Gold-stamped arms of the city of Rotterdam (17th cent.)

The gold-stamped arms of the city of Rotterdam used as a centre ornament in a 17th-century Dutch vellum prize-binding, probably made for one of the local schools. From an edition of Juvenal published in Utrecht in 1685.

Given by Hugh Gatty.

Binding stamp of William Stuart (1798-1874)

This gold-stamped crest of a lion, with the motto "Nobilis ira" is from a volume containing John Stow's Survay of London (1599) and Sir Thomas Smith's De republica Anglorum (1584). The volume belonged to William Stuart, grandson of John, 3rd Earl of Bute. William was admitted at St John's College Cambridge as a Fellow-Commoner in 1815, taking his MA in 1820. He resided at Aldenham Abbey, Herts, Tempsford Hall, Beds, and Hanover Square, London.

Binding stamp of Sir Augustine Pettus (fl. 1613)

Gold-stamped arms of Sir Augustine Pettus, who was knighted in 1611, and gained his B.A. from Cambridge in 1613, from an edition of Matthieu's Histoire de France (1605). The arms here appear on a gold-tooled vellum binding, with the initials A.P., but a copy of Mathieu's Louys XI (1610), although similarly bound, lacks these initials. Both books were given Thomas Baker.

Gold-stamped crest of Major Thomas Pearson (1740?-1781)

The gold-stamped crest of a bird standing above an urn, indicating the ownership of Major Thomas Pearson. Pearson served in India, but still managed to amass a large library, mainly consisting of Elizabethan material. This volume cannot be representative of his collection, as it is a Dutch edition of the works of Tacitus (Leiden, 1589), but it does bear a fine 16th-century blind-tooled binding, probably from Oxford.

Binding stamp of N. Nouet (d. 1699)

Gold-stamped arms, probably those of N. Nouet, an avocat au Parliament, although his descendant Jean Jacques Nouet (1719-1746) used the same arms. From an edition of Grotius's Mari libero (1633).

Given by Thomas Gisborne.

Gold-stamped arms of the city of Nijmegen (18th cent.)

The gold-stamped arms of the city of Nijmegen on an 18th-century Dutch prize binding in vellum, probably made for one of the local schools. From an edition of Horace published in Amsterdam in 1713.

Donated by Thomas Whitfield Keeble.

Gold-stamped arms of the Merchant Taylors' Company

The arms of the Merchant Taylors' Company as they appear on the front covers of the three volumes of Thomas Erskine May's Constitutional history of England (1882).

Given by Sir Duncan Kerly.

Binding stamp of John Maitland, Earl of Lauderdale (d. 1644/5)

Gold-stamped crest of John Maitland, first Earl of Lauderdale, from Pierre Grégoire’s Syntagma iuris uniuersi, atque legum pene omnium gentium, et rerum publicarum praecipuarum, in tres partes digestum (1611).

Bequest of Humphrey Gower.

Gold-stamped crest of Thomas Leigh, Baron Stoneleigh (1594/5-1672)

A crest consisting of a unicorn's head stamped in gilt on an edition of Scaliger's Cyclometrica elementa duo (Leiden, 1594). This stamp belonged to Thomas Leigh, Baron Stoneleigh, a staunch royalist in the civil wars.

Gold-stamped arms of the city of Leiden (17th cent.)

An ornate gold-stamped centre ornament incorporating the arms of the city of Leiden in the centre. From a 17th-century Dutch prize binding in vellum, probably made for one of the local schools. From an edition of Xenophon published in Paris in 1625.

From the library of John Carr, given by Henry Carr.

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