The First Embroidery Pattern Book published in England

 

Thomas Geminus (c.1512-62), the surname is probably also Lambrit as Thomas left property to his brother Jasper Lambrit, was an engraver, printer and instrument maker originally from the area of Liege, who was living in England by 1540. He received an annuity of £10 from Henry VIII in 1546, and following Henry’s death he seems to have received a money from Edward VI in 1547. [i]

 

Figure 1: Plate from Morysse and Damashin... Victoria and Albert Museum

In 1548 he published “Morysse and Damashin renewed and increased, very profitable for Goldsmythes and Embroderars,” The Victoria and Albert Museum have some plates. The publication appears to have contained a title page and twenty eight plates of designs. [Figure 1] Typical of embroidery pattern books of the time Geminus copied other work, many or most of the designs, including this one in the British Museum, are described as after the work of Jacques Androuet du Cerceau (c.1520-86), and were first published by him in 1545. [Figure 2]

Figure 2: Plate from Morysse and Damashin... British Museum

  

Jacques Androuet was a Huguenot, he is known as du Cerceau after the ring design he used as a signature on his engravings, a motif he took from the sign on his father’s wine shop. He is credited with having introduced Italian style architecture to France.[ii] A volume of his designs from 'Livre contenant passement de moresques' is in the Metropolitan Museum New York, Figure 3 shows one page of this work.

 

Figure 3: du Cerceau design. Mtropolitan Museum New York

A reconstruction of Geminus’s whole volume was attempted by Magdalena Adamska, who started her reconstruction based on a single sheet onto which has been pasted twenty five designs, fifteen of which are known to have come from Geminus’s publication.[iii]

Moresque designs were heavily influenced by the patterns of the Moors of Spain and North Africa, and usually involved complex interlaced patterns. [iv] Damashin refers to designs originating in Damascus, particularly in damask textiles and metalwork, hence the usefulness to goldsmith and embroiderers. Figure 4 shows a mid sixteenth century bed valance in silk velvet in the Victoria and Albert Museum,  which is in this style of design.

Figure 4: Valance. mid 16th century. Victoria and Albert Museum

References

[i]Jones, P.  (2008). Gemini [Geminus, Lambrit], Thomas (fl. 1540–1562), engraver, printer, and instrument maker. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 27 Oct. 2025, from https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-10513.

[ii] Geymüller, Henry de (1887). Les Du Cerceau, leur vie et leur oeuvre. Paris: Librairie de l'Art.

 [iii] Adamska, Magdalena, (2010) Maureski Thomasa Geminusa – próba rekonstrukcji wzornika. [Moresque ornaments by Thomas Geminus: an attempt to reconstruct his pattern book]. Amicissima. Studia Magdalenae Piwocka oblata, Kraków

[iv] Snodin, M. and Styles, J. (2004) Design and the decorative arts: Tudor and Stuart Britain 1500-1714. London: Victoria and Albert Museum