Bookbinding

Tanned fish skin has been used in binding for decorative elements such as inlays and onlays, but it has a much longer history of use for clothing, sword handles, objets d’art, and other applications across global cultures. This article describes the history of fish skin in bookbinding, how to prepare parchment, basic materials testing, and shows bindings works by the author and others.

Visual and cultural analysis of Meiji shōnen kaiko 明治少年懐古 (Reminiscences of a Meiji youth, 1944), an illustrated book that nostalgically recalls Japan's late nineteenth and early twentieth century period of modernization. The book is in the Pulverer Collection of Japanese illustrated books of the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC and is featured on The World of the Japanese Illustrated Book website. My commentary, along with a complete set of readable images of the book, may be found here: http://pulverer.si.edu/node/440/title/1.

Το κείμενο εξετάζει την απήχηση που είχε στους ανθρωπιστικούς κύκλους της Ευρώπης κατά την αναγέννηση η τεχνική και διακόσμηση των Βυζαντινών σταχώσεων εξετάζοντας το πολιτικό, κοινωνικό και καλλιτεχνικό πλαίσιο της εποχής.
Δηοσιεύθηκε στο Blog Το Διπλανό Τραπέζι:
https://thenexttable.gr/article.php?id=44

This article will consider student engagement through collaborative teaching and learning practices I have developed within a series of bookbinding workshops in which I acquire new skills alongside my students. The bookbinding workshop developed from my desire to seek ways to engage with and alongside students in my practice and research to ground my own making within my pedagogic practice. In this way students are not being ‘instructed’ by a skilled specialist but rather collaborating with a committed enthusiast and researcher learning from their practice and experience. This article will discuss the impact these workshops have had on participating students, their practice and their sense of ‘creative self’ through the analysis of anonymous surveys carried over the span of two years.

Bookbinding is the result of binding and sewing several quires or gatherings in order to form a volume. It was the last operation the codex underwent, with which it was already complete. Bookbinding's function is not only keeping all gatherings bound together and in correct order, but also to protect them, and it could confer decoration and luxury to the codex as well. We also know some books were circulated just being sewn, without any boards or cover. We shall see bookbinding's parts and the elements they have. This is necessary because the descriptions of bookbindings use a highly controlled vocabulary, that we must know.

Very few medieval bookbindings have been preserved and even fewer pre-medieval bookbindings. Despite the dearth of medieval bookbindings, the relatively few that have been preserved allow us to trace the evolution of bookbinding techniques and styles, and that shall be our subject in this 2-video series. We will quickly review bookbinding history in this video: earliest bookbindings, Byzantine bookbindings, and Islamic bookbindings.

Alexander K. Kruglov: Restoration of the binding of the mid-16th century manuscript Nomocanon: The reconstruction of its woven endbands. (Tablet Weaving)

The manuscript under discussion was written in the early sixties of the 16th century on the orders of the bishop of Ryazan, Philotheos. The biggest problem in the restoration of this manuscript was the reconstruction of its endbands. These endbands remotely resemble those of the sewn Byzantine and the similar Islamic endbands with a zigzag pattern, made (embroidered) by needle. However it was impossible to make the endbands similar to the destroyed original using the needle. The search for ways of manufacturing such endbands showed that the endbands are made in the technique of tablet weaving. The tablet weaving is a very ancient technique of making band, which had spread in Europe and Asia, where the weaving was combined with twisting. The structure of the fabric obtained by means of tablets differs from the structure of the fabric, obtained by the weaving devices of any other type. Once the technique of manufacture of the endband was determined, it was possible to describe it in detail and to reconstruct it. The successful reconstruction of the endbands fully confirmed the correctness of the conclusions concerning the manufacturing technique of the endbands of this type.

La encuadernación, como parte integral del libro, puede estudiarse desde distintas perspectivas: estética, histórica, como oficio, como arte, como negocio, etc. Además, es un elemento que proporciona información sobre la obra que la ostenta, los hábitos de lectura, los lectores, el comercio y mercado del libro, entre otros. El artículo habla sobre las distintas fuentes documentales a las que se puede acudir para estudiar la encuadernación, dependiendo del interés de conocimiento particular. Da una bibliografía de las fuentes que hay en la Biblioteca Nacional de México para el estudio de la encuadernación.

Books are first of all material objects and concrete manifestation -as well as silent witnesses- of the
material culture that created them. Books are certainly used as writing supports (be the text be handwritten
or printed), however, as material objects, books are constituted by their material components, and the ways
in which these are interconnected and mutually complete each other. Since the second half of the last century,
the materiality of books has been the object of study of codicology and the archaeology of the book;
this has generated a rich literature and numerous research endeavours, with an increasingly keener eye for
all the information that artefacts can communicate with their materiality.
Nowadays, an increasingly large number of libraries, archives, museums, private and cultural institutions is investing
considerable amounts of money and resources in the digitization of our written cultural heritage. Such
digitization projects, however, are focussed on the text. Some projects include photographs of covers and spines,
which, somehow, transfer to the digital medium information regarding the physicity of books, and from which
one may draw some conclusions regarding the materiality of the objects. Such pieces of information are however
insufficient to gain a precise idea of the objects, and, most importantly, are not searchable within databases.
Nevertheless, recently, it has been possible to observe the onset of a new trend, with research endeavours
and projects designed to ‘digitalize’ the book as an object. This paper aims at introducing these new research
activities and considers, looking at the near future, if and how the book as an object is finally entering
the digital world, and what consequences this shift may bring forth.

Instances of anthropodermic bibliopegy, the practice of binding books in human flesh, can be found as early as the 17th century. While this grisly act is often featured in recent popular horror fiction, its presence in historical reality saw varied uses ranging from a form of macabre keepsake to the binding of legal documents in the flesh of the accused.

The purpose of this study is to examine the underlying meaning and rational surrounding anthropodermic bibliopegy, particularly the practical and rhetorical reasoning for adopting the practice. In order to establish specific context for this study, I will focus at length upon the 1608 volume L'Idolatrie Huguenote, a skin-bound anti-Protestant document currently held within the rare books collection of the University of Memphis’ Ned McWherter Library, as a central case study. Additionally, I will buttress this in-depth study of a single text by briefly detailing volumes contemporary to L'Idolatrie Huguenote in order to establish larger trends surrounding the purpose of the practice. Finally, while this essay will focus upon Early Modern examples of this practice, in order to establish a broader context I will also note the modern day practice of “Cryobooks,” a voluntary practice used to further scientific studies of virality.

Presenting a state-of-the-art overview of the diverse and dynamic field of Islamic manuscript studies, the purpose of this volume is to look at what has been achieved and what has yet to be done, on the occasion of the retirement of Professor J.J. Witkam from the Chair of Codicology and Palaeography of the Islamic World at Leyden University. The 20 articles contained in this volume were specially prepared by leading international scholars in their respective fields. Included are studies of specific texts of various genres, manuscript traditions, writing and scribal practice, writing materials, libraries and collections as well as cataloguing initiatives past and present. Taken together, they form a concise compendium which shows the importance of the often-neglected study of primary sources and their traditions. As such the book is both a necessary and welcome addition to the library of any serious scholar or student working in the fields of Oriental and Islamic studies.

Способ соединения тетрадей и способ крепления крышек к тетрадному блоку определяют прочность и долговечность переплета. Все остальное следует считать оформлением. Сегодня в большинстве случаев, говоря о переплетах, имеют в виду оформление переплета, то есть, каким переплет предстает перед взором читателя, библиотекаря или коллекционера. Мы же взглянем на переплет с точки зрения переплетчика и реставратора переплетов.
Версия 2024.06.11 – исправленная и дополненная

Banyaknya naskah-naskah Melayu yang ditemukan dalam keadaan tercecer dari kurasnya merupakan pertanda bahwa naskah-naskah tersebut tidak dijilid dan tidak dilindungi dengan baik. Menurut Plomp, model jilidan yang terdapat pada sebagian besar naskah-naskah Melayu yang sampai ke tangan kita adalah model jilidan dengan gaya Barat meskipun buru-buru dibantah oleh Wan Ali Wan Mamat dalam tesisnya bahwa pada koleksi di Inggris dan Jerman banyak terdapat naskah Melayu yang dijilid dengan menggunakan tradisi lokal yang mengenai karakteristik secara umum akan dijelaskan oleh Plomp dalam artikelnya ini. Plomp menggunakan dua koleksi naskah milik KITLV di Leiden dan milik perpustakaan Universitas Leiden sebagai sampel penelitiannya mengenai karakteristik penjilidan tradisional naskah di Indonesia. Dalam pengantarnya, Plomp melirik beberapa literatur mengenai teknik-teknik penjilidan di dunia Islam karena dinilai memiliki kemiripan dengan karakteristik penjilidan naskah-naskah Melayu. Kajian mengenai karakterisktik penjilidan naskah merupakan kajian yang dianggap menarik. Plomp misalnya menegaskan bahwa saat seorang peniliti mampu mengungkapkan karakteristik penjilidan suatu naskah, maka ia akan dapat segera menentukan tempat dan waktu produksi naskah tersebut. Hal ini cukup beralasan karena menurutnya setiap naskah dengan karakteristik dekorasi tertentu maka dapat diambil kesimpulan bahwa naskah tersebut berasal dari wilayah geografis dan periode waktu yang sama. Meskipun demikian, Plomp menyayangkan karena hanya sedikit saja naskah dari Indonesia yang menyampaikan penanggalan yang akurat serta tempat produksinya. Berdasarkan hal ini, Plomp menduga bahwa dalam tradisi penulisan naskah tidak selalu ada kesamaan antara tempat penulisan naskah dengan tempat dimana sebuah naskah tersebut dijilid. Adakalanya naskah tersebut dibawa ke tempat lain, yang menyediakan jasa penjilidan, untuk dijilid. Bahkan, menurutnya, kebanyakan naskah-naskah Indonesia yang dibawa ke Eropa akan dijilid terlebih dahulu sebelum disimpan di ruang koleksi. Sehingga, penanggalan yang terkandung di dalam teks tidak berbanding lurus dengan tanggal sebuah naskah tersebut dijilid.

Alexander K. Kruglov: Apropos of the typology of Russian bindings: one of the ways of sewing parchment manuscripts of the 14th-15th centuries. // Auxiliary sciences of history. vol. 2. Edited by Boris Fonkich. Moscow. 2018. pp. 374-404.

The article discusses briefly the typology of ancient Russian bindings.The author asserts that the typology is based on structural features, primarily the way of sewing, which in turn depends on the material of the manuscript. A description is given of one of the types of bindings of parchment manuscripts of the 14th-15th centuries, based on 'single-station sewing'. This type has not yet been described with regard to Russian bindings.

For single-station sewing, see: Christopher Clarkson. "A Hitherto Unrecorded English Romanesque Book Sewing Technique" in Bibliologia 14. 1996. pp. 215-239; Szirmai J.A. The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding. 1999. pp. 147-149.

Alexander K. Kruglov: Bookbinding boards of Russian manuscripts: composite boards of the 16th-17th centuries.

The article describes three similar variants of one of the elements of medieval binding: slim and durable boards reinforced with elaborate shaped inserts. The author makes a detailed description of eight binding boards with such inserts. An assumption is made about the sequential evolution of these types of boards. All bindings date the middle of the 16th - early 17th century and come from the Solovetsky Monastery. There is a small chance that a certain number of bindings come from the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. The conclusions are based on the study of more than 50 bindings with this type of boards.

Cambridge History of the Book in Britain: Chapter 8 - Urban production of manuscript books and the role of the university towns
By M. A. Michael
Edited by Nigel J. Morgan, University of Cambridge, Rodney M. Thomson, University of Tasmania
Book: The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, 2008, pp 168-194

Palaeographic estimates of the date of P.Bodmer II, the well preserved Greek papyrus codex of the Gospel of John, have ranged from the early second century to the first half of the third century. There are, however, equally convincing palaeographic parallels among papyri securely dated to as late as the fourth century. This article surveys the palaeographic evidence and argues that the range of possible dates assigned to P.Bodmer II on the basis of palaeography needs to be broadened to include the fourth century. Furthermore, a serious consideration of a date at the later end of that broadened spectrum of palaeographic possibilities helps to explain both the place of P.Bodmer II in relation to other Bodmer papyri and several aspects of the codicology of P.Bodmer II.

In cultural heritage, the documentation of artefacts can be both iconographic and textual, i.e. both pictures and drawings on the one hand, and text and words on the other are used for documentation purposes.

This research project aims to produce a methodology to transform automatically verbal descriptions of material objects, with a focus on bookbinding structures, into standardized and scholarly-sound visual representations.

In the last few decades, the recording and management of documentation data about material objects, including bookbindings, has switched from paper-based archives to databases, but sketches and diagrams are a form of documentation still carried out mostly by hand. Diagrams hold some unique information, but often, also redundant information already secured through verbal means within the databases. This project proposes a methodology to harness verbal information stored within a database and automatically generate visual representations.

A number of projects within the cultural heritage sector have applied semantic modelling to generate graphic outputs from verbal inputs. None of these has considered bookbindings and none of these relies on information already recorded within databases. Instead they develop an extra layer of modelling and typically gather more data, specifically for the purpose of generating a pictorial output. In these projects qualitative data (verbal input) is often mixed with quantitative data (measurements, scans, or other direct acquisition methods) to solve the problems of indeterminateness found in verbal descriptions. Also, none of these projects has attempted to develop a general methodology to ascertain the minimum amount ii of information that is required for successful verbal-to-visual transformations for material objects in other fields. This research has addressed these issues.

The novel contributions of this research include: (i) a series of methodological recommendations for successful automated verbal-to-visual intersemiotic translations for material objects — and bookbinding structures in particular — which are possible when whole/part relationships, spatial configurations, the object’s logical form, and its prototypical shapes are communicated; (ii) the production of intersemiotic transformations for the domain of bookbinding structures; (iii) design recommendations for the generation of standardized automated prototypical drawings of bookbinding structures; (iv) the application — never considered before — of uncertainty visualization to the field of the archaeology of the book. This research also proposes the use of automatically generated diagrams as data verification tools to help identify meaningless or wrong data, thus increasing data accuracy within databases.

Visual and cultural analysis of Nihon no hana 日本の花(1946), a book pairing pictures and poetry by diverse artists and poets on the theme of flowers. The book is part of the Pulverer Collection of Japanese illustrated books of the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC and is featured on The World of the Japanese Illustrated Book website. My commentary, along with a complete set of readable images of the book, may be found here: http://pulverer.si.edu/node/462/title/1.

In the Kingdom of Hungary the representatives of the Enlightenment considered the printed book as such a tool by which the education of the common people could be enhanced. However, the program of popularising reading created a paradoxical situation because leading intellectuals were socialised to ignore the uneducated masses of people. This strange situation is also indicated by the fact that a lot of works dealing with enlightening the people were translated into Hungarian, which in their original versions investigated the central role of the book and reading. Notwithstanding this, the book occupied a marginal place in the Hungarian texts of both Protestant and Catholic works, and the emphasis put on the role of reading was exchanged by the importance of presenting thoughts by word of mouth in these texts. Obviously, the Protestant works emphasised the significance of reading the Bible in the Hungarian translations as well, but they admonished their curious readers for being precautious of other books apart from the Holy Scripture. This precaution may have been reinforced by the occasionally surfacing antireligious thoughts and the French Revolution. Nevertheless, it cannot be argued that Calvinist parsons would have kept aloof from taking advantage of the possibilities offered by the printed book, since the publishing rates of works of piety written by them highly increased in the Hungarian book market after 1781. What is more, Calvinist parsons also took a leading role in belles-lettres.
The administration of the Reformed Church in the Kingdom of Hungary at that time consisted of three levels: the largest unit was the church district, followed by the diocese, and the smallest unit, the local parish. The Békés Reformed Diocese was located in the southern region of the Kingdom of Hungary with many pastors being occupied with organising reading circles. They thought that it was essential to obtain not only works in Hungarian, but also contemporary German and French publications. The peculiarity of the diocese was that it had Hungarian and German congregations as well on its territory, and, as a result of the Habsburg settlement policy, the newly founded Calvinist congregations in the Bánát also belonged to the Békés Reformed Diocese. Generally, the settlers were not wealthy, yet church tax censuses show that the material resources of the new villages did not differ greatly from the older ones: the settlers of the village called Liebling invited a pastor from Basel, which is interesting because it enables us to compare Swiss and Hungarian book culture, drawing on their similarities and dissimilarities.
The archival sources of the Békés Reformed Diocese contain a lot of sources illuminating the changing role of the book in the life of Calvinist intellectuals and common people in the country. The general assembly of the diocese frequently discussed cases of such pastors who earned a living from book binding. Furthermore, their activity might claim the attention of economic history, as these pastors worked outside the guild, namely illegally, but it also help to understand what the pastors and the members of the congregation thought of the printed book. On the basis of the available sources we are able to ascertain which printed productions were paid for at a very high price and which were easily accessible to everybody due to their cheapness. Moreover, the minutes of canonical visitations provide an insight into how the popularising and control of reading was regulated, and several private letters contain references with regard to how people viewed book illustrations, type areas of books, book fonts, etc.

Presented in the New College annual conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, as part of the panel "Image, Matter, and Meaning in Medieval Treasured Objects" organized by Therese Martin (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid). March 3-5, 2022.

Evidence is presented supporting the scholarly opinion that Catalonia’s medieval bookbinders of Hebrew manuscripts were Jewish, not gentiles or apostates. Numerous historical sources indicate that bookbinding was a Jewish occupation in the region. Scholarly resistance to this conclusion is based upon the Talmudic obligation to bury worn-out holy texts or store them in a “Geniza”. A critical study of this branch of Jewish law, based upon a stringent responsum by R. Samuel di Modena of Salonika, among other sources, shows that only actual Biblical texts written on parchment were unambiguously included in this category. Catalonian Jewish communities apparently did not adopt these stringencies regarding paper-based Talmudic, liturgical, and interpretative Hebrew and Aramaic literature abundant in the bindings, nor did their distant coreligionists in Yemen. An addendum features a mid-14th century Latin charter addressed to the King of Aragon from Jews of Girona which was extracted from a Girona binding filled mostly with Hebrew manuscripts.

[Resumo]

Iluminado a um ritmo muito próprio, o século XVIII português edificou-se escorado em memórias escritas, legados de um passado conquistador, mas também dominado, em permanente estado de vigília sobre o vasto território físico e o intelectual.
No terreno conquistado aos ditames religiosos suportados pelo poder régio, despontam viços promissores, ecos de novos caminhos trilhados com sucesso no estrangeiro, debuxados nas mentes alumiadas e impressos pela malha tipográfica de uma imprensa em renovação.
Pela composição tipográfica disseminam-se as ideias, propagam-se os modernos rumos de uma sociedade e, a par e passo das prementes exigências culturais, surgem novas estéticas compositivas, alargam-se os horizontes da instrução, massificando o conhecimento e tornando-o acessível.
Nos principais movimentos de renovação editorial da centúria constrói-se um novo país, aberto à mudança, atento às inovações científicas, disponível para as artes, as que recriam e divulgam a cultura nacional e as que perpetuam as conquistas escritas. Na importação dos progressos tipográficos e das técnicas de gravura, promove-se o advento de uma nova cultura de informação que haveria de evoluir para a publicidade e para os múltiplos caminhos gráficos que se suportam na tipografia e na imagem.
No investimento setecentista dedicado à tipografia e à gravura encontra-se o início de uma evolução gráfica que um dia haveria de se libertar do papel.
Identificar esses espaços editoriais e respectivas conquistas culturais, científicas e artísticas, foi o caminho que percorremos, testemunhado pelos caracteres que compõem esta tese.



[Abstract]

Illuminated in its very own rhythm, the Portuguese eighteenth-century was built anchored in written memories, legacies of a conqueror past, but also dominated, in permanent alertness about the vast physical and intellectual territory.
On the conquered ground from the religious dictates supported by the royal power, promising synergies emerge, echoes of new ways followed abroad with success, designed in the illuminated minds and printed by the typographic mesh of a press under renovation.
Through typesetting, ideas upsurge, modern directions of a society widespread and, step-by-step from pressing cultural requirements, new aesthetic compositions emerge, horizons of education expand, increasing knowledge and making it accessible.
In the main movements of editorial renovation of the century, a new country is raised, open to change, aware of scientific innovations, available for the arts, the ones that recreate and disseminate national culture and those that perpetuate the written achievements. In the importation of typographical progress and engraving techniques, the emergence of a new culture of information is promoted, evolving into advertising and multiple graphics paths that are supported by typography and image.
In the eighteenth-century investment dedicated to typography and engraving is the beginning of a graphical development that would one day set free from the paper.
Identifying these editorial spaces and their cultural, scientific and artistic achievements was the path we have travelled, witnessed by the characters that make up this thesis.

Manuscripta Medievalia: От истории бытования к современной реставрации. К 90-летию Г.З. Быковой (1928–2017):  конф. с междунар. участием, Москва, 9–10 июля 2018 г.:  тез. докл. / Сост. и отв. ред. Э.Н.Добрынина. М., 2018 (на русск. и англ. яз.)

The research project that we are now announcing has been granted by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness of Spain and deals with "The Spanish Bookbinding in the Royal Academies: binders, workshops and different typologies (18th-20th centuries)". The main goal of our project is to search, analyze and identify all the bookbinders who worked for the eight more relevant Royal Academies in Madrid. To carry out this research, we have to look at all the account books, expenses and minute books conserved during (18th-19th and mid. 20th centuries). Later we will identify all the bookbindings that are located in the different Academies. The final aim of the research is to fill out the gap left in the Spanish scientific production of an essential part of the History of Books and Bookbinding. Keywords: Binders / Archives / Royal Academies / History of Bookbinding / 18th century / 19th century / 20th century 1. Background and current status The study of bookbinding has not always played an essential role in the history of books in Spain. It's quite unusual to find library catalogues (in paper and online) or even databases that deal with this exhaustive and detailed description of our bibliographic heritage. Less information is offered about its creators, the bookbinders, which is a starting point for any serious study on bookbinding, not only to determine who is the creator of a particular work, but also because it allows us to connect workshops, artists and style trends. The only publication on bookbinders and, therefore, the starting point of our work, is the one by Vicente Castañeda (1958).

This thesis studies the bindings belong to 13th and 14th centuries in İnebey Manuscripts Library, and before the bindings it gives information about short history of paper and leather. Designing styles change according to periods that are researched, and
interactions between the periods are examined with prosperous samples by comparing each other.Islamic bookbinding continued by flourishing since 9th century, gave the best samples firstly between 12 and 15th centuries. Afterwards, with Timurids and Safavids Ottamans reached the golden age of bookbinding.
The first samples of Islamic bookbinding started to be produced in the region of Arabic and Asia Minor. Later, the bookbinding that was seen qualified decoration examples in the regions as Anatolia, Persia, North Africa, North Mezopotamia and Egypt gave unique
samples in Anatolia in 13-15 th centuries in the setting of art under sovereignty of Seljuks, Beyliks and as a short period Ilkhanids. The statesmen supported craftsmen who gave direction to art in this complicated and inextricable political period, enabled to make an
organized production also they founded libraries by having books prepared. When examples of bookbindings that survived until now are examined, tooling, technique, design, also style features on these can be determined. Afterwards, the styles of ornament in Seljuks, Beyliks, Ilkhanids and Mameluks's bookbindings had an affect on Ottomans, Timurids and Safavids. It has been remarked mostly geometric designs in 13- 14th centuries bookbindings that are examined in thesis. On geometric designs, elements of herbal
ornament can be seen in especially edging and shamsa-salbek. On inner covers herbal and even a little geometric ornaments handle on the leather with blocks and by some bookbinders stamps-include prays - or seals (signs) -include their names- are printed on these bindings. The signs (seals) of bookbinders has been a factor that gave characteristic feature to binding designs of the period.

The patrimony of the graphic arts can be understood from various perspectives, from the production of paper to the techniques of bookbinding and book production. A possible historical perspective involves the evolution of binding processes, their machinery and tools. In relation to the instruments (or tools) used in the bookbinding and production, there is a process of evolution that involves from small tools to the complex machines from the Industrial Revolution due to the aggregation of technology. With this, a relationship is built between industrial archaeology and memory of the graphic heritage whose history of binding processes is confused with the history and personal memory of bookbinders, whether craftsmen or booksellers, and is constituted by different personal components, savoir-faire and Know-how. The historical memory of binding thus comprises immaterial and material elements that involve a set of signs and meanings by those who elaborate, produce, distribute, and possess the books.