Roger Payne (1739 – 20 NovemberNicholson, James B. ''A Manual of the Art of Bookbinding'', p. 26
/ref> 1797) was a noted English bookbinder, thought to have originated a new style. Statue of Roger Payne at Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2013 (cropped)

Statue of Roger Payne at Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2013 (cropped)

Life

Payne was born at Windsor, learned binding from Joseph Pote of Eton, and is said to have come to London around 1766. He worked for a short time for Thomas Osborne in

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wa ...

. By 1770 he was able to set up in business for himself as a bookbinder, near Leicester Square, with the support of

Thomas Payne Thomas Payne (c. 1718 – 1799) was an important bookseller and publisher in 18th-century London. Life Payne was born in Brackley, Northamptonshire. From 1750 he ran a shop at Mews Gate in Castle Street near Leicester Fields (the site is now ...

(not closely related). He was then joined by his brother Thomas, who attended to the

forwarding department Bindery refers to a studio, workshop or factory where sheets of (usually) paper are fastened together to make books, but also where gold and other decorative elements are added to the exterior of books, where boxes or slipcases for books are made ...

, while Roger concentrated on the finishing and decoration of volumes. After a time, however, the brothers parted, and Payne, later in life, took as his fellow-worker Richard Wier, whose wife became known as a repairer and restorer of old books. Drink and quarrels broke up this partnership. Payne died in Duke's Court,

St Martin's Lane St Martin's Lane is a street in the City of Westminster, which runs from the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, after which it is named, near Trafalgar Square northwards to Long Acre. At its northern end, it becomes Monmouth Street. St Marti ...

, London, on 20 November 1797, and was buried in the churchyard of

St. Martin's-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

, at the expense of his old friend Thomas Payne.

Works

Payne, considered by some to have originated a new style of bookbinding, was influenced by the work of Samuel Mearne and other binders of the end of the 17th century. His most significant work was executed either in Russia leather or in straight-grained Morocco, usually of a dark blue, bright red, or olive colour. The end papers were usually purple or some other plain colour. Payne's main patrons were Earl Spencer, the

Duke of Devonshire Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This (now the senior) branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and has ...

, Colonel Thomas Stanley, and

Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode (1730–1799) was an English book and old master print collector, and a major benefactor of the British Museum. Life His father, Colonel Mordaunt Cracherode, later a general, had command of the marines in George Anso ...

; the books he bound for Lord Spencer went to the

John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a late-Victorian neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to the public in 1900, was founded by Enriqu ...

at Manchester. A large-paper copy of Robert Potter's translation of

Æschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

, printed at Glasgow in 1795, in which are contained

John Flaxman John Flaxman (6 July 1755 – 7 December 1826) was a British sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dim ...

's original drawings, bound in blue Morocco, has been called Payne's masterpiece. Other noted works were:

Thomas East Thomas East, (also spelled Easte, Est, or Este) (''c.''1540 – January 1609), was an English printer who specialised in music. He has been described as a publisher, but that claim is debatable (the specialties of printer and bookseller/publish ...

's edition of the ''Storye of Kynge Arthur'', bound in red Morocco, and the Genoa edition of Tasso's ''

Gierusalemme Liberata ''Jerusalem Delivered'', also known as ''The Liberation of Jerusalem'' ( it, La Gerusalemme liberata ; ), is an epic poem by the Italian literature, Italian poet Torquato Tasso, first published in 1581, that tells a largely mythified version of ...

'', 1590, in olive Morocco (

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

); and a copy of the

first folio ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...

of Shakespeare, 1623, bound in Russia, once in the

Britwell Court Library William Henry Miller (1789 – 31 October 1848) was a Scottish book collector and parliamentarian. He sat in the House of Commons from 1830 to 1837. His life Miller the only child of William Miller of Craigentinny, Midlothian, was born in 1789 ...

. Th
latter copy
is now owned by Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Roger 1739 births 1797 deaths Bookbinders People from Windsor, Berkshire