Brown-carmine morocco, gold-tooled. The covers are filled with decorations of interlacing ribbons with foliage and flowers in the resulting compartments, made by many small tools. On both covers is a circumscription: ‘A grateful reminder of the honour bestowed on the 5th of the autumn month 1757. On the occasion of the joyful dinner, on the happy birth of Willem Zelandus van Borssele, whom the Lord will appoint to the noble seat of his father, for the benefit of country and church, is the respectful wish of A.L. Callenfels, S. Mandelgreen and L. Taillefert. D.Z’. Signed at the bottom of the front cover ‘S. Mandelgreen fecit’.

This bookbinding is a perfect example of the high quality of the most de luxe bindings in the Netherlands in the middle of the eighteenth century. It may be considered one of the most curious items of its time. The decoration on the covers reflects earlier decorations of bindings in France around 1600. This pattern was still popular in Germany and Scandinavia in the early eighteenth century, and it is found on many a Swedish craftsman's ‘masterpiece’, sometimes with an elaborate circumscription. The maker of this binding, Suenonius Mandelgreen, knew them very well: he was born in Uppsala and undoubtedly received his training in that town.

It is exceptional to find the signature of the binder on the binding. No other Dutch eighteenth-century de luxe binding bears the name of its maker, except for two other bindings by Mandelgreen. Circumscriptions of the covers are also rare; there are only a few Dutch bindings, including a series of ten bindings by Mandelgreen, with such an elaborate text on their covers.

What makes this such a remarkable binding is the fact that it contains a small bookcase with miniature books, that can be turned upwards. No other example is known in the Netherlands, and it can only be compared with some miniature travelling libraries, notably from seventeenth-century England. But these have bindings containing a few shelves with small books on the inside of both covers. Another difference is that Mandelgreen's binding was not commissioned by a learned traveller for his own use, but a present from three prominent citizens of Middelburg on the occasion of the birth of Willem van Borssele, the young scion of one of the leading Zeeland families. The miniature books contain very appropriate texts, like the Bible, a history of the Netherlands, and other works with an educational bias.

Mandelgreen worked in Middelburg between 1736 and 1758. He was mentioned as a printer in 1756 and 1757 in the municipal accounts and was also an auctioneer. Only a few editions printed by him are known. In 1758 he started working together with the printers Callenfels and Taillefert for the publication of the Middelburgse Courant.