A Fine Leather Bound Tunbridge Ware Blotter Book c1855

Description

Heading : A Fine Leather Bound Tunbridge Ware Blotter Book
Date : c1855
Period : Victorian
Origin : Tunbridge Wells
Decoration : A panel of isometric cubes to the pillowed front ‘page’ set within continuous key-line stringing and a rosewood reserve; further stringing then encloses a border of a post and rail design (see below); each corner of the cube panel is punctuated with a small inset ivory peg; to the back. coromandel veneers with a single piece of fine continuous stringing forming a rectangle; internally. edged veneers all round within which is set a green velvet pad; the pair of boards are hinged together with a sturdy leather spine.
Size : 29.0 x 22.7 x 1.5 cm (external)
Condition : Very good; external scratches. almost exclusively to the back. where one of the coromandel panels has also slightly separated from the inlaid keyline; the front is in excellent condition; internally. the velvet pad is worn and ink-stained. and has separated along the ‘folds’ of the spine – to which it remains firmly affixed
Restoration : none
Weight :  759 grams

Note : the internal dimensions at their maximum extent is 290 x 228 x a comfortable 10mm; gloriously. this would accommodate one of the very latest generation 12.9″ iPadPro tablets (280.6 x 214.9 x 6.4mm) – there can be no better juxtaposition of old and new technology than this blotter being used as a cover for one of Apple’s creations.

The ‘post and rail’ border as noted above is accredited by Brian Austen as being the sole preserve of Edmund Nye. with other items exhibiting the same element having been dated to the last ten years of the master craftsman’s life (1853-1863)