Small 8vo (140 x 85mm). Contemporary vellum with ONLAID, MOLDED AND PAINTED DESIGN BY THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF ART NEEDLEWORK, upper cover with raised bronze frame surrounding a painting of two angels in blue robes, one with molded bronze wings and nimbus, the other with gilt wings and halo, onlaid lettering "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" above them, lower cover with painted and gilt seraph, smooth spine with blue and gold painted bands with wings gilt-lettered, edges gilt. (Some slight rubbing, several tiny chips to raised border and angel wings, paint and gilt a bit dulled).

A RARE EXAMPLE OF A BINDING BY THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF ART NEEDLEWORK. Founded in 1872, the Royal School of Art Needlework later became closely linked with the Arts & Crafts movement, commissioning designs from the leading figures of the aesthetic movement, including William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, Walter and Thomas Crane, Gertrude Jekyll, and others. The Royal School began commissioning painted bindings such as these in 1888. According to Tidcombe, the designs were "very attractive, but the books will not take much handling, and many examples show signs of some of the paint, especially tee gold, wearing off. This vulnerability is almost certainly the reason why painted vellum bindings virtually ceased to be produced about 1898."