In over four centuries Oxford's Bodleian Libraries have assembled, through gift and purchase, many individual items which can be called works of genius. Marks of Genius, which closes this Sunday, looks at ways in which common attitudes towards genius are manifested in the physical form of a number of remarkable books and manuscripts
This lavishly bound Geneva Bible was presented to Elizabeth I by the printer Christopher Barker on New Year’s Day 1584. Embroidered and textile bindings were popular in England in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, a popularity that may have been partly due to Elizabeth I, who favoured textile over leather covers, and may even have made embroidered bindings herself at a young age.
Entry is free, more information here.
