The Earl of Castlemaine had had a strained relationship with Charles II but retuned to favour on the accession of James II and was asked by the king to travel to Rome to re-establish diplomatic relations between Britain and the Papacy. On his arrival in Rome, he instructed his majordomo, the painter John Michael Wright, to prepare a grand entrance intended to impress Pope Innocent XI.

Wright went about commissioning ornate coaches, extravagant costumes and decorations and a lavish banquet complete with intricate sugar sculptures. This book contains engravings of Wright’s designs for the entertainments. This edition was printed in Italian but was followed by an English translation in 1688.

This copy was believed by the Royal Librarian, Richard Rivington Holmes, to have been bound for James II. It was one of the books selected by Holmes in 1893 as a fine example of bookbinding in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.

Binding information

Bound by Queens Binder A (William Nott?) in contemporary red goatskin, the covers tooled in gilt with an over-all strap-work design forming seven compartments filled with pointille volutes, four-petal flower tool, stars and dots; spine divided into eight compartments with volute, star and floral tools; all edges gilt; comb-marbled end-leaves. James II's arms can be seen in blind in the centre of both covers under the gold tooling. It would appear that James II's arms were never finished in gilt and the use of very similar if not the same tools over the top of these arms indicates that the change in design may have happened in the workshop.