Jeweled book bindings were well-known in the middle Ages, covering main liturgical and devotional works for Popes and Kings. The vast greater parts of these were later destroyed as their jewels were removed by vandals. Few still exist - for example, notice major libraries - the John Rylands Library in Manchester, the Morgan Library in New York, British Library in London and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris.

About 1905 the English binders Sangorski & Sutcliffe reinvented Jeweled Bindings, as part of the revitalization of English ornamented bookbindings. These were not great uncut gems as in mediaeval times however semi-precious stones en cabuchon set into wonderfully intended bindings with multi colored leather inlays and detailed gilt tooling. The craftsmanship of these bindings was unsurpassable; simply their competitors Riviere produced work of the same quality. The most well-known of these bindings "The Great Omar" on a great copy of the Rubaiyat had over 1,000 jewels; it went downward with the Titanic. The largest collection of these masterpieces was the Phoebe Boyle one; over 100 jeweled bindings purchased in 1923. Jeweled bindings seldom appear at auction; literature on them is amazingly scant given their excellent quality. A new limited version book by Stephen Ratcliffe "Hidden Treasures" at present documents these masterpieces.