The Floral Binder and Thomas Hunt

Abstract This article attributes a late medieval limp binding to J.B. Oldham’s ‘Floral Binder’, who is currently known only for his work on blind-stamped, wooden board bindings. The book is one of three medieval copies of the statutes of God’s House at Ewelme, in Oxfordshire, founded by William and Alice de la Pole (née Chaucer) in 1437, then Earl and Countess of Suffolk. The central part of the essay reopens the question of the binder’s identity, named by Graham Pollard as ‘Thomas Uffyngton’ in 1970. Instead there are coincidences in the career dates and relevant activities of university stationer Thomas Hunt, which are problematic for the Uffyngton attribution. The case is inconclusive, as it stands, although the identification of the illuminator who collaborated with the Floral Binder (the ‘Fitzjames Limner’) indicates where future studies may gain ground in reconstructing the wider network of craftsmen associated with Hunt’s book business.