1764 Old and New Testament set in a contemporary red Morocco “Scottish Wheel” bindings

1764 Old and New Testament set in a contemporary red Morocco “Scottish Wheel” bindings

“The Holy Bible, containing Old and New Testaments”

Alexander Kincaid, His Majesty’s Printer, Edinburgh 1764

The wheeled binding was developed by Scottish binders around 1725, reaching its heyday in the mid 1750s and declining in the late 1770s. They took inspiration from the elaborate continental fan bindings of the 16th Century. The wheel style evolved from Scottish Herringbone patterns which had been used to decorated rectangular centre panels which were common on English and Scottish bindings from the 17th Century. The wheel style used the sceptre tool with intricate tool filling of the surrounding areas of the binding. This set contains lovely “Dutch” end-papers which were imported from the continent and are common in devotional books of this period.

This binding uses multiple sceptres to create the central wheel, while the surrounding area is filled with varied tooling styles including stars, pointelle and floral decorations. As is common in these sets, the New testament (which also contained the Psalms) is more worn than the old testament. This was because the Psalms would have been used in daily prayer, while the old testament would have been read more infrequently.

Condition: The old testament is in very good condition with some wear, while the new testament and psalms is worn with bumps and losses of the gilt and the fading to the binding. Joints are tight but worn.

It is Increasingly hard to find nice sets of Scottish bindings. £2500