printed and Sold at Reasonable Rates, by William Parks, Printer in Annapolis: Where Old Books are New-Bound very cheap; and Shop-Books for Accounts, Rul'd or Unrul'd, Bound of any Size they are bespoke.

37. And on July 15, 1729, Parks altered the colophon of his Maryland Gazette to advertise bookbinding:

ANNAPOLIS: Printed by WILLIAM PARKS; By whom Subscriptions are taken for this Paper, at Fifteen Shillings a Year; and Advertisements to be inserted in it, at Three Shillings for the first Week and Two Shillings for every Week after. N.B. Old Books are well bound by him.

The presses which William Parks established first at Annapolis and later at Williamsburg operated under conditions which were already dying out in the northern colonies. Centers of population were few in the southern colonies and small as well; it was necessary for Parks and his successors to be able to accomplish many tasks other than printing to have their presses survive. Whereas in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, bookbinders and stationers had begun to set up their own separate shops, in the South the bindery continued to be a part of the printing office. There the printer was generally a man of position in his community, holding public office, operating the post office, and carrying a supply of goods for sale ranging from imported books and stationery to pickled sturgeon and fiddle strings.⁹ The heterogeneous nature of the goods offered for sale in printing offices is well illustrated by a notice Parks published in his Maryland Gazette on October 20, 1730:

Bibles and Common-Prayer Books, of several Sizes, some with the Old and others with the New Version of Psalms; Tate and Brady's Psalms Bound up alone, Testaments, Psalters, Spelling-Books, Primers, Horn-Books; Books of Devotion, as, Drelincourt on Death, Taylor's Holy Living and Dying, Duty of Man, Divine Entertainments, Nelson's Fasts and Feasts, Weeks Preparations for the Sacrament, &c. Grammars 38. and Construing Books; Large and small Copy-Books, with Copies ready wrote in several curious Hands, for Youth to learn to write by; Blank Copy Books; School-Boys Peices, Pen-knives, Quills, Pens, Ink-Horns, Ink-Powder, fine Japan Ink-Powder; Pounce, wax, Wafers, Sand-Boxes, Standishes, Slates, Pocket-Books, Ivory-Books, Letter-Cases, Pasteboard-Files, Shop-Books, &c. Minuet-Books, Overtures, and Songs with Notes printed to them on Copper-Plates, Playing Cards, and Copper-Plate Prints; also ordinary Pictures, colour'd and Plain; History-Books; Arithmetick-Books, and many other useful Books; Fine Post-Paper, Gilt and Plain; and several other Sorts of Writing Paper; also large writing-Paper and Parchment for Deeds. Sold by William Parks, Printer in Annapolis, at reasonable Rates.

In addition to his other activities, William Parks served as the post-master at Annapolis. Despite his salary as public printer, the income from his Gazette and other publishing ventures, and the profits and perquisites of his storekeeping and post office, William Parks seems to have had a hard time making ends meet in Annapolis. An attractive offer from the neighbouring colony of Virginia proved irresistible, and in the summer of 1730, Parks established the first Williamsburg printing office.¹⁰

39.

We know relatively little about Parks's printing and binding activities in Virginia beyond what can be gleaned from official records and his own imprints. None of his office accounts, from which an idea of the volume and character of the bookbinding done in the office might be ascertained, appear to have survived. Some rough estimate of the binding activities can be made from the few scattered references brought together in the course of research for this report, and an even better picture can be drawn on the basis of the many bindings of Parks's imprints examined. The detailed analysis of the bindings themselves will form another major section of this report, but the documentary references to binding are given here in full.

The earliest and most detailed of these items concerning Parks's activities is an account showing the purchases made by Colonel Thomas Jones at the printing office between 1732 and 1735.

1732	Colo Thos Jones, to Wm Parks	Dr.
June 15.	To 2 Qrs of Paper, at 20d 2 Qrs Do at 16d and 1 printed Case of ye Planters	0" 6"7½
July 1.	To a Compleat Journal of ye House of Burgesses	0" 7"6
August 12.	To 2 Sticks of Sealing Wax	0" 1"3
1733
August 24.	To one Stick of Sealing Wax	0" 0"4
Novr. 14.	To the Remainder of ye Subscription for Colo Moseley's Law Book	0"13"0
1734
March 26.	To 2 Almanacks	0" 1"3
April 16.	To 1 Qr Paper 20d 1 Qr Small Do 12d and a Bottle of Snuff	0" 4"8
July 1.	To 3 Sticks of Wax, ½ Qr Demy Royall Paper, and one Qr Demy Paper	0" 5"3
…	To 2 Qrs Paper @ 18d 2 Qrs Do @ 14d 1 Paper Inkpowder, 50 Pens, and 4 more Sticks of Wax	0" 9"8
… 16.	To a Bible	0" 4"6
… 21.	To a Qr of large Paper bound, for a Musick Book	0" 5"0

LEDGER G 1744-1760 JOHN MERCER, THE BUCKS COUNTY (Pa.) HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Mr William Parks Williamsburg
p. 35 Cr
Contra [side of Ledger]

1746
October	By sundrys by your Acct now given in Vizt
	24 blank folio books 62 quire at 18d	£4..13..--
	half binding them at 2/	2.. 8..--
	…
	An Account Book (this)	1.. 6..--
	…
	By Mrs Mason for binding a Prayer book	..3..--
	By Mr Moncure for binding a Book	..1.. 6

We do not yet know whether this Ledger G has its original covers.

J.M.H. II

May 14, 1958

40.

Sepr 9.	To a Common Prayer Book	0" 2"0
Janry 30.	To one Almanack	0" 0"7½
1735
June 9.	To one Lilly's Gramar	0" 2"0
July 5.	To one Quire of fine Paper	0" 1"8
August 25.	To 6 Dozen Justices warrts	0" :2"0
		£ 4" 1"4

Errors Excepted, P Wm Parks.

¹¹

In October, 1733, the Vestry of St. Peter's Parish in James City and New Kent Counties "Ordered that the Church wardens provide a Copie of ye body of the Virga laws: of Mr Parks the printer for the Use of this parish."¹² The following year the Vestry of Petsworth Parish in Gloucester paid their rector "for Law Book for the Parish 00152 [Pounds of tobacco]."¹³ The Vestry Book of St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County, reveals that a vestry held on October 14, 1738, authorized payment "To Mr William Parks for Register book 172 [Pounds of tobacco]."¹⁴ This entry clearly refers to a blank book bound by Parks to serve as a parish register. Definite proof that Parks's printing office did binding at this time is also provided by the colophon of his Virginia Gazette, which reads as follows in the issue of October 1, 1736:

Williamsburg: Printed by W. PARKS. By whom Subscriptions are taken for this Paper, at 15 s. per Annum; And BOOK-BINDING is done reasonably, in the best Manner.

41. An account of William and Mary College with Parks in 1741 also shows binding:

1741 … By the College pd Mr Parks for bookbinding £ 4: 15: 2.

¹⁵ And in October, 1750, the Vestry of Kingston Parish, Mathews County, paid "To William Parkes Estate for a Booke 0167 [pounds of tobacc.]"¹⁶

Parks continued to advertise bookbinding in the colophon of the Virginia Gazette at least until September 25, 1746, the last extant issue before he died in 1750. Owing to the absence of records, we do not know with any certainty how many men Parks employed in his office or who did his binding. When a smallpox epidemic hit the Virginia metropolis in the winter of 1747/48, fourteen members of Parks's household took the disease and his housekeeper died. Allowing for his wife, child, and at least one house servant in addition to the housekeeper, it would appear that more than half a dozen men worked in his office.¹⁷ After Parks died at sea on his way to England in 1750, he was succeeded at the printing office by William Hunter, whom Parks had left in charge on his departure. Hunter, the son of a Hampton merchant, had worked for Parks for a number of years and by 1749 was the foreman in charge of the office. In 1751 Hunter, who had been operating the shop for Parks's estate, bought the business 42. at a sheriff's sale. Fortunately, the daybook of the printing office for the first two years of Hunter's tenure as administrator and owner is one of the two office account books which have survived. Presumably, most or all of the six men, including one slave, who are recorded in the daybook as employed by Hunter, had previously worked for Parks. The Hunter daybook lists the purchase of a servant, Thomas Chaddock, and the hire of the slave, Caesar, both charged to printing; and payment of wages to three other men, Joseph Johnson, Sr., Joseph Johnson, Jr., and Edward Cumins, all debited against printing. The wages of the sixth man for the year 1751 are charged as follows:

Bookbinding Dr To John Stretch
For his Wages from the 14th of January to this Day £ 38:15:0¹⁸

John Stretch may well have done binding for Parks ahead of his employment by William Hunter. Like so many eighteenth century craftsmen, Stretch's life story seems lost beyond recall. Craftsmen left small trace of their careers for the most part, and unless they appeared in some court action or recorded a deed or will, only odd scraps remain. In the case of John Stretch, most of the former type of source material is missing — lost with the records of James City County and the Williamsburg Court of Hustings in the wake of the Civil War. The few bits that we have gathered tell us little. In September, 1752, Stretch advertised in Hunter's Gazette for a runaway servant named Sarah Benfield. Nearly five years later, on April 22, 1757, he put two notices in a single issue of the Virginia Gazette, one as Deputy Postmaster and the other as agent for the affairs of William Hunter, who was probably in England at the time. Stretch's second advertisement gave his intention of leaving the colony, but whether he did so is not known. In 1759 John Stretch proved an account of the printing office as "Agent & book keeper for William Hunter." "John Stretch departed this life sometime in the Month of August 1764 … "¹⁹ He was then known as John Stretch, Printer. John Stretch's possible role in the binding operations of the Williamsburg printing offices will be further discussed in connection with the analysis of the books believed to have been bound in Williamsburg.

42a

[insert]

As with so many eighteenth century craftsmen, the life story of John Stretch seems lost beyond recall. Craftsmen for the most part left small traces of their careers, and unless they appeared in some court action, recorded a deed or wrote a will, only odd scraps of information concerning their activities remain. In the case of John Stretch, the few bits of evidence that have been found tell us little. Several documents mention his connection with the Williamsburg printing office of William Hunter, but only the one cited above refers to his activities as a book-binder.

John Stretch may possibly have done binding for Parks before his employment by William Hunter, but the entry in the Hunter daybook is the earliest evidence of his presence in Williamsburg. In September, 1752 Stretch advertised in Hunter's Gazette for a runaway servant named Sarah Benfield. On May 19, 1753 John Stretch and Edward Charlton loaned money to several of the actors of the company of Lewis Hallam, who then occupied the two lots on which stood the second Williamsburg theatre; Hallam gave Stretch and Charlton a mortgage on the lots as security. When the actors failed to repay the loans, Stretch assumed possession of the property, and on September 16, 1754 John Stretch, Printer, received title from the owner, Benjamin Waller. Stretch held both lots until April 22, 1757 when he deeded them to Alexander Finnie in exchange for a life annuity of £40 sterling. Stretch contemplated leaving Williamsburg at this time, for on the same day he sold the lots to Finnie, John Stretch advertised in the Virginia Gazette his intention of leaving the colony. He signed another advertisement in the same issue as Deputy Postmaster. Whether Stretch actually left Virginia at this time is uncertain. In the summer of 1757 he was still serving as Deputy Postmaster at Williamsburg; in September of the following year he appeared before the House of Burgesses to present a petition in favor of William Hunter, then in England; and in 1759 John Stretch proved an account for the printing office as "Agent & book keeper for Willm Hunter." A year later, apparently because his financial affairs were in some disorder, Stretch assigned his assets to John Carter of Williamsburg. Sometime after 1759, John Stretch must have severed his connections with the printing office and set up in business for himself, for in October, 1764 he was charged in Royle's printing office daybook with the cost of an advertisement for books and stationery. Stretch himself was already dead. According to evidence presented to the York County Court after 1766, "John Stretch departed this life sometime in the Month of August 1764…" Fourteen years later Benjamin Waller, the Williamsburg lawyer and factotum, collected from John Carter £196 7s. due to a London book-seller at the time of Stretch's death; but because Carter paid in depreciated paper money, the creditor in England remained unsatisfied and in 1802 submitted a claim for payment to the British government under the Sixth Article of the Jay treaty. At that point the life story of John Stretch comes to an abrupt end.¹⁹

43.

Judging from the amount of public printing done and from the records of similar establishments in other colonies, a substantial portion of Parks's binding consisted of providing the laws of the colony with suitable plain covering, the more ephemeral material being merely stitched and in some cases covered with paper. It has already been noted, however, that custom work such as binding or rebinding the imprints of other publishers, and especially the manufacture of various sorts of blank books, account books and the like, formed a considerable portion of the colonial binder's trade. The daybooks of William Hunter and Joseph Royle of Williamsburg, to be discussed later, show a remarkable parallel to the accounts of Franklin and other colonial printers in this respect, the general proportion of custom and edition work being about the same. It is 44. therefore reasonable to assume that much the same conditions prevailed during Parks's operation of the printing office.

William Parks's extensive dealings with Benjamin Franklin included the following purchases of binding supplies:

1742
Oct. 8	for a bundle of scabboard	£ 0- 4- 0
	for 6 books of leaf gold	1- 1- 0
1743
Sept. 16	for 160 lbs. milled board (English) at 6 d.	4- 0- 0
	55 lbs. Dutch board at 9 d.	2- 1- 3
	1 doz. skins	1- 8- 0
	22 for 4 skins	- 9- 4
1743/44
Feb. 11	for 9 skins at 2/6	1- 2- 6
1747
June 2	for 25 lbs. glue at 1/	1- 5- 0

²⁰

Since these small quantities of materials could not possibly have sufficed for the normal binding operations of a five year period, it is probable that Parks ordered them from Franklin as a matter of convenience along with some of the other items that he obtained from him during the time when Franklin was helping him establish the Williamsburg paper mill. As in the case of William Hunter in 1750-52, the major part of Parks's binding supplies must have come from England.

Throughout Parks's career, both in Annapolis and Williamsburg, he advertised large selections of books for sale at his printing office. The Virginia Gazette of October 24, 1745, for example, carried the following notice:

JUST imported, and to be Sold by William Parks, in Williamsburg, a considerable Quantity and great Variety of Books, on Divinity, History, 45. Physick, Philosophy, Mathematicks, School-Books, in Latin and Greek, among which are some very neat Classicks. A Large Quantity of large Church and Family Bibles and Common Prayer Books, Sermons, Plays &c. too tedious to mention.

Booksellers and binders frequently bought books in sheets and bound them for their customers. Whether Parks did so is not known. Possibly the item of "4 doz. Catos at 36/ per doz. [and] 100 Pamelas at 5/ … [£] 32-4-0" in one of Franklin's accounts with Parks refers to books sold to him in sheets.²¹ A clear reference to the custom of selling books in sheets at a discount for binding elsewhere may be found in A Letter from the Rev. Mr. Dawson … to the Clergy of Virginia. William Dawson, Commissary to the Bishop of London for Virginia and President of the College of William and Mary, stated that as a member of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge he could furnish their books, "Such as are Bound, at the prime Cost in Sheets; what are not Bound, at half the prime Cost… "²²

Nothing more factual than the foregoing is known about the binding activities of William Parks from his first appearance at Annapolis in 1726 until his death in 1750. During these twenty-four years, however, a great many publications issued from his two presses, and a considerable number of his imprints are extant. Of these publications, many are substantial bound volumes, which could not reasonably have been bound anywhere except in his own bindery. A number of bindings 46. which appear to have come from his shops between 1727 and 1750 have been examined for this report. Outstanding among them are copies of A Compleat Collection of the Laws of Maryland, printed in 1727, and of the Muscipula of 1728, both from Annapolis; and of the Complete Mariner of 1731 and The Charter, and Statutes of the College of William and Mary, in Virginia of 1736, done in the Williamsburg office. These are all strongly identified with his shop through the interrelation of the tools used in the decoration as well as the imprint. The findings of this investigation, which will be discussed later in detail, seem to establish a definite character for Williamsburg bindings of the entire colonial period.

While bookbinding never reached the same numerical proportions in Virginia as in the North, Parks's office in Williamsburg executed bindings of a high order of artistic merit; and after his death, his successors continued to produce work of high quality, Parks's books, whether decorated or plain, reflect the better practices of contemporary European craftsmen. His bindings were usually sewn on raised bands, had sewn headbands, and generally bore red leather labels titled in gold. His decoration was frequently some form of panel based on the "Cambridge Style." Wroth considers these early Virginia bindings as "almost the earliest examples of conscious artistic excellence to be met among the books printed and, without question, bound in colonial America."²³

47.

IV. BOOKBINDING IN WILLIAMSBURG AND VIRGINIA, 1750-1799

Although the most spectacular Williamsburg bindings seem to have been done in the shop of William Parks, his successors continued to turn out a large volume of high quality binding. William Hunter assumed Parks's unfinished contract to print and bind a new edition of the Virginia Laws based on the revisal of 1748, and in 1751 purchased the printing office and its equipment from Parks's estate. Happily for the historian, the daybook for the first two years of Hunter's management is preserved. Whoever kept this account book did a meticulous job of bookkeeping, and the record of these two years has been invaluable in determining the type and quantity of work executed by the Williamsburg binders. Joseph Royle succeeded Hunter at his decease in 1761, and he too left a daybook covering nearly two years' operations. But Royle's bookkeeper was in a hurry, and his abbreviated entries often conceal valuable information. Taken together, however, these two daybooks constitute the best documentation available for the binding activities of the Williamsburg offices. From the death of Joseph Royle early in 1766 to the migration of the capital and subsequently of the printers from Williamsburg to Richmond in 1780, little is known of Williamsburg binders. Thereafter the scene shifts, and Thomas Brend, bookbinder and stationer of Richmond, holds the center of the stage.

When William Hunter took over the operation of Parks's office in 1750, the second Williamsburg edition of Virginia Laws was in press. 48. The contract specified that 1000 books, "with the Arms of Virginia stamped on each Book," were to be bound and delivered before June 10, 1751.¹ Hunter completed the text on time, but the persons who were making out the Table (Index) failed to meet their deadline. In October, the printer defended himself in the Virginia Gazette against complaints by the subscribers in these words:

The Subscribers to the Virginia Laws, as well as the Public Magistrates, having loudly complain'd of their long Delay, and thrown the Blame of it entirely on the Printer; it is judg'd necessary to assure them, That they have been printed near four Months, and that their Publication has been in no wise retarded through his Neglect, but for Want of the Table; the Gentlemen appointed to draw it up, not having yet compleated it— Those Subscribers who are in immediate Want of them, on paying a Pistole, may have them stitch'd for present Use, which they may afterwards have bound when the Table is printed, making it up the Subscription Price.²

The first daybook entry of a sale of this edition is for October 31, and the copy was merely stitched.³ A daybook notation of December 4 gives the charges for paper and printing for this edition of the laws but does not mention binding.⁴ The first entry for binding the laws, January 13, 1752, is for a copy bound for George Wythe.⁵ A number of 49. copies of these laws printed by Hunter have been examined for this report, and two have been found with the arms of Virginia stamped in blind on the front cover.

With the exception of the Virginia Laws which appeared in 1751 and 1752, few books were printed in Williamsburg during Hunter's ownership of the printing office, and only one or two of these have survived in their original covers. But in spite of the small number of books which issued from his press, William Hunter's shop produced a considerable volume of binding. Some of the binder's output amounted to no more than the stitching of pamphlets or almanacs, but the vast majority was what we call today custom work. Binding done to order varied from putting titles on imported books to the manufacture of many kinds of blank books. Hunter's binder also performed the tasks of a stationer, the trade usually joined to that of the bookbinder in England and in colonial America where there was a sufficient urban population to justify a separate establishment.

When Hunter's binder, for example, imported or manufactured leather pocket books and letter cases, he was merely following a precedent established by bookbinders of an earlier age. Christopher Plantin, the celebrated printer and binder of sixteenth century Antwerp, at one time made a considerable part of his living by decorating jewel boxes.⁶ Clovis Eve also did work of this kind at the same period in France; a fine example of his tooled leather work 50. is now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Binders in colonial America likewise added to their income by manufacturing various leather items. In 1764 T. Anderton, "Book-Binder, Letter Case and Pocket Book-Maker," gave notice in the New York Mercury that he "Makes and sells wholesale and retail, all sorts of letter cases, desk cases, travelling cases and travelling boxes either with or without shaving equipages; Ladies traveling writing desks, fishing cases, solo cases … New pocket books made to old instruments."⁷ Although perhaps not so versatile as T. Anderton, William Hunter's binder probably made both pocket books and letter cases in a variety of leathers. Between March and June, 1752, Hunter's daybook shows the sale of eight letter cases, two pocket cases, and four pocket books.⁸ These may have been imported with other stationery supplies from England ready-made, but when such leather goods were sold, they were charged against "Binding." Most were of "Turkey," and one man had his name stamped on his letter case.

The importation of books from England provided the colonial binder with another important segment of his business. The Hunter daybook offers ample evidence that the binding of imported books, lettering of titles, and occasionally the rebinding or repair of a valuable volume accounted for a substantial portion of all the binding done in the Williamsburg printing office. Some of the books imported must have come in sheets and received their bindings after arrival in America. One of the main entries which reappears in the Hunter daybook 51. is that for "Bought Books." Two of the charges under this heading may refer to books received in sheets being bound:

April 29th [1751]	Bought Books Dr To Binding 50 Sacr Bks	-.16.8
April 16 [1752]	Colo Lewis Burwell Jas City Dr To Bt Books
	For Stackhouses Divinity	1: 5.-
	50 pr Cent	12.6
	To Binding the same	12.6	2.10.-

Two other entries under the "Bought Books" heading are too brief to permit more than a speculation that the charge against "Bought Books" may have been for the same purpose.⁹ Several individual accounts are charged with sums for having lettering done; one such charge works out at 6d per volume.¹⁰ Repair or rebinding is indicated by at least two entries:

May 6 [1751]	Colo John Hunter Dr To Binding
	Rebinding & lettering yr Leger	10/
June 16	[1752]	Roger Dixon Dr To Binding an old one	-.-.6

Another man had the binder stitch a manuscript for him, and Thomas Everard, Clerk of York County and sometime Mayor of Williamsburg, had a half binding put on "Paper" for 2/6d.¹¹

The binding of imported books far overshadowed the preceding minor activities of Hunter's bookbinder. As might be expected, many of the entries for bookbinding refer to that perennial best-seller, the Bible, and an only slightly smaller number to prayer books or other religious 52. works. Among works on subjects other than religion, the classics, history, and how-to-do-it books predominate. Art is represented by several entries for binding "musick" books and one charge against Mrs. Jane Vobe for a "Cyphering Book" and literature by charges for binding magazines and a copy of Clarissa.¹² In all probability the binding was in most cases a plain one, but a few of the charges clearly point to handsome or even ornate decoration. In September, 1751, William Byrd III had an octavo prayer book bound with "gilt edges." Presumably the "gilt edges" refer to gilding the fore edges of the leaves. Major Bowler Cocke had somewhat earlier bespoken "a Prayer Book in Turkey gilt."¹³

In the years covered by the daybook, in addition to the 1752 edition of the Laws and the Journal of the Assembly which met in the spring of that year, a pamphlet, a booklet, a book, and two annual numbers of the Virginia Almanack appeared with the Williamsburg imprint. The first, a Williamsburg reprint of the Bishop of London's Letter on the earthquakes which had lately terrified the greater part of Europe, appeared in the summer of 1750 as a stitched pamphlet. Five hundred copies were printed, and the charge for binding amounted to five shillings for the sewing.¹⁴ The itinerant Presbyterian minister Samuel Davies published a group of poems in 1751; this 53. collection required a small book of nearly one hundred fifty pages. It is not known how many copies were printed, but the cost of binding was £7.10s, about one fourth of the whole cost for the edition.¹⁵ William Hunter also issued a fourth edition of The Poor Planter's Physician in 1751. Probably many copies of the useful guide were printed, but the entry for binding this pamphlet of forty-seven pages gives £2 as the charge.¹⁶ The charges against "Almanacks" do not always show the cost ascribed to "Binding," but for the 1752 edition, the two entries for binding amount to £3.¹⁷

By far the most important aspect of the Williamsburg binders' business was the manufacture and sale of blank books.¹⁸ These varied in size and quality from small half bound blank books to large calf or vellum covered ledgers of the best paper. As in the case of stationery supplies, it is usually impossible to distinguish from the daybook entries whether the blank book or account book sold was manufactured in Williamsburg or imported ready-made. Nor has research turned up any account or record books whose dates coincide with Hunter's operation of the printing office and whose tool impressions correspond with known Williamsburg binders' tools. Yet it seems unlikely that Hunter, in spite of his large importations of stationery 54. supplies, would have departed from the binding practices begun by Parks and followed not only in Williamsburg, but in all the colonies. Especially in the southern colonies, where stationers did not exist, the binder tended to fill the need for someone to supply blank books. In July, 1760, near the end of Hunter's career, the following advertisement appeared in the Boston Evening Post:

Wanted immediately,
To go in the first Vessel to one of the Southern Colonies.
A Journeyman Book binder who has been accustomed to ruling and binding blank books, and also acquainted with Calf binding: Such a person willing to engage for six or twelve Months, will have good Wages, besides, Bed, Board and Washing. Further Particulars may be learned by applying to the Printers, or Nathaniel Mumford and James Kulh in Newport

There is no evidence to connect this advertisement to the Williamsburg printing office, but the notice does indicate the importance of blank book manufacture in the work of the binder in the southern colonies.

Some idea of the volume of binding done in Hunter's establishment over the years covered by the daybook may be gathered from a partial listing of the supplies charged to binding. Among the charges against "Binding" for supplies are £56-17-6 for paper and £250-13-9½ for other binding materials, chiefly calf and sheep skins, gold leaf and paste-board. The incomplete daybook entries prevent any quantitative measurement of the paper used in binding, but at least 140 dozen skins and 2100 weight of pasteboard was charged to this part of the printing office operation.

P. 53, sent. near the bottom reading "Nor has research… binders' tools." should be altered to read:
whose dates fall within Hunter's operation of the printing office and Research has so far turned up only one blank book/whose tool impressions correspond with known Williamsburg binders' tools, George Washington's Invoice
l8a
and Letterbook, 1755-1765.

[Note l8a]
18a. This volume is now in the Washington Papers at the Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. We are indebted to Mr. Robert M. Land for permission to take rubbings of this volume.

55.

Except for John Stretch, whose Williamsburg career has been discussed in connection with William Parks's operation of the printing office, we know nothing about the binders who may have worked for Hunter. From the volume of binding work shown to have been done by the daybook, however, it is reasonable to assume that Stretch had some help from some of the other printing office employees. One entry in the daybook may refer to the purchase of an indentured servant for work with the binder:

Aug. 28 [1750]

Bookbinding Dr To the Est. of Robt Stevenson For a Servant Lad, Paul, and sundry Bookbinding Tools

[£]17-5-3

It is also possible that Edward Cumins, one of Hunter's journeymen printers who later worked for Joseph Royle and William Rind, may have been the "Mr. Cummings, the bookbinder," of the Norfolk printing office who was kidnapped by the British in 1775, but the similarity in name is the only evidence.¹⁹

William Hunter died in August, 1761, and was succeeded by his foreman, Joseph Royle. We have, as in the case of Hunter, a daybook for nearly two years of Royle's operations; but almost every other source of information on Royle's binding activities is missing. Even the daybook is much less useful than Hunter's, for the brevity of many entries in the later journal makes it impossible to tell whether Royle bound or merely sold blank books. Otherwise, the charges give every indication that Royle's shop maintained a level of binding activity comparable to that of Hunter.²⁰

56.

A detailed analysis of Royle's bookbinding drawn from his daybook would be a tedious repetition of the account already given for William Hunter. The same variety of evidence, except for blank books, leads to roughly the same conclusions — that Royle did a good deal of binding, but so little book publishing that Royle bindings will turn up only by chance. Fortunately, once in the course of the research for this report a Royle binding did come to light; the Order Book of York County for the years 1763-1765 is bound in blind tooled rough calf with ornamental rolls otherwise known to have been used in Williamsburg.²¹ Since it was rare for county clerks to keep record books in stock, the dates point to the purchase of the volume sometime during Royle's operation of the printing office. The decoration of this Order Book will receive more attention in the later section on Williamsburg bindings.

Royle's daybook lists no wages charged to bookbinding, but from two newspaper notices, the name of one of his binders is known. George Fisher, a servant man, apparently found the terms of his service too onerous and ran away. Royle probably advertised his loss in his own paper, which is missing for the period, but on May 2, 1765, his advertisement for Fisher appeared in the Maryland Gazette:

WILLIAMSBURG, April 23, 1765
RAN away from the Printing-Office, on Saturday Night, a Servant Man named George Fisher, by Trade a Book-Binder, between 25 and 26 Years of Age, about 5 feet 57. 5 Inches high, very thick, stoops much, and has a down Look; he is a little Pock-pitted, has a Scar on one of his Temples, is much addicted to Licquor, very talkative when drunk, and remarkably stupid. He had on, and carried away with him, several good white Linen Shirts, a Snuff colour'd Cloth Coat, and a Suit of Light colour'd Sagathy, other good Wearing Apparel, a new Half-cut black Bob Wig, and a Set of Silver Buckles.

Whoever apprehends the said Servant, and conveys him to the Printing-Office, in Virginia, shall have Five Pounds Reward, and if taken out of the Colony, TEN POUNDS, beside what the Law allows.
JOSEPH ROYLE

Someone must have plied Fisher with liquor and discovered his identity, for months later he was again reported in the papers as a fugitive from justice:

Virginia, Williamsburg, August 2, 1765. Broke goal, last Saturday night a servant man, named George Fisher, by trade a book-binder…²²

This time he seems to have gotten clean away. The following spring the Post Office in Williamsburg advertised an unclaimed letter addressed to George Fisher, Williamsburg.²³

Soon after Fisher disappeared for the second time, the Stamp Act took effect in America, and Royle's Virginia Gazette ceased publication. Before the Stamp Act was repealed, Royle died. He left the operation of the printing office to his boarder and printer, Alexander Purdie. Royle's conduct of the press, however, had not pleased all the Virginians, and the Burgesses invited William Rind from Annapolis to set up a rival printing office with the promise of public preferment. 58. From 1766 until the Revolution, several printers published Virginia Gazettes and carried on operations of all sorts usually connected with printing. Unhappily, the records of these printing offices have disappeared; and for this important ten year period, we know as little about bookbinding in Williamsburg as we do for any similar span. Once again, our sources are scattered and fragmentary, and the story consequently episodic.

In 1766 the independent bookbinder and stationer made his appearance in Williamsburg. The sum of our knowledge of the event is contained in two advertisements from William Rind's Virginia Gazette.

WILLIAM SIDDALL,
BOOK-BINDER, and PAPER-HANGER,
From LONDON,
HEREBY informs the Public, that he proposes carrying on his Business, opposite the Rawleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, where Gentlemen may be supplied with blank Books of all Kinds, old Books new bound, Poket Books, &c. and hangs Paper genteel and secure on reasonable Terms. Gentlemen who please to favour him with their Custom may depend on being well served.²⁴

THOMAS WORRALL,
AND
WILLIAM ROOEBY SIDDALL,
STATIONERS and BOOK-BINDERS,
from LONDON,
INFORM the Public that they propose carrying on those Branches of Business opposite the Rawleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, where Gentlemen may be supplied with Blank Books of all Kinds, rul'd or unrul'd, and bound either in Calf or Vellum, old Books new bound, Pocket Books of all Sizes, either in Leather, Vellum, or Parchment, Paper Cases of all Kinds and Sizes, on the most 59. reasonable Terms and shortest Notice. They likewise sell all Kinds of Blank Bonds, Bills of Exchange, Bills of Loding, &c. &c.

No Pains will be spared to give Satisfaction to those Gentlemen who will please to favour them with their Custom.

N.B. They will take the earliest Opportunities of procuring a Supply from England of fresh Assortments.²⁵

No other references to either of these men has been found. One may only speculate that they failed to survive the hard times prevailing in Virginia and drifted out of the colony to find employment elsewhere, or perhaps became journeymen in one of the printing offices. Indeed both Rind's and Purdie and Dixon's Virginia Gazettes advertised bookbinding in 1766; but we do not know who their binders were.

In 1768 the two printing offices operating in Williamsburg collaborated in printing and binding a new collection of Virginia laws. Since the edition numbered more than a thousand copies of a large folio of nearly six hundred pages, it represented a sizable job of printing and binding. According to the custom of Hunter and his successor Royle, the bulk of the supplies must have been ordered in England. Certainly the skins themselves were, for we have a vivid account of the transaction from the letter file of the London tobacco merchant through whom they were ordered and from the petition of the three printers to the House of Burgesses praying reimbursement for the cost of the defective skins.

60.

On July 7, 1768, Robert Carter Nicholas, the treasurer of the colony, wrote to John Norton of London a letter which included the following comment on the skins which the latter had procured for the Williamsburg printers.

…I am much obliged to you for so readily shiping the Printers Materials at my Request & am sorry to acquaint you, that both you & they have been egregiously imposed upon by the Shopkeeper. I send you what I am assur'd is an exact Copy of the Invoice taken from Messrs Purdie & Dixon's Book; you'll observe the Skins are directed for Law Folios & the Size of the past Boards pointed out what sort of Leather was necessary for their particular Purpose; instead of this there was a large Proportion of it Nasty dirty little Skins, hardly large enough for an Octavo & many of these full of Holes, very rough & much stain'd. I have been desired to return these, but did not care to do it, till I knew whether you could oblige the Man to take them again; some of the Skins will do & may employ the Bookbinder, till I can hear from you, …
P. S. Since writing the above Mr Dixon has been here & tells me that they are resolved to return all the Skins by Capt Estin just as they received them & will write to you on the Subject, so that they have not furnish'd me with a copy of the Invoice—²⁶

John Norton's answer of October 14 fails to mention the matter,²⁷ but he wrote his son and agent in Yorktown on September 3 in these terms:

…I have rec'd a Letter from Messrs Purdie & Dixon dated 13th July p Capt Esten by which I find they have thoughts of returning the 61. Skins I ship'd to Mr Nicholas p his Order in Capt Robertson which were purchased of Paul Hardy, tho' Mr Nicholas takes no notice of it to me in any of his Letters of as late a date as their's I am sorry they don't answer but what can be done with them if retd I know not for there will be a duty demanded on the landing, besides Hardy has since failed I paid him his Money as soon as they were ship'd p agreement. I confess myself entirely ignorant of the book-binder's business & wish those Gentlemen had recommended a Leather Seller to me whom they approved for want of which I applied to Mr Rivington in St Paul's Church Yard who must be thought a proper Person, whilst I was with him he sent for Hardy whom he told me had lived for 26 Years in Pater Noster Row & carried on his Business with Credit & whom he dealt with for large Sums of Money, upon his recomendation & say:g as Leather was risen he thot his Prizes very reasonable & more so than another Person (he also rec'd proposals from on my behalf) a Dealer in the same way. I therefore contracted with Hardy & if he has acted the part of a dishonest Man 'tis out of my power to help it now, for it will not be worth while to bring Suit against the Assignees.²⁸

The answering letter is missing from the published correspondence; but on November 26, Treasurer Nicholas wrote again to explain the fate of the "Nasty dirty-little Skins."

… The Printers had intended to send the Skins back by Capt Estin, but he could not take them in; so that they were lodged in a Warehouse at York, where they remain'd 'till they became quite Rotten & good for Nothing. The Printers have apply'd to me for Redress, & I could only refer them to the Assembly; In the mean Time, as the Laws can't be compleated without those Articles, & they can't conveniently import them, I take the Liberty of sending you another Invoice & should be glad to have the Things sent precisely as they have directed; they imagine the Person 62. mentioned will chuse the Skins for a small Consideration which they are willing to pay. They would have them put into different Packages, as they will be less liable to heat or spoil & would gladly receive the first Parcel at least by the earliest Opportunity.²⁹

John Norton's answer brought the correspondence to a close.

… Your favour of 26th Novr I have receiv'd P Capt:Barron tho' not till the 13th Febry … Am sorry the Skins turned rotten suppose the heat of the weather caused it as they were I imagine not unpackt had they been return'd unhurt I realy believe they wou'd have fetched the first Cost here at least owing to the monstrous rise in Leather I have employ'd Mr Freer the Person Messrs Purdie & Dixon direct to choose what will be now sent he tells me that Hardy the Man I dealt with before, had deceived him as well as me in his dealings & that he lost considerably by him & he has never been heard of, this is but poor consolation for Messrs Purdie & Dixon.
…

[P. S. in the same letter]

…
Upon examining the two Leather Sellers Accots I find a very material difference between their Prizes which led me to enquire of Mr George Freer who agreed for them, the meaning of it, he assured me that those skins of the highest price are larger & of much better Colour than the others, and that he gave the Person the same price for some for himself.³⁰

Having failed to obtain any satisfaction from the bankrupt London leather seller, Messrs. Rind, Purdie, and Dixon memorialized the General Assembly on November 17, 1769, asking reimbursement for the defective leather. 63.

A Petition of William Rind, Alexander Purdie and John Dixon, was presented to the House, and read; setting forth, that the Petitioners having been employed to print the Acts of Assembly by the Committee appointed to collect them, imported from England a Quantity of Leather for binding them, which cost 234£. 0s. 6d. Sterling; that the Leather being unfit for the Purpose, and not agreeable to their Directions the Petitioners resolved to return it, and sent it to Yorktown, where it was stored in a Warehouse, in order to be reshipped, and exported, but no Commander of a Vessel would take it on board, because the Bulk of the Package, which could not be safely separated; and therefore the Petitioners brought the Leather back, that they might make the best of it; but found it intirely rotted and spoiled by some accident or other whilst it remained in the Warehouse; and further setting forth, that the Consideration they would be intitled to by the agreement they entered into with the Committee, will not give a moderate Profit on the Work; and therefore praying to be reimbursed the Value of the said Leather, and to be allowed a further Satisfaction for printing and binding the Laws.³¹

The petition was referred to the Committee of Propositions and Grievances and reported back to the House as "reasonable." When the question was put, the petition was rejected; but the Burgesses did vote an additional three hundred pounds to the printers for the edition of the laws.³²

We know a great deal more about the "Nasty dirty little Skins" bought of Mr. Hardy than we do about any Williamsburg bookbinder between John Stretch and Thomas Brend. We do not know who bound the 1769 edition of the laws for Messrs. Rind, Purdie, and Dixon. Perhaps the printers purchased indentured servants already skilled 64. in the trade. Certainly such workers were imported and sold from time to time. William Rind's Virginia Gazette, for instance, carried a notice of servants for sale by Thomas Hodge of Leeds Town on the Rappahannock which included mention of a bookbinder.

JUST arrived, the Justitia, Capt. Colin Somervell, about 120 healthy SERVANTS, men, women, and boys, among which are many tradesmen, viz. Shoemakers, tailors, weavers, hatters, dyers, carpenters and joiners, house painters, a tanner, a book binder, a stone mason, a good wheel wright, a tallow chandler, farmers, and other country labourers. There are I doubt not other tradesmen; but not having yet examined the servants, I cannot now mention them. The sale will commence on Thursday the 29th of December, at Leeds Town on Rappahannock. A reasonable credit will be allowed, giving bond with approved security, to THOMAS HODGE.

N.B. There is one of the servants who plays well on the French horn, the flute and other instruments.³³

Whatever their labor source, the Williamsburg printers continued to advertise bookbinding in their Gazettes. Both William Rind and Purdie and Dixon had done so in 1766 when they resumed publishing in Williamsburg after the repeal of the Stamp Act. Purdie and Dixon's Gazette for March 14, 1766, carried the following notice:

GENTLEMEN may now be supplied, on short notice, at the Printing Office, Williamsburg, with BLANK BOOKS of all sizes, ruled or unruled, and bound either in Calf or Vellum. OLD BOOKS also new bound, and anything in the BOOK BINDING business executed in the cheapest and best manner.³⁴

William Rind advertised in his Gazette of May 30: 65.

BLANK Bills of Exchange, Bonds, Bills of Lading, and all other Blanks, may be had of WILLIAM RIND, at the NEW PRINTING-OFFICE, near the CAPITOL. GENTLEMEN may also be supplied with all Sorts of Blank Books; and old Books are neatly and expeditiously Bound, at a reasonable Rate.³⁵

When John Dixon went into partnership with young William Hunter in 1775, they advertised both stationery supplies and bookbinding:

A COMPLETE ASSORTMENT OF
ALL KINDS OF STATIONARY,
At Dixon & Hunter's Printing Office:
BEST Writing Paper, Imperial, Royal, Medium, Deroy, Thick and Thin Post, Propatria and Pot, by the Ream, or smaller quantity; Gilt, Plain, and Black Edge Paper for Letters; Parchment; Inkpowder; best large Dutch Quills and Pens; red and black Sealing-Wax and Wafers; Memorandum Books; Red Ink, in small Vials; Red Inkpowder; Pounce and Pounce-Boxes; Black Lead Pencils; all Sizes of neat Morocco Pocket Books; all Sorts and Sizes of Pewter Ink-stands; best Edinburgh Inkpots, for the Pocket; best Playing Cards.—Legers, Journals, Day-Books, and all Sorts and Sizes of Blank Books for Merchants Accounts or Records. Blanks of all Kinds for Merchants, County Court Clerks, &c. &c. &c.
[Sign of a hand] Old BOOKS new BOUND, and all Kinds of BOOK-BINDING done at this Office, either in the NEATEST or CHEAPEST Manner, according to Directions; and where any Thing in the PRINTING BUSINESS is expeditiously performed, on moderate Terms.³⁶

Thomas Brend, the last Williamsburg binder whose name is known, later had a long career as a bookbinder and stationer in Richmond. He may have been the Thomas Brend who was a juror in the Mayor's Court of Annapolis, Maryland, in April, 1766.³⁷ If so, he probably came to 66. Virginia to work for William Rind, who became public printer to the Colony of Virginia in that year. The earliest reference to Brend by name in Williamsburg is not until 1779. The will of Henry Bowcock, a printer, named Thomas Brend one of his residuary legatees.³⁸ In December, 1779, Brend operated some sort of shop in Williamsburg.³⁹ He was initiated into the local Masonic Lodge on February 2, 1780.⁴⁰ A few months later, the Virginia Gazette carried this announcement:

THOMAS BREND
BOOKBINDER and STATIONER,
HAS for SALE, at his shop at the corner of Dr. Carter's large brick house, Testaments Spelling Books, Primers, Ruddiman's Rudiments of the Latin Tongue, Watt's Psalms, Blank Books, Quills Sealing-Wax, Pocket-Books, and many other articles in the Stationery way. Old books rebound; and any Gentlemen who have paper by them and want it made into Account Books, may have it done on the shortest notice.⁴¹

Although Thomas Brend first appears as a bookbinder in 1780, it is more than likely that he was earlier connected with one of the 67. Williamsburg printing offices, probably as a journeyman. In the absence of any printing office records, the evidence for this supposition is solely circumstantial; it consists of two unrelated facts: Henry Bowcock's reference to Brend as one of "my worthy Friends" and Brend's use of tools long associated with Williamsburg on bindings executed after he moved to Richmond. Thomas Brend's attempt to carry on after the Williamsburg printers had moved to Richmond seems to have lasted more than a year, judging from the Masonic records, but in the end it failed.⁴²

Sometime between January, 1781, and January, 1783, Thomas Brend moved to Richmond.⁴³ By December, 1782, he was furnishing record books for the General Court, then meeting in Richmond.^43a In 1786, the State paid Brend for binding 1,513 copies of the revised Code of Laws, printed by Augustine Davis in 1785 — the first collection of the new state laws.⁴⁴ For the next fifteen years, Brend's Richmond shop continued to supply the State with blank books, stationery, and bindings.⁴⁵ Of the last, the most important was the 1794 edition of Virginia Laws.

68.

The binding of the Virginia Laws of 1794, as brought out by the official records of the State, presents an interesting illustration of edition binding in the late eighteenth century. The documents, four in number, speak for themselves.

MEMORIAL OF BOOK-BINDERS

[1794] May 2d

Thomas Brend and Archibald Currie, Bookbinders of May 2d the City of Richmond, Respectfully sheweth—

That your Memorialists having been applied to by Mr. Augustine Davis, Printer, to bind the volumes of the Laws which he is at present printing for the Commonwealth, they beg leave to submit the following terms, accompanied with specimens, to your Excellency's consideration, the said terms being estimated at such a low rate as to admit of a very moderate profit to your Memorialist.

That the specimen No. 1 is bound in Calf-skin in the manner of the last Code of Laws printed by Messrs. Purdie & Dixon, who had ten shillings pr. Volume for binding them, and although every material is at least 35 or 40 pr. cent dearer at present than at that time, your memorialists would engage to bind the present volume at the same price.

That the specimen No. 2 is bound in strong sheep skin, and would be eight shillings pr. volume. No. 3 is in half binding, the price of which would be six shillings and six pence.

That with respect to capability and fidelity in the execution of the said business, your Memorialists will, if requisite, produce ample testimony of the former, and security for the latter.

Your memorialists respectfully beg leave further to add, that if the business could be speedily concluded on, it would relieve Mr. Davis from a great inconvenience in having a considerable number of printed sheets on hand, which, if delivered to the binders as soon as printed, might be put into a state of preparation before the printing of the last sheet by which means the business would also be in a great state of forwardness.⁴⁶

69.

[1794] Oct. 21st

THOMAS BREND & ARCHIBALD CURRIE TO JAMES WOOD, LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR.
Richmond
Engaged in binding the Laws of the State solicit an advance of money to enable them to perform their contract.⁴⁷

[1795] July 11

RICHMOND, July 15, 1795.
£186.9.6

Rec'd of Mr. Augustin Davis one hundred and eighty-six pounds, 9s. 6d. on acc't of Arch'd Currie for binding a part of the Revised Code of Laws, as per agreement. Having signed two receipts for the above sum, both of this town and date.
ALEX. BRYDIE & CO.⁴⁸

[1795] July 28th.—

The Commonwealth of Virginia, To Thomas Brend,	Dr.
To binding 119 volumes of the Revised Code of the Laws in sheep @ 8p. p'r volume,	£47.12.0
To ditto 1031 ditto half bound @ 6d.6s.,	335.01.6
Cr.	£382.13.6
By Cash advanced by the Executive,	45.00.0
	£337.13.6

Richmond, July 28th, 1795.—Received of Augustin Davis the above sum of three hundred and thirty-seven pounds, 13s.6d., being the Balance due me from the public for binding a part of the Virginia Code of Laws agreeably to the above account, having signed duplicate receipt for the same.
THOS. BREND.⁴⁹

We know less concerning Thomas Brend's private business, and still less about his private life. After he moved to Richmond, he joined the 70. Richmond Masonic Lodge No. 13 (now No. 10).⁵⁰ Either Thomas Brend the binder or a namesake married Elizabeth Ratcliffe in York County in 1786.⁵¹ According to Richmond tax lists of 1788, Brend owned neither carriages nor stock, but had one slave.⁵² Brend advertised his Richmond shop in the newspapers from time to time; a sample notice is appended:

THOMAS BREND,
Bookbinder & Stationer, Near the BRIDGE,
INFORMS his friends and the public in general, that he carries on his business as usual, in all its various branches; where merchants may be furnished with complete sets of account books, made and ruled to any pattern given; county court clerks and sheriffs with books for their different offices, and all others with blank books of any sort or size.

He has just come to hand a collection of books on various subjects, all of which are American editions, and many of them neatly bound and lettered, the prices are as low as any English books of the same style. Among them
POEMS,
In one neat Pocket Volume, price only Six Shillings, handsomely bound and lettered, (although the Edinburgh copy sold for Six Shillings Sterling in Blue Boards) Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect
by ROBERT BURNS,
The celebrated Ayshire ploughman,
The peculiar merit of this work is sufficiently evidenced …

⸫I have printed Catalogues of the above Books. T. B.⁵³

71.

By contrast to the productions of earlier Williamsburg binders, some of Thomas Brend's binding work for Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jones and St. George Tucker can be documented. Brend's rebinding of Jefferson's collection of Virginia laws, of which five volumes remain in the Jefferson Collection at the Library of Congress, will receive more detailed attention later. In 1791, Brend bound three books and half-bound two volumes of laws for Thomas Jones.⁵⁴ Three years earlier, Thomas Brend had bound a number of books for St. George Tucker.

St George Tucker Esqr

	To Thomas Brend	Dr
1788
June 7th	To 1 Quire of Royal paper, Per Mr Davis	£ " 9"--
" 16th	— 6 Sheets of ditto … ditto	" 2" 3 "
" 25th	… 1 Quire of Post paper …	" 1" 3 "
" 30th	Binding Liberty a Poem …	"15"--
July 18th	— 1 Quire of paper …	" 1" 3
October 28th	— Binding & Gilding 1 Vol. Manust Poems	"12"--
" "	— Binding & Gildg 1 Vol. (lettered poems)	"18"--
" "	— Ditto—Liberty, and Bermudian…	"14"--
" "	— Paper Added to the Books …	"11" 6
	Milton's Paradise Lost …	" 6"--
	Moore's Fables …	" 3" 9
		£4"14"--

Received in part Payment of the Above Eight dollars
Thos Brend

[Endorsed on the verso]
Tho. Brend's Acct
£ 4.14.
paid
Nov. 26. 1790

⁵⁵

72. When St. George Tucker began preparing an American edition of Blackstone's Commentaries, he entrusted the task of interleaving and rebinding a four volume English set to Thomas Brend.

1796	St George Tucker Esqr
	To Thos. Brend	Dr
Augt 3	To Blackstones Commentaries 4 vols	£2 -14- --
	Rebinding & Interleafing	1 -10- --
	25 Quires of 4to Post Paper	1 -5- --
	Stage hire	- 3 - --
Novemr 14	To Rebinding & adding 2 quires of Paper to the first Vol.	-10- --
	Received payment Thos Brend

The four interleaved volumes, very simply half-bound, are today preserved in the library of the College of William and Mary.

Thomas Brend died in Richmond on December 22, 1799. A brief obituary notice appeared in The Virginia Gazette, & General Advertiser, edited by Brend's old friend, Augustine Davis.

DEATH — ON Sunday evening last, after a lingering indisposition, Mt. THOMAS BREND, for many years a respectable inhabitant of this city.⁵⁷

Brend's death so near the close of the century might make a fitting climax to this report on eighteenth century bookbinding in Virginia were it not for the fact that an inventory was taken of his estate on February 25, 1800.⁵⁸ The appraisement of Thomas Brend's estate, taken by order of the Richmond Hustings Court, was for some reason recorded 73. in the land records of Richmond City. As the only bookbinder's inventory which has appeared in the course of our research and because of the insight it gives into the furnishings, equipment, and other material possessions of an eighteenth century binder, the inventory is here quoted in full.

[Thomas Brend's Appraisement]

City of Richmond, February, the 25th 1800 @ Agreeable to an order of the Court of Hustings for said City We the Subscribers being duly sworn have made the following appraisment, of the estate of Thomas Brend, deceased. Viz:

1 Mahogony Beaureau at £3:0:0: 1 do Small £1 :10 :…	£ 4 10. 0
1 perspective looking glass at…	1.10. 0.
6 Table Spoons, 1 soup Ladle, & 1 pr Sugar Tongs Silver at	5. 0. 0.
2 Japan'd Waiters, 1 China bowl, Tea Equipage & Castors at	1.16. 0.
1 round Candle Stand Mahogony…	1. 4 0.
1 Tea Table with folding leaves Mahogony…at	2. 8: 0.
1 dining Table, Walnut, with folding leaves…	1. 4 0
6 Walnut Chairs part worn a £3:0:0 1 Do Desk £7.10.	10.10-
1 old painted Table Small…	- 5 -
1 large looking glass and 1 small do…at	1.10. -
3 Venetian window blinds at $3. each…	2.14 -
2 fire fenders, 1 Coal Shovel, 1 Pr Tongs & a Shovel old…at	1. 4 -
1 feather Bed, Bedstead & Bedding good…at	13.10. -
1 do do do worn at…	7.10 -
1 cot. with a small Bed Blanket and Sheet…	2. 2. 0.
1 old Hair Trunk 10/. 2 loose Window Sashes of 20 lights 20/	1.10. -
1 Trunnel Bedstead and small Bed…	4 - -
2 paintings for chimney breast and skreen…	1 16. -
Amount carried forward…	£______
Amount brought forward…	£
1 Copper washing Kettle…	4 10 -
6 doz. black bottles 4/. P doz…	1 4 -
2 Gin Cases with bottles at…	-12 -
2 Iron Kitchen Andirons, a Spit, 2 Cribbits Tongs & Fender	3 - -
2 Bake pans 22/6 8 Pewter Water Plates 3/ each, 24/-	2. 6. 6.
2 Brass chafing dishes 6/ 1 Spit & driping Pan 4/6	-10 6.
3 Tubs and a pail…	-10 6.
1 Copper small kettle, 1 Bell metal do 1 coffee pot, Spice morter, Sauce pan &c at…	3 - -
3 Iron pots, 1 chafing Dish, 1 grid Iron Flesh fork Iron Spoon &c. …	2. 5 -
4 brass candle sticks 10/. 5 Jugs & 5 Jars stone &c Ware at	1.10. -
74.
1 old pine Table, crockery on it, & 4 old knives & forks at	- 18 -
1 Spinning Wheel & reel, at 6/. 1 easy chair & Pan a 30/	1.16. 0.
1 Stand with Candle moulds of Tin…	- 9. -
1 Stand'g press, & Boards for Book-binders use compleat at	12 - -
1 cutting press, 2 ploughs, Tubpins &c.…	1.16. -
1 pair Shears for cutting Paste board…	1.10 -
2 Sewing presses compleat…	1. 4.-
3 hand Shears, and plough, knives…	- 18. 0.
11 edge Roles, and two pollishers…at…	10:10. -
1 Glue pot Copper 15/. 5 Setts of brass Letters £6…	6.15. -
4 do old, and 1 Set of old tools for backing Books. at…	1.16. -
1 small box of Vermillion…	- 12. 0.
1 Sign 18/ 1 Turkey Oil Stone at 6/. 11 lb of Twine @ 2/6 P lb. 22/6.…	3. 6. 6.
7 lb Thread 3/. 21/. 1 Glue pot Copper 15/ 2 papers dye stuff 3/…	1.19. -
2 planes a 3/ 1 Sort of a Clock without a case 18/…	1. 1. -
1 Cushion for Gold leaf and 2 knives…	- 9. -
1 lot of large outside paper…	3. - -
1 Slate 1/6 1 tennant Saw at 6/…	- 7. 6.
2 doz: Lambskins…@ 33/a P doz:…	3. 6. -
16 Sheep Skins…@ 36/. pr doz:…	2. 8 -
28 Lamb-skins…@ 33/. P doz:…	3.17. -
1 Calf Skin 12/. 1 sheep skin 1/3. 1 lot cutting boards 6/	- 19 3.
2 old Tables 7/6. 3 Lamb-skins 3/. 2 Stools 3/ 2 Baskets 3/.…	- 16 6
1 old Chest 12/. 4 round rules and a lot of Tinpins 12/…	1. 4 -
10 flat Rules 3/. 1 box of lumber & wrapping paper 15/…	- 18 -
14 Dividers. @ 2/. each, 28/. 1 box & 3 lb pounce 21/…	2. 9 -
17 Books of Gold leaf @ 3/. P Book …
15 Sticks of Sealing Wax at 12/. 2 papers red Ink powder 2/.	.14. -
1 Paper of blueing about 4 Oz:…	- 4. -
8 Ink Stands at 8/ 17 black pocket Books 3/ each amo…	2.19 -
4. do…	- 4 -
1 doz: small pocket Books Sheepskin at 1. 4.0
1 do … do … Morocco…at…1.16.0	3. 0. 0
Amount carried up…	£
Amount brought up…	£
½ doz: small pocket Books, morocco at £1.: 2:6
4 pocket Books… do… 1: :-
1 do Lady's with instruments… :10:6	2 13 -
2 Eye Glasses at 6/ each 12/. 3 Ladies Thread Cases 27/…	1.19 -
9 Lady's Thread Cases at 4/6…	2 0 6
4 morocco paper cases…21/…	4 4 -
1 Book case with glass doors…	3. - -
1 box of hardware trash at…	- 5 -
1 role of comical copperplates…	- 3 -
1 large lot of wrapping and writing do Cullingston…	1.10.-
1 pack of blue marbled and blotting paper…	1. 4 -
75.
Estimated at 900 Wt of Book binders Paste board > $5.25 Pc.	14. 3. 6.
5 Volumes Bruce's Travels compleat…	10. - -
1 blank Journal at…1:4:0
3. do… at 15/ each…2:5:0
2. do… at 12/ …1:4:0	4.13. -
32 Alphabets at 1/6. 48/. 1 bundle horn plates 2/6	2.10. 6.
5 Nautical Almanacs of old date…	- 7: 6
3 volumes of old acts of Assembly whilst under Royalty…	- 9 -
1 do…of Clarrendons tracts…at 6/
1 do of Do… 18/	1. 4 -
1st volume of the Society of arts with figures of the Machines	2. 8 -
1 do Juro divino compleat…	- 12 -
2 do each compleat…Andersons Nebridges…10/6 each…	1. 1. -
5 do… Neadles Pharmacop… 9/…	2. 5 -
4 do … Simple's Story… at…	- 18 -
1 do… Knox British Empire…	- 18 -
1 do… Rudder's History of Gloster…	- 10 6.
14 compleat Sets of the History of the United States of America in French of each 4 volumes 20/. P Set…	14 - -
4 Books Wilmot on particles of Sentences English & Latin)
2/ each)	- 8 -
1 lot of memorandum Books at…	1:16 -
1. do of writing Paper…at…	- 18 -
1 Trunk or box at…	- 5 -
98. bound and half bound books (printed) on various Subjects @ 1/6 each — ad valorem…	7. 7. -
1 role of Copper plates large hand…	- 3 -
1 lott unbound Pamphlets 30/. 1 Shoe 3/…	1.13. -
a quantity of cuttings of Leather…	1. 4 -
1 Canvass & 6 paper Maps much injured…	- 12 -
1 half worn Beaver Hat 18/. Weights, Scales & Steelyards 12/	1.10 -
1 Thermomiter…	1.10 -
	£250 2 9

Total amount of the value of the personal Estate of Thomas Brend, dec'd as appraised by we the subscribers Benjamin Tate Jacob Wheaton John Allen
Returned

Returned into the Court of Hustings for the City of Richmond the eleventh day of March 1800 and ordered to be recorded
Teste
Adam Craig C.C.

Ex'd JCH

76.

The bookbinder's tools and supplies listed in the appraisement of Thomas Brend's estate comprise the minimum standard equipment for a binder. The small quantity of binder's supplies on hand, however, was more probably the result of Brend's slackened activity during a siege of ill-health than an indication of his usual stock. The only decorative tools itemized in the list are eleven edge rolls. While it is impossible to say without comparison to other contemporary binder's inventories that Brend had an unusually large (or small) number of rolls, it is safe to assume that at least one or two of the rolls listed here were among those earlier used in Williamsburg. What became of these tools after Brend's death is not known. The inventory also makes clear that Brend continued in the stationery business until his death.

Although the Richmond career of Thomas Brend falls beyond the scope of this report, his binding activities are better documented than any other binder who was connected with Williamsburg. The little we know about bookbinding in eighteenth century Norfolk, on the other hand, is mentioned because it lies within the chronological limits of the report. In June, 1774, a Norfolk printing office began issuing the Virginia Gazette, or the Norfolk Intelligencer. This paper continued publication until Lord Dunmore's men seized its press and types on September 30, 1775. The press had not been replaced when Norfolk itself was destroyed in January, 1775.

The Norfolk printing office is known to have employed a bookbinder, not only from advertisements printed in its own Gazette, but also from a report of the September 30, 1775, raid which appeared in one of the Williamsburg papers. On August 25, 1774, the printers of the Norfolk 77. Intel1igencer advertised as lost, "A CASE or BOX, marked W. D. No 1. Containing Books, Morocco Skins, &c. … imported by the Ship Betsey, Cap. Ross, from LONDON, in April last…" Elsewhere in the same issue, the editors appended the following N. B. to an advertisement for imported books and stationery:

Orders for Blank Books plain or ruled, bound in any Size, Form, or Taste, will be finished with Expedition, and Care taken that they be duly forwarded.

Nine months later, after the press came under new management, the colophon was altered to include the phrase, "BOOKS bound in a neat Manner, on the most reasonable Terms." [Virginia Gazette, or the Norfolk Intelligencer, May 25, 1775.] The colophon continued to advertise bookbinding until Dunmore seized the press.

Our knowledge of the raid and of the Norfolk binder's name comes from a Norfolk letter of October 1, 1775, published in Dixon & Hunter's Williamsburg Virginia Gazette on October 7.

"Yesterday came ashore about 15 of the King's soldiers, and marched up to the printing-office, out of which they took all the types and part of the press, and carried them on board of the new ship Eilbeck, in presence, I suppose, of between two and three hundred spectators, without meeting with the least molestation; and upon the drums beating up and down the town, there were only about 35 men to arms. They say they want to printing a few papers themselves; that they looked upon the press not to be free, and had a mind to publish something in vindication of their own characters. But as they have only part of the press, and no ink as yet, it is out of their power to do anything in the printing business. They have got neither of the compositors, but I understand there is a printer on board the Otter. Mr. Cumming, the Bookbinder, was pressed on board, but is admitted ashore at times. He says Captain Squire was very angry they did not get Mr. Holt, who happened to be in the house the whole time they were searching, but luckily made his escape, notwithstanding the office was guarded all around. Mr. Cumming also informs, that the Captain says he will return everything in safe order to the 78. office, after he answers his ends, which, he says, will be in about three weeks…"

If the Mr. Cumming of the letter was the same man whose name was spelled Cumins when he worked for William Hunter, Joseph Royle, and William Rind in Williamsburg, the brief operation of the Norfolk printing office might enable us to add another name to the short list of Williamsburg binders. Unfortunately, as so often in the course of our research, it is doubtful that enough information will appear to prove or disprove the speculation.

79.

V. ANALYSIS OF BOOKS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN BOUND IN ANNAPOLIS, WILLIAMSBURG, AND RICHMOND BY WIILLIAM PARKS AND HIS SUCCESSORS, 1727-1799

The difficulty of dating the first binding activities of William Parks's printing office in Annapolis has been pointed out in an earlier section of this report. The only documented Parks binding so far discovered dates from the year 1729. Of all the bindings discussed hereafter, few can be proved by documentary evidence to have been bound by Parks's offices or in Williamsburg. Nevertheless, it is believed that sufficient circumstantial evidence has been assembled, mostly from a comparison of the bindings of books known to have been printed in Williamsburg, to present a fair picture of the binding activities of Parks and his successors in the various Williamsburg printing offices.

Although Parks's Maryland career falls outside the scope of this report, it provides important evidence for his later work in Williamsburg. In conducting the search for Parks and Williamsburg bindings, the authors decided to examine where practical all the imprints which Parks and his successors might have issued as bound volumes. The point of departure for this edition by edition search became the first book produced by the Annapolis press of William Parks: A Compleat Collection of the Laws of Maryland. This edition of 1727, often referred to as Parks's Laws, has fortunately survived in many public and private collections. About thirty copies were seen in the course of the research for this report, and many others are known to exist. Of the copies examined, nearly half have contemporary leather bindings.

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There is no documentary evidence that Parks's Annapolis printing office bound any of the extent copies of the 1727 Laws of Maryland. Strong circumstantial evidence, however, exists to buttress the probability that his shop bound most of them. This evidence consists of advertisements which Parks inserted in the Maryland session laws of 1727 and 1728, a contract undertaken by Parks in 1727 to bind the public records of Maryland, the appearance on one copy of the 1727 Laws of an ornament later associated with both Parks and Williamsburg bindings, and finally, the use of a rejected title page printed for the 1727 Laws as a lining for one of the copies. Still unexplained is the apparent similarity of toolings on some copies of Parks's 1727 Laws to bindings executed in Philadelphia for the Bradfords. That problem, however, lies beyond the scope of this report.

From the fact that Parks contracted to bind record books for the Commissioners appointed to examine the public records of Maryland on August 15, 1727, we may deduce that his Annapolis office was equipped to do bookbinding. The Commissioners would hardly have allowed the original records to be carried out of Annapolis for repair of their bindings. Parks also advertised in the session laws of 1727 that he had:

Lately Publish'd, A Compleat Collection of all the Laws of Maryland, that were in force to the last Session: collected and Printed by Authority; and are to be Sold by William Parks, Printer, in Annapolis. (Price bound Twenty Four shillings.) …

In the next year's session laws, Parks solicited binding work with the following notice: 81.

All Sorts of useful Blanks, … are Printed and Sold at Reasonable Rates, by William Parks, Printer in Annapolis: where Old Books are New-Bound very cheap; and Shop-Books for Accounts, Rul'd or Unrul'd, Bound of any Size they are bespoke.

Two of the copies of the 1727 Laws which are still in their original bindings offer additional evidence that they are the products of Parks's bindery. The copy now in the John Carter Brown Library was found to have a rejected title page pasted down inside the covers as a lining. Such use of waste paper was not uncommon in colonial binderies, but a Parks title sheet would probably have been used by a Parks binder. The New York Historical Society copy of the 1727 Laws, however, bears the only tool impression which can be attributed certainly to William Parks. Ornament #4, employed as a corner fleuron on this copy, also appears on the only documented Parks binding and on two later Williamsburg bindings.¹

Parks's second Maryland book came out in 1728: an English translation of a Latin poem entitled the Muscipula (Mousetrap). Three copies of Parks's edition of the Muscipula are known, all in their original bindings. The ornaments on all three are the same, and the two imperfect copies in the Maryland Historical Society and the Library of Congress have nearly identical panel designs. The decorations consist of fillet lines, an ornamental roll #6, and corner fleurons #5, impressed on the calfskin in blind. The only perfect copy, now owned by the Huntington Library, has the same tools, arranged 82. in a very similar design, applied in gilt on black morocco. The tooling, even on the handsome gold-tooled copy, is extremely crude.

William Parks repeatedly advertised in 1728 and later that he did binding in his Annapolis printing office. It has proved impossible to establish whether Parks himself or one of his journeymen did the binding for the Annapolis shop, but in 1729 his Annapolis printing office turned out several record books for two of the Anglican parishes on the Eastern Shore. Fortunately, one of these volumes, used for the Vestry Minutes of St. Luke's Parish, remained in its original covers until 1953; and when it was then restored at the Maryland Hall of Records, the original binding was preserved. These Eastern Shore church records have provided the only documented Parks's binding which has yet come to light.

In April, 1729, the Vestry of St. Paul's Parish "Ordered that the following Books be sent for to Mr. Parks at Annapolis and the price hereafter mentioned to be paid for them Vizt.

One table of Marriages printed on Parchment … to 30 Tobo
Two Record Books with ten quire of paper Each and one Compleat Body of Law to this time all well bound and titled on the [word omitted] with Gold leaf for St. Pauls parish in Queen Anns County Maryland for … 750"

Nearly a year later, on March 3, 1730, the clerk of the Vestry noted:

And the Vestry then Received two Record Books and a body of Laws and one Table of marriages of Thos Wilkinson which they Ordered him to purchase of Mr. Wm Parks printer att Annapolis for the Sum of Seven hundred and fifty pounds of Toba…

83.

St. Luke's Parish also bought blank books from Parks in 1729. On February 4, the parish Vestry ordered "… that the Revd Mr Lang Purchase Two Books to keep the Records & Regr of this Parish in, …" Parks made a slightly quicker job of the St. Luke's bindings, for on November 13 of the same year, the Vestry ordered "… yt Mr Lang bring ye Two Volumes of ye Vestry Regr to ye Church… ," On May 6, Parks's statement of account was recorded in the Vestry Minutes.

1729	The Vestry and Churchwardens of St. Lukes Parish in Queen Anns County	Dr
March	To Two Record Books for ye Use of ye Sd Parish	£ 2" -" -
	To one Compleat Body of ye Laws of Maryland to this time	£ 1" 8" -
Sepr 30th	To one Stitch'd Book of ye Laws of Last Assembly	-" 2" -
	Errs Exd P Wm Parks	£ 3"10" -

The Vestry Minutes were apparently transcribed into one of the new volumes, for the Minutes for 1728/29-1799 remained in their original covers until 1953. These bindings bear one fleuron #4, probably one roll #6, and possibly another roll too worn to be distinguished. Tools #4 and #6, of course, are associated with other Parks and Williamsburg bindings, and the preservation of these boards when the Vestry Minutes were restored in 1953 supplies a unique and indispensable link in the chain of Parks's bindings.

Only one other binding from this period of Parks's residence in Annapolis may be tentatively assigned to his office; and it is probable that he did not actually bind this book. The Minute Book of the Commissioners appointed to Inspect the Publick Records is a small, brass-cornered, parchment-covered folio. The words "For the 84. Use of the Province of Maryland" are impressed into the front and rear covers in gold by means of a lozenge-shaped stamp. Only the crudity of the stamp, the misplacement of it on one cover, and the similarity of the border to the Muscipula roll #6 point to the possibility that Parks may have done this job with a stamp made by a local engraver.

In 1730 William Parks established his printing press in Williamsburg. His Annapolis office continued to operate for some years in a sporadic fashion, and quite possibly did some binding; but from the beginning of Parks's known binding activities in Williamsburg, the present analysis will concentrate on Virginia bindings.

Colonial Williamsburg owns the earliest Williamsburg binding which may now be ascribed with certainty to William Parks. On February 18, 1731/[32], a title page was printed for a manuscript exercise book of navigational problems, and bound up in a large, thin folio handsomely decorated in blind. The design consists of three diminishing rectangles, all within fillet lines. The middle rectangle has large corner fleurons extending from the ends of the lines or rolls connecting it to the smaller panel, and these rolls in turn terminate in fleurons. The tools used in the design include fleurons #4 and #3 and rolls #6, #7, and #8. The three first had already been used in some of the Maryland bindings. To add still more to the appearance of The Complete Mariner, it has gilt edges.

Between 1731 and 1736 few bound books appeared with the Williamsburg imprint. Most of the time of the printing office was taken up with small pamphlets, session laws and journals, and similar items 85. which seldom justified a leather binding. The one substantial book which Parks issued in this period was A Collection of all the Acts of Assembly, Now in Force, in the Colony of Virginia, published in 1733. Many copies of this edition of the Virginia Laws have been preserved, but as yet no copy is known with a contemporary ornamented binding. Some copies have been found in original plain calf, but the only copy with an ornamental roll includes later session laws up to 1738 and must have been bound after that date. It is to be hoped that some of the unexamined copies will prove to be decorated.

In 1736 William Parks printed The Charter and Statutes, of the College of William and Mary, in Virginia. Only three copies of this edition are known to exist. The copy in the John Carter Brown Library is bound in blue morocco and handsomely decorated in gilt. For convenience, this copy is hereafter referred to as the JCB Charter. Another copy of this edition of the Charter is in the William and Mary College Library. This copy, hereafter called the CWM Charter, is bound in red morocco gold-tooled in an unusual design. The third copy, for many years in the possession of the Library of Congress, has been twice rebound and may be eliminated from this study of contemporary bindings.

The JCB Charter, illustrated in Plate 14, bears two tools already seen on the Muscipula of 1728 and The Complete Mariner of 1731, roll #6 and fleuron # 5. A new roll #9 forms the outside lines of the Cambridge style panel on the front and rear boards. The spine is decorated between the bands with diagonal lines and small tools and the 86. head and foot of the spine are tooled with the Muscipula roll #6. The CWM Charter, purchased in Great Britain and donated to the College of William and Mary in recent years, is far less readily identifiable as the product of William Parks's bindery. In the first place, its design is considerably more elaborate than the usual Parks's Cambridge panel. The CWM Charter boards are decorated with acorns arranged along a central vertical line and diagonal lines. Then again, the tools used on the CWM Charter, with one significant exception, are less certainly connected with other Parks bindings. The exception is roll #9, which appears on the CWM Charter as a border roll.

Roll #9, known to the authors of this report as the "egg and cross," has crucial importance in a discussion of Williamsburg bindings. Alternate ovals (eggs) and tiny Maltese crosses compose the design, and in spite of its simplicity, a defect in the execution of the engraving makes this roll the key to the identification of many Williamsburg bindings. Like all the binder's rolls of the period, the "egg and cross" design was engraved by hand on a brass wheel. In calculating the design, the engraver failed to come out even in dividing the circumference of the wheel into segments; and as a result, one of the eggs is visibly longer than all the others. Time and again where the "egg and cross" roll # 9 appears, the tell-tale elongated impression left by the odd egg identifies it as the Williamsburg roll. All binders' tools are engraved and each has distinctive characteristics, but seldom is the distinguishing feature as easily seen or as convincingly unique as in roll # 9.

87.

One copy of another book printed in New York nearly a decade after the William and Mary Charter came off Parks's press in 1736, Chief Justice Daniel Horsmanden's Journal … of the Conspiracy … for Burning the City of New-York … , now in the Library of Congress, has remarkable similarities to the CWM Charter. Not only do each of the volumes bear the tell-tale roll # 9 in gold between double fillet lines as a border, but many of the principal tools used in the design on the respective books are also identical. In fact, every tool used on the CWM Charter also appears on the Horsmanden Journal. Some of these tools, such as the sunbursts and stars, are small ornaments of more or less standard pattern; but others, including the several acorn-shaped ones, are sufficiently distinctive to suggest in the strongest terms that the two volumes were stamped with the same tools. Stylistically, the two bindings are related by the ambitious designs with many small impressions rather than by the actual arrangement of the tools on the boards; for the Horsmanden Journal has a geometric design unlike any other Williamsburg binding seen in the course of this investigation. The spine of each, however, has somewhat the same pattern. In each case colonial binding is indicated by the careless, almost crude application of the stamps, and on the CWM Charter by the omission of some impressions called for in the design. Just how a copy of a book printed in New York may have come to be bound in Williamsburg provides an interesting speculation. The problem has been approached from both ends. The copy in question came to the Library of Congress in the nineteenth century from the 88. collection of Peter Force. Where Force obtained it is not known. Going back to the book itself and its origin, the author, Daniel Horsmanden of New York, was a distant cousin of the Byrds of Westover. A catalogue of the Westover Library, printed in J. S. Bassett's edition of the Writings of William Byrd II, shows that it contained a copy of a book titled "New York Conspiracy." The label on the Library of Congress copy bears the identical words. While the evidence is insufficient to write Q. E. D., the Peter Force-Library of Congress copy was almost certainly bound in Williamsburg and may have been the Westover Library copy also.

The other book issued by William Parks in 1736 which has been found in its original bindings is George Webb's Office and Authority of a Justice of the Peace. Two decorated copies of Webb's Justice have been seen. One, now in the McGregor Room of the Alderman Library at the University of Virginia, is bound in smooth green calf impressed with a simple panel design in blind. None of the tools have appeared on any other Williamsburg binding examined for this report. The second decorated copy, now in the Virginia Historical Society, belonged to Thomas Hill, a justice of the peace in Spottsylvania County. Like most of the other copies of Webb's Justice whose original bindings are preserved, Hill's copy was bound in calf with fillet lines in blind around the board edges; but perhaps as insurance against the loss of a valuable reference book, he had a red morocco label stamped with the words "THOMAS HILL HIS BOOK" inlaid in the front cover. The inlay is outlined in gilt with roll # 9.

89.

Very few of the copies of John Mercer's Abridgement of the Virginia Laws which Parks published in 1737 have survived in other than plain calf bindings. Since at least 1200 copies are known to have been printed, the presumption is quite strong that most of the edition received plain bindings. The one known decorated copy, once owned by "Mrs Jemima Mercer" and perhaps presented to her by John her brother, is now in the Boston Public Library. The spine is tooled in gilt, unfortunately with tools not otherwise associated with Williamsburg binding; and each cover was stamped in blind with the arms of Virginia. Since the tools cannot be tied to any other Williamsburg binding, it is not possible to say that the book was bound there; but the seal of Virginia which was ordered stamped on official copies of a later collection of the Virginia Laws is more likely to have been used there than elsewhere.

William Parks printed a number of other books before his death in 1750, but disappointingly few of them have turned up with ornamented bindings. Some of Parks's imprints probably never had handsome covers. A merchant's handbook like Robert Biscoe's Factor's Guide would not have called for a tooled leather cover, and the fact that William Stith's History of Virginia probably appeared in an edition of large size may account for the lack of any ornamentation on the copies so far seen in their original boards. In any case, the sunburst ornaments which appear in gilt on the spines of two copies of John Thomson's Shorter Catechism of 1749 are the last decorations found on Parks's imprints. One other Williamsburg binding, however, may date from the 90. period when Parks operated the Williamsburg printing office and bindery; John Stretch, who later worked as a binder for Parks's successor, William Hunter, may have compiled his manuscript catalogue of William Byrd's Westover Library before 1750.

The Stretch Catalogue, handsomely bound in red morocco with an ornately tooled spine in gilt and a new roll #10, likewise in gilt, around the front and rear covers as a border, passed from William Byrd III to the hands of a bookseller in Philadelphia and thence into the magnificent collection of the Philadelphia Library Company early in the nineteenth century. A careful check of the books listed in the Catalogue itself might permit a closer dating than that provided by the known facts of John Stretch's career, but in all probability, the Catalogue was made in the 1740's or 1750's. Once again the familiar "egg and cross" roll # 9, used as a border around the label, helps to tie the Stretch Catalogue to Williamsburg, and the triangular roll #11, used here as earlier on the CWM Charter and the Horsmanden Journal, supplies additional evidence that John Stretch not only compiled but probably also bound the volume which he inscribed "John Stretch fecit."

Happily for the student of Williamsburg printing, the first day-book kept by William Hunter after he replaced the deceased William Parks as Virginia's printer in the summer of 1750 is still extant; and fortunately for the student of bookbinding in Williamsburg, it is also still in its original covers, simply but tastefully blind-tooled in a panel design with corner fleurons. The fleuron is the 91. ornament earlier used on the New York Historical Society's copy of the 1727 Laws of Maryland, the St. Luke's Vestry Minute Book, and The Complete Mariner, #4; but the roll employed in making the central panel is a new one, #12. There can be little doubt that the printing office daybook was bound in Williamsburg at the printing office.

William Hunter also inherited the contract which Parks had agreed to in 1748 to print and bind a new revisal of the Virginia Laws. The King-in-Council disallowed some of the revised statutes passed by the Virginia Assembly in the lengthy 1748-49 session, and reprinting the pages delayed the press-work; but the printing of the laws was finished late in 1751. According to the contract, the copies of this edition for official use were to be stamped with the arms of the colony; two copies so stamped have been seen in the course of this study. The Alderman Library of the University of Virginia has one stamped copy, and the New York State Library at Albany has another with the stamp still readily decipherable. Many copies of the 1752 Laws have gold-tooled board edges even though the remainder of the covers has but a single ornamental roll impressed in blind along the spine edge of the boards. Unfortunately, although the board edge roll can be seen well enough to identify, the tool is wider than the board edges. Since no satisfactory impression of the roll has been obtained, no number has been assigned to this tool. Several rolls were used for the border run down the spine edge of the front and rear covers. The Harvard University Law Library copy of Hunter's Laws has the Stretch Catalogue roll #10, and at least three other copies bear roll #12. 92. Two copies in the Houghton Library at Harvard University and at the New York Historical Society employ a new roll #13. Some copies have a small acorn stamp in the spine panels, but rubs of the ornament have been too indistinct to reproduce. The "egg and cross" roll # 9 appears on three copies, including one at the American Antiquarian Society Library which shows the elongated egg.

William Hunter produced few real books in the Williamsburg printing office. One of these few was a new edition of the Charter and Statutes of the College of William and Mary. Although a number of copies of this second edition of the Charter are known, only the Princeton University copy, once owned by the Earl of Egremont, has been seen in decorated contemporary covers. Far less elaborate than either the JCB or the CWM Charters, the Princeton copy of the William and Mary Charter is nonetheless the most ornate Williamsburg binding of the Hunter period examined for this report. The leather is blue morocco, gold-tooled around the borders of the covers with a new roll, #14. The spine is tooled with an acorn and leaves in the center and small acorns in the corners of each panel. The acorn and leaf is the same as one used in the CWM Charter and on the Horsmanden Journal. The inner side of the covers is tooled in gold also with a triangular pattern similar to that on the Stretch Catalogue, the Horsmanden Journal, and the CWM Charter.

Joseph Royle, who succeeded Hunter in the Williamsburg printing office, also printed relatively few books. None of Royle's bindings of printed books has been identified, but two blank books almost 93. certainly bound in Williamsburg during Royle's term as printer have been examined for this report. The York County Clerk's Office has the original volume of Judgments & Orders for the years 1763-1765. In spite of age and wear, the elaborately blind-tooled panel design impressed on the calfskin has retained its clarity. The tools used in the panels are all rolls: the innermost rectangle is formed on either side of triple fillet lines by roll # 6 and roll #14; the second panel consists entirely of roll # 6, again on either side of triple fillet lines; and the third panel, really a border around the covers, is made up of roll #14 within triple fillet lines. All the rectangles are connected at the corners by roll # 9, the "egg and cross." The design and workmanship are both good, and the volume is one of the finest examples of blind-tooling discovered in the course of the research for this report. Royle's own printing office daybook for the years 1764-1766 has also been preserved in its original covers. Once again the rolls used are familiar ones, and the pattern is much like that found on copies of the 1752 Laws. The only decoration on the boards is a triple fillet border and roll #14 in blind along the spine edge of the covers. The spine itself is wider than the volumes of Laws and is decorated with crossed lines made with roll # 9, in each panel and two lines impressed with roll #14 at the foot surmounted by roll # 9, as a border.

In 1769, three years after Royle's death, the two printing offices then operating in Williamsburg collaborated in publishing a new edition of the Virginia Laws. Up to the present time, no copy of Rind, Purdie 94. & Dixon's 1769 Laws has been found in a handsome binding. Most of the large edition was no doubt bound just as the surviving examples in contemporary covers would indicate, in substantial but nearly plain leather relieved only by a single thin roll along the spine edge of the boards. One copy owned by the College of William and Mary is so ornamented with roll #14, but most of the copies examined have one of two new rolls, #15 or #16.

Richard Starke's Virginia Justice, one of the last books printed and bound in one of the Williamsburg printing offices before the Revolution, has turned up quite frequently in its original covers. Like the 1752 and 1769 Laws, Starke's Justice is usually found in a fairly simple binding. The most typical decoration seems to have been roll #12 impressed as a single spine edge border. In three copies, roll # 9, the "egg and cross," is used as a border around the whole cover in combination with another roll along the spine edge; one copy at the Virginia State Library has roll #14 applied in this fashion, and the copy in the Tucker Collection at the College of William and Mary and one of the copies at the Huntington Library have other rolls so used. The Stretch Catalogue roll #10 also appears on a copy at the College of William and Mary. Some of these copies of Starke's Justice may well have been bound later; the presence on several copies of a twisted chain roll known to binders as the Nelson roll indicates that such may be the case.

With the coming of the Revolution, printing in Williamsburg declined; and few fine bindings have been discovered on printed books 95. of the war years. A systematic examination of the Williamsburg imprints listed in the Union Catalogue at the Library of Congress would doubtless add several other volumes to the New York State Library's decorated copy of the 1776 Virginia Convention Journal which was printed and presumably bound in Alexander Purdie's Williamsburg office. On this volume, the Stretch Catalogue roll #10 is impressed in blind on the spine edge of the covers.

After 1776, the Williamsburg tools continue to be found on bindings, but mostly on blank books or books of an earlier date rebound. The blank books are often harder to date tentatively than printed ones, but once in a while the blank account book supplies its own documentation. Such is the case with Ledger A of the Williamsburg Public Store Accounts, now preserved in the Virginia State Library. The simple double panel blind-tooled with fillet lines and roll #12 is a neat rather than a handsome example of the binder's skill, but the entry on page one, "To Cash for this book 20/ 2 qr paper 2/9 …," makes this account book one of the few documented bindings found in the course of the present study. Two others of the Public Store Accounts also have blind-tooled leather bindings decorated with well-known Williamsburg tools. Volume 12, kept in 1778-1779, has the Stretch Catalogue roll #10 in a single panel; and Volume 16, a ledger of 1779-1780, has the same roll in a double panel connected by double fillet lines.

In 1780 the government of Virginia moved to Richmond, and the Williamsburg printers soon followed. Thomas Brend, who tried to carry 96. on briefly in Williamsburg, later did much of the binding for the Richmond offices of the State. Most of the record books of the 1780's and 1790's have been rebound, and others are clearly importations of French origin; but at least one of the Auditor's Accounts series, not all of which have been rebound, bears tools associated with Brend and Williamsburg bindings. Auditor's Accounts No. 27 for 1785 has rolls # 9 and #14 as well as a fleuron later found on Jefferson's Collection of Virginia Laws which Thomas Brend rebound in 1799.

Thomas Brend probably also bound a manuscript book of poems for St. George Tucker now in the possession of Colonial Williamsburg. This handsome gold-tooled, blue morocco volume has St. George Tucker's signature and the date 1779 on the inside front end sheet; but cropping of the page numbers points to a possible rebinding at some later date. The book may be one of those referred to in Brend's bill of 1788 for work done for St. George Tucker, cited elsewhere in this report. The Stretch Catalogue roll, here used on the inside board edges, links this binding with Williamsburg.

Shortly before his death in 1799, Thomas Brend rebound Thomas Jefferson's collection of the printed laws of Virginia. Originally this set numbered eight volumes, five of which are now in the Jefferson Collection at the Library of Congress. These five books, bound in the last year of the eighteenth century, have matching calf bindings ornamented in gilt. Of the tools used, the most interesting is the Muscipula roll # 6 which appears on the board edges in gold. In the three larger volumes, the top panel of the spine is decorated with a 97. fleuron used earlier on the Auditor's Accounts for 1785. Miss E. Millicent Sowerby, whose magnificent Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Volume II, contains a plate and a long passage (pp. 246-255) describing Jefferson's collection of Virginia laws, has clearly established Thomas Brend as the probable binder and the year 1799 as the most likely date for the present uniform bindings.

The death of Thomas Brend in 1799 brought the known family tree of Williamsburg binders and their tools to an end. Further research might add many more late eighteenth and early nineteenth century books to the list of those bound with tools earlier associated with Williamsburg, but such information would tell little about Williamsburg bookbinding.

98.

VI. NINETEENTH CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS

At the close of the colonial period and with the emergence of the new republic, strong national influences were brought to bear on book-binding as well as other crafts. No longer tied to the Mother Country, and forced by this separation to pursue new courses in its development, the new country made rapid strides in developing the independence for which it had fought. Native industries developed to supply the materials which had been mostly imported from England. New developments in printing increased the speed of production and created a need for faster methods of binding this product. Binders had to meet this condition by simplifying their methods while still being forced to use their hand tools. This of necessity reduced the quality of their work as compared with the earlier, sounder methods. Finally, there was a gradual development of entirely new methods and the introduction of machines capable of handling these developments. At the beginning of the twentieth century, publisher's and edition binding bore little resemblance to the hand bound book except superficially. At the present time, the overwhelming bulk of all binding is done entirely by machines, the "trade bookbinder" knowing nothing of the processes of hand forwarding and finishing.

Cloth-linen, canvas or calico has been mentioned as an occasional binding material in the eighteenth century. It was not until the years between 1820 and 1825, however, that cloth was regularly used for covering books. English binders seem to have been the first to introduce 99. this practice, and American binders soon followed their example. One of the earliest American volumes thus bound was printed in New York by J. and J. Harper in 1827. It was bound in half purple cloth with paper covered boards. These books were still forwarded in much the same way as the leather bound book, though changes were gradually taking place. While still sewing the sections on cords, the practice of "lacing in" the boards, i.e., passing the cords through holes in the boards to firmly attach them to the book, gave way to simply fraying out the cords and pasting them down on the boards. The number of cords were also reduced from the customary five or four of classical hand binding to three. The next important change, and the one which distinctly differentiates the present publisher's binding from the hand bound volume, was the introduction of "casing." Through all the previous centuries of hand binding, the cover boards had always been firmly attached to the cords on which the sections were sewn, making the cover an integral part of the entire book's construction. "Casing" introduced the new principle of sewing and forwarding the book as one operation, and making the cover, or "case," separately, into which the book was then fitted and secured by the principal means of pasting down its end sheets onto the boards. The exact date at which this practice was introduced can not be determined from present evidence, but it was probably between 1825 and 1835. Casing made it possible for the binder, even before the introduction of binding machinery, to speed his production enormously. The cases continued to be made by hand until the end of the nineteenth century when the first case making 100. machines were developed. It is interesting to note that before the invention of any of the present day binding machinery was possible, the centuries old traditional methods had to be changed; and that the new methods employed were still largely executed by hand until the last half of the century.

After 1850 many patents were taken out on bookbinding machinery. The first sewing machine was invented by David McConnell Smythe of Hartford, Connecticut in 1856. Various improvements made by Smythe in succeeding years led to the present machine bearing his name, which is used throughout the world wherever large scale binding is done. America led all other countries in the development of bookbinding, and by 1900 it was possible to bind a book completely with hardly any human assistance except for the setting up operation and maintenance of the machine.

These developments of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have had tremendous influence upon the book publishing industry, and upon the development of the reading public. What has been sacrificed in craftsmanship and strength of construction has probably been off-set by the larger availability of printed books. The hand bound book, done by the craftsman in traditional manner, may take from eight hours upwards to complete, depending on the simplicity or elaborateness of his decoration; while the machinery of the modern bindery can easily handle 25,000 or more volumes in a single day. In this connection, it is important to note that the development of machine binding is a gradual outgrowth of hand methods. While the machine product cannot in any way measure up to the hand bound book either in beauty or strength of 101. construction, the basic principle by which books have been made since the early days of the Christian era — the sewing of the separate sections to each other through their center folds, remains unchanged.

Hand binding of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries continues in the craft traditions of the earlier masters. While only a few of the commercial binderies still maintain hand binding sections, individuals still operate their own shops in most of the leading centers of Europe and America; and hardly any change in methods can be noted, from the earliest days. In matters of decoration, there is considerable variation. Nineteenth century hand binding was in general artistically sterile, most designs being only repetitions and slight modifications of those found on books of earlier days. English binders of the late nineteenth century, led by Thomas J. Cobden-Sanderson and Douglas Cockerell, broke away from this slavish imitation and in general succeeded in starting a revival of original and artistic design in bindings. At present, binders in Europe and America are successfully developing their art along modern lines, at the same time keeping their designs in accord with the content of the bound material. Certain characteristics and practices remain unchanged however. French bindings are still preeminently distinguished by brilliance of their gold tooling, as they have been since the sixteenth century. English and American bindings are characteristically sound in construction and more conservative in design.

It is important to realize that the hand binder's art is as alive 102. today as ever. Outnumbered proportionately by the mechanized production of books and operating in the background, out of sight, so to speak, where in former ages his was the only method of securing the pages of a book, his craft is still as necessary as ever. A goodly proportion of new printed books of lasting value will continue to be hand bound, while an ever more important field, the preservation of the valuable printed past, can be trusted only to the careful, precise artistry of the hand binder.

103.

CONCLUSION:

In compiling this report on Williamsburg bindings, the authors have attempted to relate all the known circumstances and fill in the many holes with the most probable assumptions. In the course of examining the many books here referred to, inescapable similarities were noted which defy description in a work of this nature. The book-binder recognizes these similarities through his knowledge of the craft and experience with many old books. They might be meaningless to the average person.

Identification of binders by the tools used is an accepted procedure. In most cases it is the only procedure available. We do not contend that a given impression by a given tool can be absolutely identified with a similar impression on another book. The natural character of leather, its age, the element of human fallibility to mention only a few considerations, make this impossible. we do contend that there are recognizable elements of skill, technique, style, etc., in combination with tools of apparent identity which can be localized with reasonable certainty.

Any study of this kind to have any validity must be very comprehensive. Only by examining as many books as are available can one recognize the characteristics which through constant repetition over a period of time, fall into definite patterns. It is highly important to notice if the tools we are concerned with are also to be found on colonial books outside of Virginia and if so, how frequently. With 104. this in mind, we have constantly examined other colonial books than those of Virginia provenance. So far, no volume which could be attributed to any other colonial binding establishment has been discovered with any of the decorations we have here described as being typical of Williamsburg bindings. We have also failed to find any European binding of this period which employs these same decorative tools.

It is improbable that these tools were unique to Williamsburg. Some other binder in another locality must have had at least one or two of them. But with the known fact that binding was done in large volume for a fifty-year period in Williamsburg, and the present existence of so many of these volumes in original covers, bearing one or more of these typical ornamentations, it is inescapable that these books were in fact the product of Williamsburg binders.

APPENDIX I REFERENCES TO BOOKBINDING IN THE HUNTER DAYBOOK

July 31st	Bookbinding Dr To Paper
	For 4 Qrss Pro Patria	£ -4-4
	4 Qrs Fr: Demy	6
Aug. 4th	Littleton Tazewell Dr To Bookbinding
	For 1 Blank Book bd in rough Calf		1-1-6
	Bishop of Londons Letter Dr To sundry Accts
	To Paper for 1 Rm 5 Qrs 27/
	To Bookbinding for Stitching 500 5/
	To Allowance of Journeymen's Wages 15/
Aug. 6	Bookbinding Dr To Paper
	For 4 Qrs 7 Sheets Royale		1- -
Aug. 9th	Bookbinding Dr To Paper
	For 3 Qrs Fr: Demy		-4-6
Aug. 10th	Colo Thomas Jones Dr To Binding
	For binding a Prayer Book		-2-6
Aug. 15th	Bookbinding Dr To Paper
	For 9 Qrs Fr: Demy 13/6
	2 Qrs Pro Patria 2/		-15-6
Aug. 17th	William Holt Dr To Binding 2 8vos.		- 3-
	The Estate of Colo George Braxton Dr
	To binding a Quarto Bible		- 6-
Aug. 20th	To [sic] Mr James Clarke Dr Warwick To Bindg
	For 1 Blank Book bd in rough Calf		-10-
	[This account scratched out and endorsed in margin, "James Spiers paid Cash."]
Aug. 22	Bookbinding Dr To Paper
	For 47 Qrs Demy @ 1/6		3-10- 6
	18 Do Pott		-13-
	36 Do Pro Patria		1-16-
Aug. 27	James Donald Mercht Warwick To Binding Dr
	For a large Leger 7 Qrs bd in rough Calf		1-15-
	George Walker, Mercht Hampton Dr To Bindg
	For 1 Leger bound in rough Calf: rul'd		1-6-0
Aug. 28	Mr Charles Steuart Dr. To Binding
	For a Day Book bd in rough Calf 24/
	Binding 2 blank Books 5/		1-9-
2
Aug. 28	Bookbinding Dr To the Est. of Robt Stevenson
	For a Servant Lad, Paul, and sundry Bookbinding Tools		17-5-3
	Bookbinding Dr To Paper
	For 6 Qrs Demy 9/		[ -9- ]
Sept. 3d	Bookbinding Dr To Paper
	For 6 Qrs Fr: Demy		-9-
Sept. 7th	John Mitchelson Dr To Bookbinding
	For 1 Blank Book bound 17/6		[-17- 6]
Sept. 8th	Bookbinding Dr To Paper
	For 2½ Rms Demy		1-17- 6
Sept. 18th	William Prentis Dr. To Binding
	For an Acct Book bound in Parchmt		- 15-
Sept. 19th	John Thompson Dr To Bookbinding
	For binding & lettering the 29th Vol univ: Hist:		- 2- 6
Sept. 21	Alexander Finnie Dr. To Bookbinding
	For a Day Book		- 15-
Sept. 26	Doctr. Andrew Arbuthnott Dr. To Binding
	For an Acct Book		- 8-
Sept. 28	Colo Wilson Cary Dr. To Bookbinding
	For Binding 2 Magazines		- 5-
Oct. 1	Charles Turnbull Dr. To Binding
	For a leger of Royall Paper		2- 3-
	The Estate of Colo George Braxton Dr To Binding
	For lettering 12 Books 6/
	Binding a Bible 6/		- 12-
	James Donald Dr. To Binding
	For an Account Book in Calf 13/
	An Alphabet 4/		-17 -
Oct. 2d	Joseph Davenport Dr.
	To Binding a Prayer Book 1/3		1.-3
	Colo Littleton Eyre Dr.
	To Binding Justin 1/6		1.-6
	Alexander Craig Dr. To Binding
	For Bindg & Lettering the Hist. of ye Reformat:		2.-6
Oct. 6th	Matthew Pierce Dr
	To Binding a Prayer Book 2/6		2.-6
	Colo John Hunter Dr. To Binding
	For a Journal		£1.-10.-
3
Oct. 9th	John Randolph Esgr Dr To Binding
	For an Acct Book	26/
	2 small Do	11/	1.-17.-
Oct. 11th	Peter Hay Dr
	To Binding an Octavo		2.-
Oct. 12	Alexander Finnie Dr To Binding		2.- - -
	For a large Leger and Alphabet
Oct. 19th	Doctr Wm Dawson Dr
	To Binding 2 Setts of Seed's Works		10.-
	The Honble Wm Nelson Dr
	To Binding the History of the Earth	1/6	1.-6
	The Revd Thos Dawson Dr
	To Binding 2 Vols Seed's Works		[-"] 4 [" -]
Oct. 25th	Wm Parry Dr To Binding
	For a large, Leger		1" 10 [-" -]
Oct. 27th	Walter Campbell Dr To Binding
	For a Blank Leger		1.- 6.-
	George Johnston Dr To Printing & Bindg		-
	For 2 Books of Receipts bd		] 16 [
	Alexander Finnie Dr To Printg & Bindg
	For 2 Books of Receipts bound		] 16 [
Oct. 30th	John Maddison Dr To Binding
	For 2 Record Books @ 30/		£ 3.-
Oct. 31st	Roger Dixon Dr To Binding	£ 1.-10
	For large Record Book	2.-10
	1 small Do 25/ a small Leger 25/
Nov. 3d	William Burton Dr To Binding
	For a Day Book 15/		15.-
	Bookbinding Dr To Paper
	For 126 Qrs of Demy @ 116		£ 9.-9.-0
Nov. 7	Charles Turnbull Dr To Binding
	For a Journal	£ 1.-5
	an Alphabet	4/	1.-9.-
4
Nov. 19th	The Honbl William Nelson Dr
	To Binding 2 Vols. Seed's Works	5/	5.-
	The Honble Thomas Nelson Dr
	To Binding 2 Vols. Seed's Works	5/	5.-
	William Parry Dr To Binding
	For a Day Book	8/	8.-
Nov. 21st	Nathaniel Garland Dr To Binding
	For a large Leger		1.-10.-
Nov. 23	Robert Carter Nicholas Dr To Binding
	For a small Leger and Alphabet		10.-10
Nov. 23	Gill Armistead Dr To Binding
	For an Acct Book		8.-
Nov. 26th	James Spiers Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book	5/	5.-
	David Jameson Dr To Binding
	For ½ binding a Folio		[-no price]
Nov. 29	The Revd John Camm Dr To Bookbinding
	For the Offices of the Church	3/6
	To an interleav'd Almanack	1/
	Bookbinding Dr
	To Stationery barter'd for Books		Sterl:
			£ 1.-18.-9
		Advance	13.-7
			2"12 -"4
Dec. 5th	Capt William Massie Dr To Sundry Accts.
	To Binding. For a larger Leger	£ 1.-5.-	£1.-5.-
	The Revd William Preston Dr
	To Binding Seed's Works		4.-
	The Revd Mr. Richard Graham Dr
	To Binding Seed's Works		[ 4 [
Dec. 10	The Honble John Blair Dr To Binding
	For a Musick Book	7/6	7.-6
Dec. 12th	William Burton Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book	8/	8.-
	Richard Weir Dr To Binding
	For 2 large Account Books @ 26/	£ 2.12	2.-12.-
5
Dec. 12th	Ferdinando Leigh Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book	8/
Dec. 13	William Stevenson Dr To Binding
	For a Blank Book		8.-
	Humphry Brooke Dr To Binding
	For a Blank Book		1.-5.-
Dec. 14	John Holt Dr To Binding
	For a Pocket Almanack	1/10
Dec. 15th	John Mercer Esqr Dr To Binding
	For 2 bd Almanacks 3/9. Bindg 2 Books 7/6		11.-3
Dec. 19	William Armistead Dr
	To Binding a Book		4.-
	Littleton Tazewell Dr
	To 2 Blank Books bound		] 7.-6
Dec. 20th	David Bell Dr To Binding
	For a leger		1.-10.-
Dec. 31	Colo Samuel Cobbs Dr To Binding
	For 2 Record Books	@ 30/	3.- 0.-
1750-1751
Jan. 2d	Bookbinding Dr To stationary for Sundries
	rec'd of David Jameson. vizt.
		Sterl.
	½ Rm Marble Paper	£ " 12.-0
	Ingredients for Red Ink	6.-6
	Sealing Wax	5.
	3 letter Cases	2.-6
	2 Doz: Memo Books	3.
		1 " 9.-
Jan. 5th	Doctr Alexr Jameson Dr
	To a bound Almanak		" ] 2 [-"-
Jan. 10	Thomas Wilkins Dr
	To Binding, For an Acct Book		6.-
	Joseph Davenport Dr
	To Binding 2 Quartos		8.-
6
Jan. 12th	Capt Thomas Danfie Dr To Binding
	For a Blank Book		5.-
	a Gilt Almanack		2.-
	William Parr Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book		8.-
Jan. 14	John Hood Dr To Binding
	For a large Leger of Royall	£2.-12.-
	a Journal	1.-10.-	4.-2.-
Jan. 21st	James Donald Dr To Binding
	For a Leger 4 Qrs Demy		1.-1.-8
Jan. 22d	John Clayton Dr
	To Binding a Magazine	2/6
	an Almanack	7½
	Edward Bowcock Dr
	To Binding a Book		1.-3
Jan. 23d	Honble Thos Nelson Dr
	To Binding a Fee Book		3.-
	John Carlisle Dr
	To Binding a History		1.-6
Jan. 26th	Miles Selden Dr
	To Binding 2 Books		3.-6
Jan. 30th	Robert Miller Dr
	To Binding for a Blank Book	5/	5.-
Jan. 31st	Bookbinding Dr To Paper		21 [-"-"-]
Feb. 1	Cary Michell Esqr Dr To Binding
	For Red Ink		-" -"] 8 [-d-]
Feb. 2d	Stephen Holmes Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book	6/	6.-
	To 1 Doz: Almanacks	5/	5.-
Feb. 5th	Doctr Peter Hay Dr To Binding
	For a large Leger	30/
	Day Book	12/	2.-2.. -
	Miles Selden Dr
	To Binding a 4to Dictionary		7.-6
7
Feb. 6th	Doctr Alexr Jameson Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book		8.-
Feb. 9th	Colo John Grymes' Est. Dr
	To binding Pamphlets		2.-
	Revd William Preston Dr
	To Binding 2 Vols Seed's Works Gilt & Lettd		5.-
Feb. 13th	Joseph Davenport Dr
	To binding a Bible		-" ] 1.-6
Feb. 14th	Colo John Grymes' Estate Dr To Binding
	For 1 Skin Morocco 10/ Do Parchment 3/	£ -.13
	To a large Prayer Book	13	1.-6.-
	Benjamin Watkins Dr To Binding
	For 2 large Record Books		3. - -
Feb. 23d	John Peter, Surry-, Dr To Binding
	For a Journal		1.- 1.-8
	John Carlisle Dr To Binding
	For a Leger 27/ Journal 21/8		2.- 8.-8
Feb. 26th	Colo John Chiswell Dr To Binding
	For a large Leger		1.- 6.-
Feb. 27	Mrs Shield Dr
	To Binding Clarissa		1.-6
Feb. 28	Benja Howard Dr
	To Binding a Book		4.-
	John Robinson Dr.
	To Binding a Book		4.-
	Binding Dr To John Mitchelson
	For a Leger 36/ 1 Doz. blank Books	16/	2.-12.-
	Alexander Craig Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book	6.-9
Mar. 2d	Doctr James Carter Dr
	To Binding For a blank Book		2.-6
Mar. 5th	Doctr Alexander Jameson Dr
	To binding an Octavo		2.-
Mar. 7th	John Hood Dr To Binding
	For an Alphabet 4/ Red Ink 1/		-"] 5 [-" -
8
Mar. 8	Revd John Camm Dr To Binding
	For a blank Book 3 Qrs Demy		15.-
	Armistead Burwell Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book	8/	8.-
Mar. 9	Revd Thomas Dawson Dr
	To Binding 3 Vols Of Guthrie	@ 12/	1.- 16.-
Mar. 12	Estate of Colo John Grymes Dr
	To binding 3 Books		5.-
Mar. 14th	Capt William Peachey To Binding Dr
	To 1 blank Book	8/
	Binding a Book	1/	-"] 9 ["-
	[endorsed in margin
	"Paid April 2d 1751".]
Mar. 15	David Middleton Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book		8.-
Mar. 18	Wlliam Newsum Dr To Binding
	For a large Leger and Alphabet	32/6	8.-
	a Day Book	20/	2.-12.-6
	Messrs Saunders & Cooke Dr To Binding
	For a Journal rul'd 4 Qrs Demy		£1 " 2 ["-
Mar. 23d	Doctr Alexander Jameson Dr To Binding
	For 1 Blank Book 6/ Pasteboard 8d		-"] 6.8
Apr. 1	Armistead Burwell Dr To Binding
	For a Blank Book 3 Qrs Demy	16/
	1 Do 1 Qr Royall	10/10	£ 1" 6 " 10
	John Richardson Dr To Binding
	For 2 Blank Books		-" ] 10 ["-
Apr. 2	Bookbinding Dr To Paper		£ 4 " 19 [" -
Apr. 15	James Graham Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book		1.- 1.-8
April. 16	William Meredith Dr To Binding
	For a Blank Book	5/	5.-
Apr. 17	Lancelott Nelson Dr To Binding
	For 2 Record Books @	20/	2.-
9
Apr. 20	Honble John Grymes' Estate Dr
	To Binding Pamphlets		2.-
	Doctr Alexander Jamieson Dr
	To Binding Tasso's Aminta		1. 6
Apr. 22	Colo John Lee Dr To Binding
	For 1 Record Book 17/	1 Do 25/	2.-2.-
Apr. 24	John Carlisle Dr
	To Binding a Book		1.-3
Apr. 26	Colo Carter Burwell Dr
	To Binding a Prayer Book		1.-3
Apr. 27	Landon Carter Esqr Dr To Binding
	For a Blank Book		6.-
Apr. 29	Bought Books Dr
	To Binding 50 Sacr Bks		16.-8
May 6	James Graham Dr To Binding
	For a large Alphabet		4.-
	Col John Hunter Dr To Binding
	For 2 Qr large best Paper	7/
	Ruling Do double	2/6
	Rebinding & lettering yr Leger	10/
	a Letter Book of large Paper letter'd	26/	2.-5.-6
May 10	Mrs Jane Vobe Dr To Binding
	For a Cyphering Book		3.-9
	Majr Bowler Cocke Dr
	To Binding a Prayer Book in Turkey gilt		5.-
May 14	Joseph Davenport Dr To Binding
	For 1 Blank Book		5.-6
May 16	Capt Gwyn Reade Dr
	Binding 2 Vols Pamphlets	4/	4.-
	Robert C. Nicholas Dr To Binding
	For a Musick Book		7.-6
May 17	Elizabeth Lapree Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book	3/9	3.-9
10
May 21	John Dixon Dr To Binding
	For a musick Book		7.-6
May 22	Anthony Hay Dr To Binding
	For 30 wt Glue @ 11d		1 " 7 " 6
June 3	Colo Richard Cocke Dr To Binding
	For 1 Blannk Book		-10.-10
June 5	Alexander Finnie Dr To Binding
	For 1 Blank Book 6/ 1 Do 2/6		8.-6
	Jolm Mercer Esqr Dr
	To Binding 2 Vols Bp of London's Letters	5/	5.-
	John Cavendish Dr To Binding
	For 2 Books of Gold Leaf	8/	8.-
June 6	The Honble Thomas Nelson Esqr Dr
	Binding a large Record Book	13/	13.-
June 8	Anthony Hay Dr To Binding
	For a Day Book 8/ Leger 15/ Alphabet 2/		1.- 5.-
	Revd Wm Preston Dr To Binding
	For 12 Sermon Books		6.-
June 12	Charles Turnbull Dr To Binding
	For a large Journal	26/	1.- 6.-
	Littleton Tazewell Dr To Binding
	For a blank Book	5/	5.-
	Ricardus Coventon Dr To Binding
	6 Vols Musical Miscellany		9.-
June 13	James Pride Esgr Dr To Binding
	For a Leger double rul'd	24/	24.-
June 14	Thomas Hornsby Dr To Binding
	For a Day Book in rough Calf		18.-
June 17	Robert Jones Dr To Binding
	For 2 Blank Books		2.- 6.-
June 18	Major Richard Tunstall Dr
	To Binding, For a Record Book	30/
June 19	Colo William Harwood Dr
	Binding a Prayer Book	2/	2.-
11
June 21	Armistead Burwell Esqr Dr To Binding
	For a Leger of best Imperial double rul'd		3.- 5.-
	Littleton Tazewell Dr To Binding
	For a Leger 5 Qrs Demy rul'd	£1"5
	A large Record Book	1"16
	2 Do @ 30/	3"
	2 Do @ 27/	2"14
	1 small Blank Book	"5
June 22	Honble John Grymes' Estate Dr To Binding
	For a Blank Book	10/	10.-
June 25	James Spiers Dr To Binding
	For 3 Sheets of Pasteboard		2.-
July 1	Joseph Baker Dr
	To Binding a Bible	6/	6.-
July 3	Bought Books Dr
	Bookbinding to Stationary		19.-
	Binding Dr To Colo John Hunter
	For 20 Doz: Calve Skins	@ 25/	41.-.-
	20 Doz. Sheep Skins	@ 16/
July 6	William Burton Dr To Binding
	For a Blank Book		2.-6
	Colo William Digges Dr To Binding Do
	[17 Vols Parliamentary Debates		1.-6.-
	2 Vols Chambers' Dictionary]
	To a Quarto Bible neatly bound in Turkey		2.-10.-
	Bought Books Dr To Binding		6.-10.-
	Binding Dr To Paper		6.-.-
July 10	The Revd Preston Dr
	To binding sundry Pamphlets		2.-6
	Joseph Davenport Dr
	To Binding a Prayer Book		1.-6
	Thomas Dickeson Dr
	To Binding a Book		1.-3
	Armistead Burwell Esqr Dr To Binding
	For an Alphabet		2.-
12
July 16	John Dandridge Dr To Binding
	For a Record Book	1.10.
	To 8 Quires of Blanks	1. 4.	2.-14.-
July 22	John Martin Esqr Dr
	To Binding a Book	2/	2.-
July 23	Sundry Accounts Drs To Wm Parks's Estate
	Bookbinding for 30 Books of Gold leaf		3.- 2.-9
	Bookbinding Dr To Paper		3.-12.-6
	William Burton Dr To Binding
	For a leger	1. 4.-
	a Day Book	18.-
	an Alphabet	2.-	2.- 4.-
July 26	Lawrence Baker Dr To Binding
	For a Blank Book		5.-
July 29	Doctr James Carter Dr To Binding
	For a Blank Book		2.-6
July 30	John Hall Dr To Binding
	For a large Record Book Imperial		3.-10.-
Aug. 3	Walter King Dr
	To Binding for a Blank Book		1.-3
Aug. 6	Alexander Finnie Dr
	To Binding for a Blank Book		7.-6
	Alexander Mackie Dr To Binding
	For a large leger of Royal dble rul'd	£ 2.-12.-0
	a large Journal Do	2.-.-
	an Alphabet	-.2.-	4.-14.-
Aug. 13	Robert Nicolson Dr To Binding
	For lettering a Prayer Book		2.-
Aug. 14	The Revd and Honble Doctr Dawson Dr
	To Binding 2 Vols Pine's Horace Turkey Ext		15.-
	Do Carmina Quadregesimalia		3.-6
	Almanacks 1751 Drs To Sundry Accounts
	To Paper	£ 5 " "
	To Printing For Composing	26/
	Press Work	42/8
	Wear and Tear	11/4 4 " "
	To the Copy	5 " "	14 " "
13
Aug. 17	Robert Hutchings Dr To Binding
	For a Leger		12.-
Aug. 21	The Honble Thomas Nelson Dr
	Binding a Record Book	10/	10.-
	James Power Dr To Binding
	For a large Record Book Imperial		4.-10.-
	1 Do		3.-5.-
Aug. 22	Doctor John Walker Dr
	To Binding for a Leger, Day Book and Alphabet	25/	25 :-
Aug. 29	George Wythe Dr To Binding
	For a 4to blank Book bd in rough Calf		9.-6
Aug. 31	Colo Littleton Eyre Dr To Binding
	For 2 Day Books @ 8/	16/
	1 Leger	17/
	1 Do	14/
	2 Alphabets	4/
	1 Viol red Ink	/6	2.-11.-6
Sept. 3	Joseph Davenport Dr To Binding
	For a large Record Book		1.-6.-
	Colo John Hunter Dr
	To Binding 3 Vols British Merchant		4.-6
	Bought Books Dr To Binding		10.--
	Joseph Turner Dr
	To Binding West and Littleton's Tracts		1.-6
Sept. 4	Henry Wetherburn Dr To Binding
	For two Account Books		15.-
Sept. 5	Joseph Davenport Dr
	To Binding a Folio, Calf, lettr'd		7.-
Sept. 7	William Prentis Dr To Binding
	For making an Alphabet		1.-3
Sept. 16	Doctr Alexander Jameson Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book		8.-
	Kenneth McKenzie Dr (Wmsburg)To Binding
	For an Account Book		9.-
14
Sept. 28	William Byrd Esqr Dr
	To Binding an 8vo Prayer Book, gilt Edges		4.-6
	Robert Hutchings Dr To Binding
	For a Leger	-24/
	4 Quire blue Paper	4/	1.-8.-
Oct. 8	Sundry Accounts Dr. To Colo John Hunter
	Binding For 6 Cut of Boards @ 16/	£4.-16.-0
	For 12 Sheets Do	-. 2.-6
	2 Doz : Books Gold Leaf	1.-16.-0	6.-14.-6
Oct. 10	Alexander Finnie Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book		7.-
Oct. 11	Colo John Chiswell Dr To Binding
	For a large Leger 6 Quires		1.-10.-
Oct. 15	Roger Dixon Dr To Sundry Accounts
	To Binding For a Blank Book		] 5 [
Oct. 16	Littleton Tazewell Dr To Binding
	For a Record Book		1.-15.-
	Robert Carter Nicholas Dr To Binding
	For a Blank Book		5.-
	Littleton TazeHell Dr To Sundry Accts
	To Binding, For a blank Boole	15/
	1 Do	7/6	1.-2.-6
Oct. 22d	Humphrey Hill Dr To Sundry Accounts
	To Binding, For a blank Book		£1.- 1.-8
Oct. 23	Hugh Miller Dr To Binding
	For a Leger 25/ Alphabet 1/6		1.- 6.-6
Oct. 29	Majr Augustine Clairborne Dr To Sund: Accts
	To Binding
	For a Record Book	26/
	1 Do 1/2 bound	10/	1.-16.-
Oct. 31	Samuel Gordon Dr To Sundry Accounts
	To Binding
	For a large Leger	£1.-10.-
	Alphabet	-.2.-
	a large Journal	1.-10.-
	1 Invoice Book -.9.-
	Cash Book	-.8.-	3.-19.-
	To the Laws stitch'd		1.- 1.-8
15
Oct. 31	Richard Selden (Lancaster) Dr
	To left unpaid for Binding a Bible		2.-6
	Robert Nicholson Dr To Binding
	For a Blank Book		9.-
Nov. 2d	William Byrd Esqr Df
	To the Laws stitch'd		1.- 1.-6
Nov. 5	Thomas Wilkins Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book		8.-
Nov. 6	John Hood Dr To Binding
	For a blank Book	1.-1.-8
	To the Laws stitch'd	1.-1.-8
Nov. 7	Robert Carter Esqr Dr
	To the Laws Stitch'd		1.- 1.-8
Nov. 8	Doctr James Carter Dr To Binding
	For a Letter Book	8/
	a Quarto Blank Book	6/	14.-
Nov. 19	Almanacks 1752 Dr To Sundry Accounts viz
	To Paper	£ 5.-
	Printing	6.-10.-
	Binding	2.-10.-
	Sundry Accounts Drs To Thomas Penman viz…
	Binding For Boards		1. - 1.-6
Nov. 20	Nathl Walthoe Esqr Dr To Binding
	For a blank Book	2/
	Stitching a Manuscript	1/3
Nov. 26	John Randolph Esqr Dr To Binding
	To the Laws stitch'd	1.-1.-6
Nov. 27	Peyton Randolph Esqr Dr
	To the Laws stitch'd		1. -1.6
	Benja. Bryan Dr
	To Binding a Book		£ 3.-
	Dr. Kenneth McKenzie Dr To Binding
	For a blank Book		1.-3
Nov. 29	Capt Wm Taylor Dr
	To the Laws stitch'd		1.- 1.-6
16
Dec. 4	Laws Dr To Sundry Accounts viz
	Paper For 360 Rms	@ 10/	£180
	Printing
	For Composing 103 Sheets	@ 7/	36.-1.-
	Press Work @ 9/4 pr Sheet		48.-1.-4
	Ink Wear and Tear &c		20
			104.-2.-4
		[Total]	284.-2.-4
Dec. 10	Colo Edward Digges Dr
	To the laws stitch'd		1.-1.-6
Dec. 11	Colo Benja Harrison Dr To the Laws
	For a Copy stitch'd		1.-1.-6
Dec. 13	Colo William Randolph Dr To Binding
	For 2 blank Books 5/ 2 Memo Books 1/3	6.-3
	To 2 Gilt Prayer Books	18.-	1.-4.-3
	Robert Craig Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book	25/
	1 Do 10/10 1 Do 8/6	19/4	2.-4.-4
	Robt Carter Nicholas Dr
	To a marbled Almanack		1.-
Dec, 14	Binding [Dr To Colo John Hunter]
	For 20 Doz: Calf Skins	£ 27.-.-
	20 Doz: Sheep Skins	15.-10.-
		42.-10.-
	60 pr Ct Advance	25.-10.-	£ 68.-.-
Dec. 17	Wm Byrd Esqr Dr
	To a marbled Almanack		1.-
	Jame s Pride Dr
	To the Laws stitch'd		1.-1.-6
	Archibald Cary Dr
	To the Laws stitch'd		1.-1.-6
	John Norton Dr
	To the Laws Stitch'd		1.-1.-6
Dec. 26	Elisa Bassett Dr
	To a marbled Almanack		1.-
17
Dec. 30	Sundry Accounts Dr To James Carter
	Binding For Red Skins	7/	7.-
Dec. 31	Bookbinding Dr To John Stretch
	For his Wages from the 14th of January to this Day		£38.15
	Gazettes Dr To Sundry Accounts
	To Binding
	For making up		20.0.-
	To Paper
	For 104 Rms @ 13	£ 67.-12.-
	outside Paper 5 f. 72.-12.-
	To Printing
	For Composing 52 Sheets	@ 21/3	£ 55.-
	Press Work		13.-17.-4
	Wear & Tear		10.-
			78.-17.-4
	To Binding
	For making up		20
			171.-9.-4
	Davis's Poems Dr To Sundry Accounts
	To Paper For 18 Rms	@ 15/	£ 13.-.10.-
	To Printing
	For Composing 9½ Sheets	£ 7.-2.-6
	Press Work @ 5/4 pr Sheet	2.-10.-8
	Wear and Tear &c	3.-	12.-13.-2
	To Binding		7.-10.-
			33.-13.-2

1751-1752

Jan. 2	Hugh Orr Dr To Binding
	For a blank Book		4.-6
Jan. 6	John Thompson Dr To Binding (Hanover)
	For an Account Book rul'd
	3 Qrs Demy	19/6	19.-6.-
Jan. 10	Richard Ta11iafero Dr To Binding
	For a blank Book		2.-6
	Colo Daniel Parke Custis Dr To Binding		1.-
	To a marbled Almanack
Jan. 13	George Wythe Dr
	To Binding the Laws		5.-
Jan. 14	John Cooper Dr To Binding
	For two Blank Books		18.-
18
Jan. 23	David Middleton Dr
	To Binding for Day Book	8/
Jan. 25	The Honble Philip Ludwell Esqr Dr
	To Binding for 2 blank Books	5/	5.-
Jan. 27	Doctr James Carter Dr To Binding
	For a Day Book		8.-
Jan. 28	James Graham Dr To Binding
	For a large Leger, Royall	£ 2.-6
	a Journal	1.-.-	3.-6.-
Jan. 29	Almanacks Dr To Sundry Accts
	Paper		£1.- 7.-
	Printing		1.-
	Binding		10.-
			£ 2.-17.-
Feb. 3d	Thomas Everard Dr
	To ½ binding Paper		-"] 2.-6
Feb. 4	Honble Philip Ludwell Dr To Binding
	For two Paper Books 4to Demy @ 2/6		] 5 [
Feb. 8	Thomas Dickeson Dr
	To Binding a Book		2.-
Feb. 10	Cary Mitche11 Dr To Binding
	For a blank Book		9.-6
	Colo Richard Cocke Dr
	To Binding a Prayer Book		2.- 6
	Revd Wm Preston Dr To Binding
	For 2 Sermon Books		1.-
Feb. 12	Doctr Patrick Adams Dr
	To the Laws stitch'd		1.-1.-6
Feb. 13	York County Dr To Binding
	For a Record Book		1.- 8.-
Feb. 17	Charles Turnbull Dr To Binding
	For a Leger	1.-10.-
	Alphabet	-.2.-
	Record Book	1.-6.-	2.-18.-
19
Feb. 17	James Starke Dr To Binding
	For a Leger	£ 1.-10.-
	Alphabet	2	1.-12.-
Feb. 18	Richard Weir Dr To Binding
	For a large Leger retd	£ 2.-12.-
	Journal	2.- 6.-
	Alphabet	4.-	[5.-2.-]
Feb. 19	Christopher Ford Dr To Binding
	For a blank Book
	George Wythe Dr To Binding
	For a Leger		1.-5.-
	Thomas Dickeson Dr
	To Binding a Book		1.-3
Feb. 21	Messrs Boyd and Aitchison Dr To Binding
	For a large Leger and Alphabet	£ 2.-6
	a Journal	1.-5	3.-11.-
Feb. 24	Edward Bowcock Dr To Binding
	For 1 blank Book		2.-6
	Binding Dr To David Jameson	Sterlg
	For 6-4 Qrs rul'd Books 4/	£1.- 4.-
	2-5 Qrs 4/9	9.-6
	1-6 Do	5.-6
	1-4 Do bound in Calf	11.-
	3-6 Do Do @ 12/6	1.-17.-6
	3-6 Do Do 14/	2.- 2.-
	2-7 Do Do 16/	1.-12.-
	5 Marbled Books 10½d	4.-4½
	18 Do 4to 3½	5.-3
	6 round Rulers 6	2.-6
	1 Sett of Instruments	9.-
	6 Pounce Boxes	1.-
	6 Leather Letter Cases 10½d	5.-3
		9.- 8.-10
	60 Pr Ct	5.-13.- 4
	Box	1.-6	15.-3.-8½
Feb. 24	Binding Dr To Richard Wier
	For a Leger return'd		2.-12.-
Feb. 26	Joseph Scrivener Dr To Binding
	For an Alphabet		2.-
20
Feb. 27	Landon Carter Esqr Dr.
	To Binding For a blank Book	9/	9.-
	John Randolph Esqr Dr
	To Binding For 1 blank Book	7/1 Do 2/	9.-
Feb. 29	John Mercer Esqr Dr
	To Binding For 1 Quarto Paper Book		9.-
March 4	Alexander Finnie Dr To Binding
	For a blank Book		6.-
March 5	Binding Dr To the Honble Wm Nelson
	For 3 blank Books	@ 17/6
	Alexander Finnie Dr To Binding
	For a small blnk Book		.-7½
	Charles Turnbull Dr To Binding
	For a Journal		1.- 5.-
	James Starke Dr To Binding
	For a Journal		1.- 5.-
March 6	John Peter Dr		13.-
	To Binding a large Church Bible		13.-
March 9	Treasury of Virginia Dr To Binding
	For 2 Quires of best Post	5/
	For a blank Book rul'd	5/	10.-
March 10	Geo: Wm Fairfax Dr To Binding
	For a Turkey Pocket Book		5.-9
	George Davenport Dr To Binding
	For 1 Calf Pocket Book		3.-9
March 13	Colo Richard Randolph Dr
	To 1 marbled Almank		1.-
March 14	Capt Gwyn Reade Dr
	To Binding, For a letter Case		5.-9
March 17	Clement Reade Dr To Binding
	For 2 Record Books 6 Qrs @ 26/	£ 2.-12
	1 Do 5 Qrs	1.- 5.-
	1 Do 4 Qrs	1.- .-
	Binding 3 Books	3.-9
	To Bibles for 1 large Folio Do	3.- .-
	1 8 vo Prayer book with Cuts	16.-	8.-16.-9
21
March 20	Capt Gwyn Reade Dr To Binding
	For 1 Pocket Case	3/9
	1 Qr Paper	1/6	5.-3
	Geo: Wm Fairfax Esqr Dr
	To 2 Marb1ed ALmanacks		2.-
	Francis Eppes Junr Dr
	To Binding a Bible for Mrs Fitzgerald		9.-
March 24	Thomas Jarrell Dr To Binding
	For a LetterCase		2.-6
March 25	Ralph Worme1ey Esqr Dr
	To 1 marbled Almanack		1.-
April 6	Honble John Grymes' Estate Dr To Binding
	For a large Turkey Pocket Case and 4 blank Books		14.-10
April 8	Colo Joshua Fry Dr
	To 1 marbled Almanack	1/
	To Binding for a Turkey Letter Case	5/9	6.-9
	John Mercer Esqr Dr To Binding
	For a Letter Case		2.-6
April 10	Christopher Robinson Esqr Dr
	To Binding Dr Read's Magazine		2.-6
April 11	George Braxton's Estate Dr
	To Binding, For a Blank Book		2.-
April 14	Sundry Accounts Drs To Littleton Eyre, viz
	Binding, For sundry Books when return'd		1.- 4.-
	Littleton Eyre Dr To Binding
	For sundry Books (ut supra) til return'd		1.- 4.-
April 15	Accounts Drs To Colo John Hunter
	Binding
	For 1000 wt. Pasteboard for Folios	£8.- .-
	500 Do for octavos	4.-
	40 Doz: Calf Skins @ 26/	50.-
	20 Doz: Sheep @ 16
	3 Dozen Books Gold leaf	2.-14.-
	2 Dozen red Bazil Skins	1.- 4.-
	60 pr Ct Advance	49.- 2.-9½	131.-0.-9½
22
April 16	Colo Lewis Burwell Jas City Dr To Bought Books
	For Stackhouses Divinity	1.-5.-
	50 Pr Cent	12.-6
	To Binding the same	12.-6
April 18	Majr Peter Hedgman Dr
	To Binding, for a Letter Case 5/9	5.-9
	John Holt, Wmsburg Dr
	To 1 Davies' Poems ½ bound		2.-6
April 18	Saml Wallace Dr
	To Binding Pamphlets		1.-6
April 21	Capt Thomas Reynolds Dr
	To Binding a Book		1.-3
April 22	George Braxton's Est. Dr To Binding
	For a letter Case		3.-9
April 24	William Burton (Charles City) Dr
	To Binding, For a letter Case with his Name		6.-4½
	John Tarpley Dr To Binding
	For 4 Paper Books		4.-
April 25	John Page Esqr Dr
	To the Laws stitch'd		1.- 1.-6
	Colo James Baker Dr To Binding
	For two Record Books	@ 26/
April 27	Sundry Accounts Drs to Majr Dandridge viz
	Binding, for Abatement		4.-
April 28	Thomas Atchison Dr
	To 1 marbled Almanack		1.-
April 29	Richard Talliafero Dr To Binding
	For a blank Book		2.-
April 29	Theodorick Blank Dr To Binding
	For a Record Book		2.- 5.-
May 4	Alexander Finnie Dr To Binding
	For an Account Book		10.-
23
May 13	John Flemming Dr To Sundry Accounts viz
	Binding, For a Letter Case		5.-
	Colo Philip Ludwell Dr To Bt Books
	For the Art of preserving Health		2.-6
	To Binding Do with other Pamphlets		2.-
			4.-6
May 16	James Davis Dr To Sundry Accounts, as per
	Waste Book, and Account deliv'd viz
	Binding		17.-10.-2
	Doctr Kenneth McKenzie (Wmsburg) Dr
	To Binding a Musick Book		2.-6
May 26	Edward Bowcock Dr To Binding
	For a Pocket Book		3.-9
May 27	John Hulett Dr To Binding
	For a Pocket Book		3.-9
May 29	Capt. Wm Hockaday Dr To Binding
	For a Leger and Alphabet		10.-6
June 2	Colo John Ruffin Dr
	Binding, For a blank Book		1.-
	Joseph Davenport Dr To Binding
	For a Musick Book		4.-
June 2	Charles Jones Dr To Binding
	For a Leger and Alphabet		10.-6
June 3	Bought Books Dr
	To Binding		5.-.-
	Bought Books Dr To Sundry Accounts
	For the Planter's Physician viz
	Paper	6.-5
	Printing	2.-9
	Binding	2.-
	Simon Centour Dr To Sundry Accounts
	For the Journals viz
	Paper	£ 20
	Printing	13.-10
	Binding	3.	36.-10
24
June 4	David Hunter Dr
	To binding a Prayer Book		1.-3
June 5	William Newell Dr To Binding
	For a Leger and Alphabet		10.-6
June 9	Roger Atkinson Dr To Binding
	For 3 blank Books		2.-6
	William Seller Dr To Binding
	For a blank Book Demy bound in Vellum		1.- .-
	George Webb Dr To Binding
	For 1 Journal bound in Vellum	1.-4.-
	1 Leger bound in Calf	1.-4.-	2.-8.-
	William Stevenson Dr To Binding
	For a Leger 25/ a Journal 25/		2.-10.-
June 11	Robert Lang1ey Dr To Binding
	For 2 blank Account Books	£ 3.-
	Alphabet	1.-6	3.-1.-6
	Robert Jones Dr To Binding
	For a blank Book		1.-3
	George Noble Dr To Binding
	For an Alphabet		2.-6
	Honble Peter Randolph Dr To Binding
	For a blank Book		2.-
June 12	Colo John Hunter Dr
	To Binding For 2 Vols Valet		10.-
June 13	Willm Byrd Esqr Dr To Binding
	For a Turkey Pocket Book		6.-3
	John Hyndman Dr
	Binding, For two blank Books		1.-
	John Hall Dr (Amelia)
	To Binding—For a Turkey Pocket Case		6.-3
June 16	Roger Dixon Dr
	To Binding an old one [book]		.-6
June 17	George Braxton's Estate Dr
	Binding for 2 blank Books		11.-
25
June 19	Majr Richard Tunstall Dr
	Binding, For a blank Book		.7½
June 23	Benja Bryan Dr
	To Binding a Book		1.-6
June 24	John Clayton Dr (Gloster)
	To Binding a Magazine		2.-6
June 27	Binding Dr To Nicholas Wonnycott
	For 21 lbs Brazil Wood at 9d		15.-9
June 29	Anthony Hay Dr
	Binding — For an Account Book		5.-

APPENDIX II. REFERENCES TO BOOKBINDING IN THE ROYLE DAYBOOK

1764

			[£ s d]
March 5	Colo Landon Carter
	To Printg. & Binding pamphlet
	in Answer to Mr. Camm		18.15. -
March 8	John Randolph, P. Mr. Rose,
	Binding Journals		-. 1. -
March 12	Alexr Craig, P Self
	1 Skin of Morocco Leather		-.12. 6
	John Tabb, Secty Office
	Bindg MSS.	2/	-. 2. -
March 14	Nathl Walthoe, Esq: P. Mr. Rose
	Binding Council Journals		-1. 6
	Colo Philip Johnson, GAO [General Account Office]
	Bindg Fo Bible		-.17. 6
	George Wilson
	Do Geo. of G. Britain		-.11. 3
	Benjamin Waller
	Do Salkeld's Reports	10/
	do Laws ½ bound	5/	-.15. -
	John Mercer
	Do 2 Vols Gazettes		-. 8. -
	William & Mary College,
	Charter, gilt		-. 4.-
	Peter Johnston
	Do Death of Abel		-. 2. -
March 17	Capt Henry Timberlake
	Lettering a Pocket Book		-. 2. 6
March 28	Catherine Blaikley P Self
	Binding & Lettering a Prayer Book		-. 3. 9
April 5	Henry Washington
	Binding a Prayer Book		-. 3. 9
April 10	Col John Tarpley P Mr Griffin
	Binding 2 Books		-. 6. 3
2.
April 11	Revd John Camm, To GAO
	Printing & bindg 500 Copies of
	The Colo Reconnoitred		20. -. -
May 22	Hugh Walker P Self
	Binding a Bible for William Gardener		-. 3. 9
	John Robinson, College now located in College of William & Mary library
	Binding Schreveli Lexicon … 4to		-.10. -
May 23	Hon. Peter Randolph
	Binding 3 Qrs Sinl & 3 Qrs dble Bonds		1.10. -
	Robert Ballard
	2 Qrs Admrs Bonds — 2 Qrs Exrs Bonds
	2 Qrs Orphan's Bonds. Binding Ditto		1. 5. 6
June 14	James Milner GAO
	Binding Law forms		-. 6. 3
July 6	Robert Prentice P Self
	Binding Music Book		-. 3.9
July 17	Hon. Francis Fauquier Esqr
	Binding one Vol of Letters		-. 5. -
July 20	Thomas Everard,
	Binding a blank Book in ruff Calf		-.15. -
August 7	Thomas Everard
	Binding Record Book		-.15. -
August 11	Col. Robert Bolling Junr
	Binding 2 music Books		-. 4. -
	Lettering 3 Books		-. 1. 3
August 24	David Jameson GAO
	Lettering Popes Works 9 Vol )
	Do The World 6 Vol ) 16 Vols
	Do Cooks Pantheon 1 Vol) at 7½d P Vol		-.10. -
Sept. 6	John Tazewell, P Note.
	Lettering sundry Books, viz 33 Vols at 7½d		1. -.7½
	Bathurst Skelton,
	Lettering Paradise Lost — 2 vols		-. 1. 3
Sept. 8	George Pitt P
	Lettering 16 Books at 7½		-.10. -
	Honl John Blair
	Binding 4to Manuscript		-.12. 6
3.
Sept. 13	Col. John Baylor
	Binding 6 Vols. of Modern History	3/9	1. 2. 6
	Ditto 2 Vols. Magazines	2/6	-. 5. -
Sept. 15	Wilson Cary Esqr
	Binding 1 Vol. of London Magazine	3/9
	Ditto 1 Vol. of Plays	3/9
	Allan Macrae
	Binding 1 Vol. of Universal Museum		-. 3. 9
Sept. 18	Thomas Everard
	Binding Order Book		-.15. -
Oct. 3	Hon John Blair Esqr
	Binding & Lettering Prince George rent Roll		-.15. -
	Thomas Jefferson
	Lettering 18 Books	-.11.3
	Binding Ecclesiastical History, fo gilt	-.15.-
	Rostall's Coll. of Statutes do	-.15.-
	Satyricon, Morrocco gilt 8vo	-.10.-
	Pleasures of Imagination 8vo	-. 3.9	2.15. -
Oct. 4	James Blair
	Binding 2 Manuscripts		-. 2. 6
Oct. 9	John Coke GAO
	Binding folio Bible, ruff Calf		-.17. 6
	William Griffin
	Do Hammond's New Testament	17/6
	2 Folios Do Anotations on the Pentateuch	15/9
Oct. 10	Frederick Eppes GAO
	Binding a Drawing Book		-. 6. 3
Oct. 11	George Powell, Gloster
	Binding Bible		-. 3. 9
Nov. 7	Hon. John Blair
	Binding Blank Book		-.12. 6
Nov. 13	Hon John Blair
	Binding & Lettering Isle of Wte rent Roll		-. 1.6
Nov. 15	Revd William Robinson
	Binding a Bible for Mrs Tebbs		-.10. -
Nov. 29	Col John Randolph
	Binding Journals of the H. of B. 2 Vols		-.10. -
4.
Dec. 1	Hon. John Blair
	Binding a Manuscript Book		-.12. 6
Dec. 8	Col John Syme P Self
	1 Almanack bound in Morocco		-. 5. -
	Col John Baylor P Mr Pendleton
	1 Almanack bound in Morocco		-. 5. -
Dec. 10	Hon. John Tayloe
	Binding List of Horse Matches		-. 2. -
Dec. 19	Samuel Tarry
	For Binding Smollet's History 11 Vols		1.13. -
Dec. 20	Anthony Halke P Self
	Bindg a Book		-. 2. -
Dec. 21	James Taylor, Mercht in Norfolk
	2 Blank Books each 2 Quires Post, bound in Calf		2. 5. -
Dec. 22	Haldy Dixon,
	Binding a Book		-. 2 . -

1765

Feb. 5	Hon. Francis Fauquier Esqr
	Binding 2 Vols of Letters		-.10. -
March 1	Col Thomas Tabb.
	Binding 2 broad Royal blank Books)
	in ruff Calf … each 4½ Quires)		2.10. -
	NB sent P Post to Petersburg
March 11	Thomas Everard,
	Binding small order Book 4to		-. 3. 9
March 12	James Martin P Self
	1 Book of Gold Leaf		-. 5. -
March 30	Hon. Thomas Nelson
	Binding a Prayer Book		-. 3. -
April 5	Sundry Accounts Dr to G.A.O.
	Col. Richard Bland for Printing and)
	Binding Common Sense )		20. -
	Sundry Accounts Dr to GAO
	Revd John Camm, for Addition to Printg and
	Binding 500 Copies of the Col Reconnoitred		3. -. -
5.
April 15	Thomas Claiborne,
	Binding Coke on Littleton		1. -. -
May 4	John Mercer
	Binding Museum Rusticum, 2 Vols
	NB Sent P Bartholomew Barrett, in your Schooner.
May 8	Colo Robert Bolling Junr
	Binding 2 Vols Voltiar's Hist. Russia, gilt	7/6
	Do 1 Italian Grammar 12o	2/6	-.10. -
June 8	Philip Johnson,
	Binding a Prayer Book in morrocco 8vo gilt		-. 7. 6
June 11	Jerman Baker
	Lettering 13 Books at 7£	-.8.1½
	Binding Candidus	-.2.-	-.10. 1½
	William Waters
	Binding Corelis Sonate, lettd 4to		-. 8. 9
June 16	Adam Hunter P. Self
	Binding Smollet's Continuation 4 vols		-.15. -
June 19	Hon. John Blair,
	Binding Amelia rent roll folio		-.15. -
	Daniel Barraud,		-. 3. 9
	½ Binding a Blank Book		-. 3. 9
June 27	George Davenport,
	Binding Mrs. Ballard's Prayer Book		-. 3. 9
	Col. Robert Bolling,
	Binding Council of Trent, folio, gilt & Letter'd	15/
	Do Baconi Historia, Henrici Septimi, do	2/6	-.17. 6
	Thomas Jefferson, Do History Virginia, 4to	8/9
	William Trebell, Do Spratt's Royal Society 4to	7/6	1.13. 9
June 29	Thomas Everard,
	Binding Order Book, in Vellum		-.15. -
July 3	Col. Robert Bolling Junr
	Lettering Pope's Works, 9 Vols for Miss Sally Waters		-. 5. 7½
Aug. 10	Samuel Gist P Letter
	2 Small blank Books, bound in ruff calf		-.12. 6
Aug. 17	Frederick Bryan,
	Binding Receipt Book		-. 1. 6
6.
Aug. 28	Revd David Mossom,
	Binding a Bible		-. 5. -
	John Gilchrist,
	Ditto Love Elegies		-. 2. -
Aug. 31	James Anderson, Blacksmith
	Binding a Quarto Bible in ruff Calf		-.10. -
Sept. 4	Nathaniel Walthoe
	Binding the Council Journal		-. 1. 6
Sept. 7	John Scammell,
	Binding Hudson's Josephus		-.12. 6
Oct. 3	Col. John Randolph P Mr. Bruce
	Binding the Journal of the House of Burgesses		-. 2. 6
Oct. 28	Wilson Cary,
	Binding London Magazine for 1764		-. 3. 9
	Thomas Jefferson,
	Do Bacon's Philosophy		-. 2. -
Dec. 2	Robert Bolling Junr
	Binding Opere di Virgilio, gilt		-. 3. -
Dec. 19	Hble Robert Carter
	½ Binding 3 folio Sonates 6/3	18.9
	½ Binding 2 thin ¼ MUsick Books 2/	4.-	1.29. -

1766

Jan. 22	Thomas Everard,
	Binding a Blank Book	-. 4.-

APPENDIX III. IMPRINTS EXAMINED FOR BINDINGS

1727
12. MARYLAND, PROVINCE OF. A Compleat Collection of the Laws of Maryland. With an Index, and Marginal Notes, directing to the several Laws, and the chief Matters contained in them. Collected and Printed by Authority. [Baltimore Arms] Annapolis: Printed by William Parks. MDCCXXVII,

BBA copy rebound
NYBA copy rebound
NYPL copy original, much worn, blind-tooled calf
MassHS copy original binding, includes session laws of 1727
AAS copy original binding (has copy of "adv. to reader")
MassHS 4 copies, one uncatalogued with unusual tools in blind —
3 others in blind with Bradford tools
MdHR copy original boards blind tooled
BPratt copy rebound
B Legislative Reference copy rebound
Peabody copy rebound
HULL copy original boards, blind tooled, also spine
HSP copy rebound?
MdSL copy rebound
MdJHU copy rebound (was property of Anne Arundel County Court and John Brice — is imperfect)
MdJHU (Garrett) copy rebound (was property of St. Margaret's Westminster Parish, Anne Arundel County)
MdDioc copy in original boards, blind tooled, Bradford tools
U. S. Department of Justice copy (John Leeds, John Leeds Bozman, John Bozman Kerr) rebound
LC 3 copies, 2 rebound, one has Jonas Green? tools
Huntington copy panelled calf, gold tooled spine
Mass. State Lib. copy rebound
Columbia U. Law Lib. copy rebound
NYHS copy (Brinley #3658) original panelled calf, gold letters "Laws/ or/Maryland / 1727" (Parks fleuron) sold for $42.00 at Brinley sale; see entry in NYSL copy
NYSL copy rebound
ICN (Newberry) copy original panelled calf (adv. to reader erased from inside back cover) see rub (worn)
U.Va. (McGregor) copy original panelled calf (see rub)

1728
17. HOLDSWORTH, EDWARD. Muscipula, sive Karnbpomyomaxia. Authore
E. Holdsworth e ColI. Magd. Oxon. … Annapoli: Impensis R. L.
Typis W. p. M.DCC.XXVIII. [Second title]: The Mouse-Trap, or the Battle of the Cambrians and Mice. A Poem. Translated into English, by R. Lewis. … Annapolis: Printed for the Author, by W. Parks. M.DCC.XXVIII.

Pages 68. 6 7/8 x 4 3/16 inches.
LeC. MdHS. (both imperfect). Huntington (perfect). W. 43
LEWIS, RICHARD, translator, see preceding entry.

LC copy blind tooled original boards, gilt edges
MdHS copy blind tooled original boards, gilt edges
Huntington copy black morocco, gold tooled panels

1731
The complete mariner: or, A treatise of navigation trigonometrically, by logarithmetical numbers, and the geometrical construction by scale and compass. Also the orthographic projection of the sphere astronomically. Williamsburg: Printed, February the 18th, 1731. E. L. James Hubard.
[56] By p. illus. 38 x 24 cm. leather bound.

Title page and eight lines on next page are printed; remainder is in manuscript.

CWI copy original boards, blind tooled

1733
66. LESLIE, C. A Short and Easy Method with the Deists, … The Fifth Edition. … Printed and Sold by William Parks, at his Printing-Offices in Williamsburg, and Annapolis. 1733.
Pages 90. 12mo.
Advertised as "Lately Publish'd" in the Maryland Gazette for May 17-24, 1734, No. LXIV. A copy was sold at the Brinley Sale, No. 3818, but its present whereabouts is unknown to the compiler.

CT. 122 A

LC copy rebound (is Brinley #3818)

1733
70. VIRGINIA, COLONY OF. A Collection of all the Acts of Assembly, Now in Force, in the Colony of Virginia. With the Titles of Such as are Expir'd, or Repeal'd. And Notes in the Margin, shewing how, and at what Time, they were Repeal'd. Examin'd with the Records, By a Committee appointed for that Purpose. Who have added Many useful Marginal Notes, and References: And an exact Table. Publish'd, pursuant to an Order of the GenerAl Assembly, held at Williamsburg, in the Year M,DCC,XXVII. [Seal of the colony.] Williamsburg: Printed by William Parks. M,DCC,XXXIII.
Pages 628. 13 x 8 ¼ inches.
VSL. JCB. BPL. NYPL. VSLL. NYHS. NYBA. LC. NYSL. BM. PRO.
The JCB and the LC copies have two leaves following the title page containing the names of the subscribers to the book.

CT. 124; S. 22517

Peabody copy rebound
BBA copy rebound
NYBA copy rebound
NYPL copy rebound
H HULL copy rebound
VSL 3 copies
JCB copy plain contemporary binding
CWI copy rebound, includes session laws of 1734, 1736, 1738, 1740, 1742.
Philadelphia Library Company copy original boards plain? blind tooled board edges
BPL copy rebound 19th century
Duke copy rebound
VHS copy Robinson Memorial rebacked original boards, plain fillet lines
VHS additional copy?
LC (Jefferson Collection Law #13) copy rebound by TJ (includes session laws of 1734, 1736, 1738, 1740, 1742)
LC Law Lib. copy rebound 19th or 20th century ½ binding.
LC Law Lib. copy 3? imperfect, rebound U. S. Department of Justice copy rebound
Huntington 2 copies, original boards
Mass. State Lib. copy rebound
Columbia U. Law Lib. copy rebound
NYHS 2 copies — Prior and Dunning copy rebound in ½ calf and marble paper, has copy of Hugh Orr letter inside; De Peyster copy original calf, blind tooled borders and board edges
U.Va. Law Lib. copy rebound
NYSL copy rebound in ½ calf and marble paper, t.p. missing, 622 pp.
Mr. Robert T. Armistead, Hilliamsburg, Va. —

1736
86. WEBB, GEORGE. The Office and Authority of a Justice of Peace.
… By George Webb, Gent. One of His Majesty's Justices of Peace of the County of New-Kent. Williamsburg: Printed by William Parks,
M,DCC,XXXVI.
Pages 378. 7 7/8 x 5 1/8 inches
VSL. VHS. LC. NYPL. JCB.

CT. 134; S. 22524

NYPL copy rebound
MassHS plain double fillet in blind, board edges in blind
HULL copy rebound
JCB copy plain binding
AAS copy post-colonial ½ calf and marble paper
U.Va. 2 copies, one blind tooled on smooth green calf, other in McGregor Collection rebound
VSL copy rebound (xxk77.V75.W3.1736)
Peabody copy rebound
LC copy rebound
Duke copy rebound
VHS copy original boards, rebacked. Inlaid red morocco gold tooled name plate on front, otherwise plain
LC (Jefferson Collection Law #359) copy rebound
Huntington copy rebound
Norfolk Public Library copy plain contemporary calf, ruled double fillets and applied label with gold letters (copy bought from Stevens, 1928)
NYSL copy rebound — defective — lacks pp. vii-viii and pp. of Index after "Jurors."
Mr. Thomas Hill of King Hilliam County has a repaired copy double fillet lines, otherwise plain

1736
87. WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. The Charter, and Statutes of the College of William and Mary, in Virginia. In Latin and English. Williamsburg: Printed by William Parks, M,DCC,XXXVI.

Pages 124. 7 7/8 x 4 ¾ inches.
LC. JCB.

CT. 135

LC copy rebound, but has gilt edges
CWM copy gilt red morocco, gilt edges and board edges
JCB copy gilt green or blue morocco, gilt edges and board edges

1737
94. MERCER, JOHN. An Exact Abridgement of all the Public Acts of Assembly, of Virginia, in Force and Use. … By John Mercer, Gent.
Williamsburg: Printed by William Parks. M,DCC ,XXXVII.

Pages 476. 7 11/16 x 4 15/16 inches.
See the Virginia Gazette for July 14, 1738.
VSL. HSP. BPL. NYPL. NYHS. NYBA. 10. JCB.

CT. 142; S. 22525

NYBA copy rebound
BBA copy original plain binding
NYBA copy rebound
HU (Houghton) repaired plain 18th century binding; something indecipherable on board edges
NYPL copy (also 1739 Supplement) rebound
HULL 2 copies — one rebound, one repaired plain calf with indecipherable board edges
AAS copy either plain or rebound
JCB plain except board edges
BPL copy handsome contemporary binding, gilt tooled spine
VSL 2 copies?
HSP rebound copy in C. Tower Collection?
CWI copies
Duke copy rebound CWM 2 copies — one in original boards, one rebound
VHS 2 copies — one rebound, one plain
LC (Jefferson Collection Law #294) copy plain, repaired calf as HULL copy
LC Law Lib. 2 copies — one rebound, one plain calf, plain double fillet, indecipherable board edges, label (as in TJ's copy) reads
"VIRGINIA / LAWS / ABRIDG'D" — this copy was Peter Force's
Huntington 2 copies, one rebound
Mass. State Lib. copy rebound
NYHS copy plain contemporary calf blind double fillets and board edges
Mr. Joseph A. Leslie of Norfolk — The Ledger Dispatch — has a repaired, original calf, plain double fillets, corners chewed

1740
107. GIBSON, EDMOND. The Sacrament of The Lord's Supper explain'd:
… By The Right Reverend Father in God, Edmund Lord Bishop of London. To which is added, The Holy Days, or the Feasts and Fasts, as they are to be observed in the Church of England, Explain'd: and the Reasons why they are Yearly Celebrated. Williamsburg: Printed and Sold by H. Parks. 1740.
Pages 128.
Second title:
Family-Devotions: or, an Exhortation to Morning and Evening Prayer in Families.… By the Right Reverend Father in God, Edmund, Lord Bishop of London. The Tenth Edition. Williamsburg: Printed by Wi11iam Parks, 1740.
Pages 56.
Third title:
The Holy Days Or The Feasts and Fasts, … Williamsburg: Printed by William Parks, 1740.
Pages 48. The three items above form a 16 mo. volume with separate title pages and pagination.
HSP. VHS (imp.)

CT. 160

VHS copy original boards, crudely rebacked, plain
VSL copy at least one original board, plain double fillets

1743
121. BISCOE, ROBERT. The Merchant's Magazine; or, Factor's Guide.
Containing, great Variety of plain and easy Tables for the speedy Casting up of all Sorts of Merchandize, sold either by Number, Weight, or Measure: ° By Robert Biscoe, of Lancaster County. [Engraved ornament]. Williamsburg: Printed by William Parks. M.DCC.XLIII.

Large 12° [narrow] A-Z⁴, Aa-L1⁴, Mm²; 138 leaves; pp. 1-276;
p. 1: title as above, verso blank; pp. 3-4: "The Preface", dated "Virginia, Lancaster County, July 8, 1742", with ornamental initial and engraved tail piece; p. 5: blank; pp. 6-270: text, in Sections I to VII, each section followed by a number of practical examples showing the application of the tables; pp. 271-276: "The Contents." 7 9/16 x 3 1/8 inches.
The name of Robert Biscoe of Lancaster was in the list of subscribers to the Collection of the Acts of Virginia issued by Parks in 1733.
LC. JCB.

NYPL copy rebound
JCB copy plain binding
LC copy rebound
Huntington copy, sheep, rebacked

1744
126. The Treaty Held with the Indians of the Six Nations, At Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, in June, 1744. To which is prefix'd an Account of the first Confederacy of the Six Nations, their present Tributaries, Dependents, and Allies, and of their Religion, and form of Government.
Williamsburg: Printed and Sold by William Parks. [1744.]

Pages 92. 8 ¼ x 4 7/8 inches
BA. NYPL. JCB. NYHS. HU. Newberry.

CT. 175

NYPL copy rebacked plain 19th century calf
BA copy rebound
HU (Houghton) 19th century ½ calf
JCB copy plain contemporary binding
CWM copy?
NYHS copy in Rufus King's Vols. of pamphlets
ICN (Ayer) copy rebound

1744
123. SHERLOOK, WILLIAM, D.D. A practical Discourse concerning Death. By William Sherlock, D.D. Late Dean of St. Paul's. The Twentieth Edition. London Printed and Reprinted by William Parks, in Williamsburg, MDCCXLIV.

8vo. A⁴, B-U⁸, X⁴; 160 leaves;-pages [i-viii], 1-310, [3ll-3l2]; p. [i]: title, verso blank; pp. [iii-iv]: dedication, signed "W. Sherlock.", "To the Worshipful the Masters of the Bench, and the Rest of the Members of the Two Honourable Societies of the Temple."; pp. [v-vi]: "The Contents."; pp. [vii-viii]: poem, "To Dr. Sherlock, on His Discourse concerning Death.", with head piece; pp. 1-310: text, with heading: "A Practical Discourse concerning Death.", with one line quoted from IX. Heb. xxvii; last leaf, blank, but genuine. Leaf 7 1/8 x 4 ½. Type page 146 x 83 mm.
The Rosenbach Company (now JCB plain contemporary calf)

LC 2 copies — Jefferson Collection BT 825.S55 1744 rebound; other copy American Imprints 1749 has John Carr's signature, rebound at LC 1904
Huntington copy, sheep, blind tooled

1746
136. THE WHOLE DUTY of Man: … With Private Devotions for several Occasions. Williamsburg: Reprinted by W. Parks, M,DCC,XLVI.

Pages 408. 6 x 3 ½ inches. JCB.

Evans 5888

CWI has two copies
JCB copy spine border blind tooling
ICU copy (not seen)

1747
138. STITH, WILLIAM. The History of the First Discovery and Settlement of Virginia: Being an Essay towards a General History of this Colony. By William Stith, A.M. Rector of Henrico Parish, and one of the Governors of William and Mary College… Williamsburg, Printed by William Parks, M,DCC,XLVII.

[Second title]:
An Appendix to the first Part of the History of Virginia: containing a Collection of such ancient Charters or Letters Patent, as relate to that Period of Time, and are still extant in our Publick Offices in the Capitol, or in other authentic Papers and Records. Williamsburg: Printed by W. Parks, M,DCC,XLVII.

Pages 340; Appendix, pages 40; signatures continuous throughout. 8 1/16 x 5 inches.

See CT. 186 for a comment on the variant issues of this work. Subscriptions for it were taken as early as 1745. See Virginia Gazette, March 21, 1744/45.
VSL. VHS. LC. JCB. AAS. NYPL. Boston PL. BA. NYHS.

CT. 186

NYPL has 3 copies, all rebound
BA copy modern binding
MassHS 2 copies, one rebound by Caleb Cushing in Boston, 1795; other ca. 1850 tooled in gold.
HU (Houghton) copy rebound.
JCB 2 copies — one plain, one double fillet in gold
AAS copy plain, probably rebound post 1800
Peabody copy rebound
VSL has 4 copies (**F229 S84 rebound; **F229 S84 c. 2, plain calf double fillets, t.p. missing) (**F229 S84 c. 3, plain calf, t.p.— p. v missing) (**F229 S85 plain calf, double fillets)
BPL copy rebound
CWI 2 copies, one plain — edge roll in blind; one rebound
Duke copy plain calf
VHS 2 copies — copy (John Tennent) mutilated title page, plain sheets; copy (from Argosy) no title page, calf, plain, fillets
MdDioc copy rebound, imperfect. Title page supplied MS facsimile, pp. iii and iv in modern type (from 1865 edition?)
LC has 3 copies of 1747 edition, none in original binding
Mrs. Coleman has Stith — t.p. missing, boards loose but original, plain fillets and indecipherable board edges
Huntington 3 copies of 1747 Williamsburg, one rebound
Clements 2 copies, one rebound, one "restored"
NYHS copy (John Pintard's) rebound
Norfolk Public Library has rebound copy
NYSL copy rebound — has appendix and is mostly on Parks's own paper
ICN (Ayer) copy — probably rebound — Richard Stark's copy
Mr. G. K. Jones, 512 Lewis Street, Fredericksburg, Va., copy rebound, first 7 pages missing

1748
141. DAVIES, SAMUEL. The impartial Trial, impartially Tried, and convicted of Partiality: in Remarks on Mr. Caldwell's, alias Thornton's Sermon, Intituled, An Impartial Trial of the Spirit, &c. and the Preface of the Publisher in Virginia. To which is added a Short Appendix, proving the Right of the Synod of New-York to the Liberties allowed to Protestant Dissenters, by the Act of Toleration. By Samuel Davies, Minister of the Presbyterian Congregation in Hanover, Virginia. … Williamsburg: Printed by W. Parks,
M,DCC,XLVIII.

Pages 60. 8 x 6 inches.
HSP.

CT. 188

1749
143. THOMSON, JOHN. An Explication of the Shorter Catechism, Composed by the Assembly of Divines, Commonly called, The Westminster Assembly … By John Thomson, M. A. & V. D. M. in the County of Amelia. … Williamsburg: Printed by William Parks. MDCCXLIX.

[Second title]:
An Appendix, Containing the Articles of the Church of England, Agreed upon in a Convocation at London, in the Year 1552, in the Reign of Edward VI, and after-wards confirmed, promulgated, and ratified, in the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth, King James I, and King Charles I. … and which are here reduced into Form of a Catechism; … Together with Nine Assertions of Lambeth, composed in the Year 1595. … And also, an Extract of the Articles of the Church of Ireland, [i. e. Church of England in Ireland.] Agreed upon by the principal Clergy of that Kingdom, in the Year 1615, in Dublin. Williamsburg: Printed by W. Parks, M,DCC,XLIX.

Pages 204; Appendix, pages 22. 7 7/8 x 4 ½ inches.
VHS.

CT. 194

AAS copy plain calf? double fillet lines in blind, blind tooled board edges, sunburst on spine in gold VHS copy, plain sheep, double fillet lines in blind, blind tooled board edges, sunburst on spine in gold
LC copy (American Imprints, 1749) rebound, oversewed
Huntington copy
CWI copy boards missing

1752
147. VIRGINIA, COLONY OF. The Acts of Assembly, Now in Force, in the Colony of Virginia. … Publish'd pursuant to an Order of the General Assembly. [Seal of the colony] Williamsburg: Printed by William Hunter. MDCCLII.

Pages viii, 456. 13 ¾ x 8 7/8 inches.
VSL. VSLL. VHS. NYHS. NYBA. ASS. NYSL. Mass. State Library. LC. NYPL. JCB.

On May 10, 1749, the burgesses appointed a committee to collect the laws as revised in 1748 and to agree with William Parks to print one thousand copies in the same letter and on the same sort of paper as the collection of 1733, to be finished by June 10, 1751.

In his will, dated March 30, 1750, Parks prescribed that his wife Eleanor and his son-in-law John Shelton should "complete printing the Laws of Virginia which I have undertaken." With the assistance of William Hunter, his journeyman and successor, this was accomplished. See the concluding section of the foregoing biographical sketch.

After the publication of this collection Hunter issued separately the twenty laws of an earlier date that had been put in force again by his Majesty's "Repeal of Sundry Acts made in the year 1748." This collection is entered as S. 22558 and as CT. 191. In both cases it is, I believe, improperly entered under the year 1748. See the Journal of the House of Burgesses for November 7, 1753.

BBA copy rebound
NYBA copy rebound
NYPL copy rebound
HU (Houghton) original boards, blind tooled, gilt board edges
HULL original binding, blind tooled AAS original binding, repaired with new "dope"
JCB original binding, blind tooled
LC (Jefferson Collection Law #12) rebound by TJ
Duke copy original boards, board edges tooled in gilt
VHS copy (Robinson Memorial) rebound
VHS copy (J. S. Bryan — John Tayloe of Mount Airy) original calf, gold tooled spine, gold double fillets on boards, board edges in blind
LC (F229 V79 American Imprints 1752) original boards, blind tooled around board edges, bad condition
U. S. Department of Justice copy rebound
Huntington copy, gray boards
MassSL copy, ½ calf and gray boards
Columbia U. Law Lib. copy rebound (includes session laws of 1752)
NYHS copy, contemporary calf, spine edge roll, same gilt board edges as HU (Houghton)
NYSL copy — gilt label with egg and cross, blind tooled board edges, double fillets in blind and seal of Virginia in blind on front board
VSL all rebound

1758. WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. Charter, Transfer and Statutes. [261]

THE / CHARTER, / TRANSFER AND STATUTES, / OF THE / COLLEGE / OF / William and Mary; / IN VIRGINIA: / IN LATIN AND ENGLISH. / WLLIAMSBURG: / PRINTED BY WLLIAM HUNTER. / M DCC LVIII. /
Title page. Text, pp. 4-161. Index, pp. 162-163. Errata, p. 164. 19 x 11.5 em.

Lenox Library [NYPYL] HSP; JCB (lacking pp. 161-164)

NJP copy contemporary morocco, gold tooled
HU copy rebound
NYPL copy rebound (presented by William Dawson to Samuel Davies)
LC copy rebound (marked on inside "Copy 2")
CWM ?
HSP ?

1769
Virginia (Colony) Laws, statutes, etc.
The acts of assembly, now in force, in the Colony of Virginia. With an exact table to the whole. Published by order of the General Assembly. Williamsburg, Printed by W. Rind, A. Purdie and J. Dixon. 1769.
577 pp. 36 cm.

APS copy original boards, blind tooled
Philadelphia Library Company copy original boards, blind tooled
JCB copy original boards, blind tooled
CWM 3 copies, original boards, blind tooled
CWI 4 copies, one rebound
NYPL copy original boards, blind tooled
HU (Houghton) original boards, blind tooled
HULL copy rebound
U.Va. ? copies
Duke copy original boards, blind tooled
VHS copy (Robinson Memorial) rough calf, much rubbed but once had roll along spine
VHS copy (Richard Parker) rough calf, much rubbed
MdDioc copy original rough calf?, blind tooled
LC (Jefferson Collection Law #13) copy rebound by TJ
LC Law Library copy 4 rebound
LC Law Library copy 3 original binding, usual spine roll in blind, with blind tooled board edge
LC Law Library copy 1 rebound
VSL copies rebound
Valentine copy has original boards, spine edge roll
U. S. Department of Justice copy rebound
Huntington copy unfinished calf
Mass. State Lib. copy rebound
Clements copy modern half calf
Mr. Lewis C. Williams, 5315 Cary Street Road, Richmond, Va. — copy rebound
West Virginia University Law Library copy rebound in buckram (1921)
Columbia Law Library copy rebound
NYSL copy original calf (iv, 578 PP.)
ICN (Newberry) copy original calf blind tooled spine edge roll, spine damaged, sewed to six cords but only top, bottom, and middle two were laced through boards
Mr. G. K. Jones, 512 Lewis Street, Fredericksburg, Va. — copy original rough calf, worn, complete, copy given to Edward Wyatt by Dinwiddie in 1770, May 24.
U.Va. Law Library copy rebound

1774
Starke, Richard.
The office and authority of a justice of peace explained and digested, under proper titles. To which are added, full and correct precedents of all kinds of process necessary to be used by magistrates; in which also the duty of sheriffs, and other publick officers, is properly discussed.
By Richard Starke, esquire. Williamsburg, Printed by Alexander Purdie and John Dixon, 1774.
356 pp. 2½ cm.

VSL 2 copies, original boards
AAS copy original boards, blind tooled
CWM 4 copies — 3 copies original boards, blind tooled
HULL copy original boards, blind tooled, spine edge
U.Va. copy original boards, blind tooled, spine edge
CWI 2 copies
Duke copy rebound
VHS copy original sheep, sp~e roll (#F229 S7)
LC [Law Library: Va 7 "Star"] copy rebound
Valentine copy boards missing, mutilated front and rear
Huntington 2 copies, original boards
Clements copy rebound
Mr. Lewis C. Williams, 5315 Cary Street Road, Richmond, Va. has copy in old sheep, blind tooled along spine
NYSL copy rebound (once owned by Humphrey Harwood, 1781, and Joseph Wilkins, 1780. On p. [354] note says "Humphrey Harwood's Book the 12th February 1781 The Gift of Mr. Thomas Nicolson — copy has 353 numbered pp. and 2 pp. Index)

Laws of Maryland 1727, Annapolis

Oversized image - digital version unavailable

Oversized image - digital version unavailable

Oversized image - digital version unavailable

Oversized image - digital version unavailable

2

P. 91.
At, end of first paragraph, "… in Hilliarnsburg at the printing office."

Another interesting binding on a blank book from the Hunter period is that on George Washington's Invoice and Letterbook, 1755-1765, now in the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress. This volume, which was not discovered until just before this study went to press, is simply decorated with blind-tooling in a modified Cambridge panel design, with double fillets around the board edges, the "egg and cross" roll # along the diagonals and on the center line, and a new roll, # ,(to which the name Princeton Charter ^{had been} given before this earliest example of its use was known), around the interior rectangle.

P. 89 Begin new paragraph after next to last sentence on page, which ends, "… on Park's imprints."

One other Williamsburg binding, however, certainly dates from the period when William Parks operated the Williamsburg printing office; and a second may also. The certainty is the 1743-45 ledger of Francis Jerdone, which bears in the account of Jerdone with William Parks on page 79 documentary proof of its origin in the words "…By Charges for this Leger 20/… " and on the spine edge of its cover roll # . the Complete Mariner roll. While not handsome, this binding is of interest on two counts: it is the only documented Virginia Parks binding, and the binder used two pieces of leather joined along the spine edge, where the seam is partially hidden by the blind-tooling. It is also possible that John Stretch, who later worked as a binder for Park's successor, William Hunter, may have compiled and bound his manuscript catalogue of William Byrd's Westover Library before 1750.

p. 79
The second sentence, "The only documented Parks binding… " should read "The only documented Maryland Parks binding… "

p. 66
Footnote 40 should read instead of "I am indebted to Mr. George Kidd…" "We are indebted…

Whole Aug. 2, 1765 ad is also in Penna. Gazette, Sept. 5, 1765, #1915, p. 3, col. 1

[He made off with the help of two others, both carpenters, one of whom was an Irish convict servant, Andrew Kelly.]

On May 19, 1753 Lewis Hallam executed a deed of trust¹ for lots 21 and 22 in Williamsburg "whereon the Play House now Stands," (site of Mrs. Campbell's Coffee House) to guarantee payment of debts owed by several of his players to John Stretch and Edward Charlton. Stretch was a creditor to the total amount of nearly 93 £. In 1754 (Sept 16) Hallam had lost title to the property, which reverted to Benjamin Waller, who sold it² to John Stretch, Printer for £10.15 shillings current money. Stretch conveyed the two lots to Alexander Finnie, tavern keeper, April 22, 1757 for a consideration of 40 pounds sterling annuity for life.³

Stephenson,
See Research Department Report, Mary Stephenson, Aug 1952,
on Mrs. Campbell's Coffee House
pp 5-8

Add to paragraph on p. 41 ending with guote and note 16, after that sentence.

In 1743 or early in 1744, Francis Jerdone bought a ledger from William Parks for 20/. ^16a.

16a. Account Book of Francis Jerdone, merchant in Hanover County 1743-1745, P.79, College of Willam and Mary Library.

Revise paragraph ending at the top of page 41 after sentence ending "…£4:15:2¹⁵" to read:

In 1743 or early in 1744, Francis Jerdone bought from William Parks for 20/ a ledger bound in his office.^16a John Mercer of Marlborough in October, 1746, settled an account with William Parks which included the following charges for binding:

…
24 blank folio books 62 quire at 18d	£4:13:--
half binding them at 2/	2: 8:--
…
An Account Book (this)	1: 6:--
…
By Mrs Mason for binding a Prayer book	3:--
By Mr Moncure for binding a Book	1: 6

16b

And in October, 1750, the Vestry of Kingston Parish paid "To William parkes Estate for a Booke 0167 [pounds of tobacco."¹⁶