16th-century French gold-decorated calfskin binding, with darker onlays, in a strapwork design, probably produced in Paris. The style copies the contemporary entrelac bindings made popular by the collector Jean Grolier who was treasurer of France. From a copy of Antonio de Guevara's L'orloge des princes (1550).

16th-century French? gold-tooled calf bearing central cartouches: the one on the front cover bearing the author's name; the one on the rear containing a medallion of Dido. Medallions of this type were popular on both French and English bindings of the period. From an edition of Lucan's Pharsalia (Lyon, 1536).

18th-century English gold-tooled red morocco binding. From Daniel Newhouse's Art of sailing by the logarithms, or artificial sines and tangents (London, 1701).

Typical Irish binding of the 18th century, with ornately floral tooling to the field, onlaid with a lozenge of white leather. From a Book of common prayer printed by John Baskerville in 1762.

Gift of Hugh Gatty.

Gold-tooled dark blue morocco binding from the Library's copy of the Great Bible of 1539. It was produced in Cambridge, ca. 1750, probably by a binder called Ed. Moore, active in Cambridge in the 18th-century, and who has work listed in the College's account books for 1748-1760. He often tended to copy the style of bindings produced by Thomas Eliot and Christopher Chapman for Robert Harley, the Earl of Oxford, with their distinctive central lozenge, but tended to use better quality leather.

This edition of Basilika, The workes of King Charles the martyr (London, 1662), was produced soon after the Restoration, and the copy at St John's bears a black morocco binding decorated with gold-tooling in a "rectangular" design, but also has the College's name in a central cartouche on the cover.

17th-century French gold-tooled red morocco binding, the decoration being of the "fanfare" style. This style, which incorporated intricate ribbon designs and leaf sprays, was popular in France from the late 16th century, and into the 17th. From Harlay de Champvallon's Apologia Evangelii, pro Catholicis (Paris, 1625).

17th-century English gold-tooled black morocco binding, with a design that continues on the spine. From a volume containing four sermons by Anthony Tuckney printed 1654-6.

Gift of George Udny Yule.

English morocco binding with gold-tooled design, a little gauffering on the edges of the textblock, and book-clasps, only one of which is still complete. From one of the Library's copies of the Liber precum publicarum (London, 1574).

15th-century? blind-tooled brown morocco, probably Italian from the earliest printed Venetian Vulgate of 1475, which is also illuminated. The binding has rivets for chains, book-clasps, and the impressions of bosses. The central ornament is composed of knotwork, which is typical of Venetian bindings of the time.

Bequest of John Newcome.