Book - The Communion and Other Services According to the Use of the Church of England. Oxford, n.d.

This binding was made with a special «vellucent» technique (created from the words vellum and translucent), invented by Cedric Chivers. It is essentially a polychrome, watercolour painted coating, covered by vellum which, in a special treatment, is made almost translucent. Traditional gold tooling over the parchment enhances the effect of lie ornaments. Mother-of-pearl inlays are often used on the polychrome vellucent bindings. (About the technique, see H. Granville Fell: A New Method of Decoration for Bound Books - the «Vellucent» Process. The Studio XXIX, 1903, pp. 169-176.) On the cover plate of the originally brownish-yellowish binding, there is a mandorla-shaped field of marbled bluish-purple-mauve background, framed with golden lines. A kneeling figure in mantle, surmounted by a halo, holds a ciborium in his hands. Behind him, the tree branches out to form a cross. The two sides of the cross end in spear-shaped fields, revealing a mother-of-pearl heart on both sides, among curving branches. The top of the longer stem of the cross ends in a cross-shaped field above the head of the angel, showing the dove of the Holy Spirit in the centre, flanked by two smaller, painted hearts imitating mother-of-pearl. There is an inscription on the two sides of the top corner of the mandorla, bearing the title of the book: CHURCH SERVICES. The back plate of the book has a central surface similar to the front board, enriched with a heart in each corner, painted to imitate mother-of-pearl. The central mandorla-shaped field of the back is smaller, showing a cross-shaped tree of life motif identical with that of the front. A ribbon floats in the front, with the dove of the Holy Spirit in its centre. The smooth spine is divided by three cartouches, the middle one bearing the title, the two side ones ornamented with strongly stylised, springing trees. The edges of the inside plates are decorated with stripes of gilt lines, enriched with a heart motif in each corner. The endpaper is spotted, brownish-yellow, according to the original colour of the binding. The headband is sewn with brown and black, the edges are gilt.