hidden in plain view
work items were ordered for Nostell, 40 and it seems likely that the various leather candle spots and desk covers were outsourced. The sham books, which required a specific set of skills and tools, were definitely an outside commission. 41 The finishing and hanging of the jib door caused problems. It required the assistance of William Belwood of York (1739–90), an architect, surveyor and mason ‘who [had] done things of that kind before at Sion’ and was then taking work at nearby Newby and Harewood. 42 As at Mount Stewart, the identity of the bookbinder responsible is elusive, but circumstantial evidence suggests a strong candidate. Unlike at Mount Stewart, where the provincial nature of some of the binding tools used is distinctive, those used at Nostell are almost uniformly generic and derivative. One or two are distinctive enough to be matched to real books elsewhere in the Library, suggesting that the binder responsible for the sham books also bound real books for the Winn family, but this does not help with identification. Records of book acquisition and bookbinding in the Nostell archive in this of a Quantity of Furniture which is coming down from London and also a number of Sham Books which was sent by the flye on the 30th June last, which as yet I can hear nothing of’ (C. Gilbert, ‘New Light on the Furnishing of Nostell Priory’, in Furniture History , vol. 26 (1990), 56–7) and a letter from Chippendale to Rowland Winn, 23 September 1767: ‘The gilt rope border & the Gudroon border, & Sham books was sent of by last Monday’s Waggon from the red Lyon in Aldersgate Street and will be at Wakefield at the usual time.’ (see L. Bolton and N. Goodison, ‘Thomas Chippendale at Nostell Priory’, in Furniture History , 4 (1968), 22–3. 40 . Gilbert, Life and work, vol. 1, p. 57: ‘The durability of leather made it ideal for lining library table tops, … The Library tables at Nostell and Harewood also preserve their original surfaces, outlined with tooled and gilt borders. … Sheraton alludes to ‘covers for pier tables, made of stamped leather and glazed, lined with flannel to save the varnish’, and many of Chippendale’s finest marquetry or japanned pier tables and commodes were provided with decorative leather covers. … Sir Rowland Winn or- dered numerous gilt leather ‘spots’ on which to stand candlesticks.” Gilbert, Life and work, plates, p. 145: The metamorphic steps at Nostell were ‘originally covered in black leather’. 41 . Gilbert, Life and Work, p. 48 notes: “The firm was rarely directly involved in house decorating … There is very little evidence that Chippendale attempted to encroach on the traditional preserves of other tradesmen”. 42 . Harris, The Genius of Robert Adam, p. 354, n. 20. Adam to Ware, 23 May 1767, WYAS NP 1525/33, see also 1525/28, 2 December 1766; 1525/26, 18 April, 1767. Belwood established his own practice at York in 1774, before which he built designs executed by Robert and James Adam.
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