bookbinding-msg - 5/28/05 Information on binding and covering books in period styles. NOTE: See also the files: early-books-msg, calligraphy-msg, parchment-msg, pasteboard-msg, gold-leaf-msg, leather-msg, lea-tooling-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ From: Shannon Ward Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Looking for Book Binder Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 07:41:35 -0700 Organization: University of Missouri > I am looking at purchasing a book for our Canton, Eoforwic. Preferably, > it would be 15 - 20 leaves (approx. 8.5" x 11") of parchment and bound > in leather. > I would need the book delivered by June 1, 1997. Due to the nature of > the book, the quality must be high. Check out Legacy Art & Book Works in Columbia, MO: http://www.legacyart.com../legacy_about.html It is owned by James Downey, a book binder and conservationist who is also known as Duke Shadan of Calontir. Tatiana Dieugarde Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 14:53:24 +1000 From: rmcgrath at nfsa.gov.au To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu Subject: Bookmaking Apparently Martin Levey (as cited in my previous post) has also written a book entitled "Medieval Arabic Bookmaking", which includes work on recipes using botanicals for inks and glues, methods of tanning, and the manufacture of paper. I have no other details here, but presume that it was published prior to 1973, and possibly by the same publisher (EJ Brill). Rakhel Petrovna Lochac Subject: [Regia-US] Bookbinding Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 11:25:57 -0500 From: "Jim Graham" To: Not sure if I'm the only bibliophile out there, but I've just struck the mother-load and had to share it with someone! I recently picked up a copy of The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding by J. A. Szirmai. If anyone is at all interested in learning period binding techniques, this book is the bible. It's more than a bit pricey ($189), but if your library doesn't have it, they can likely get it through inter-library loan. This is by far the best research I have seen on medieval bookbinding. Dr. Szirmai has an extensive chapter on Carolingian bookbinding (in the bookbinding world, our period of interest is Carolingian), with enough details, explanations, and documentation to reproduce the binding techniques. He even provides histograms of board thicknesses! Once I finish up the sketchbook I'm doing for a friend, I'll be binding a copy of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles in Carolingian style. I can't wait! Any other bookbinders out there? Jim Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 16:53:55 -0500 From: rmhowe To: "- Stephan's Florilegium" , - Authenticity List Subject: Book stamps / boat models / Pilgrim Ampullae from Dublin Wallace, Patrick F.(Ed.): Miscellanea 1: Medieval Dublin Excavations 1962-81, National Museum of Ireland, 48pp PB Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 1988 PB ISBN 0901714712, HB ISBN 0901714712. $13.49 in paperback from Amazon.com. The first section is a Bibliography of Dublin 840-1300 listing all articles. About 5 pages of solid bibliography by Patrick Wallace. The second section is A 'Winchester-style' Bronze Mount by Andrew Halpin. This depicts four differnt mounts. Similar ones are thought to possibly have been sword pommels. This one is highly carved in an animalistic romanesque style and is thought to have been a ceremonial staff end of some type. (Although to me it looks like the animals would have been upside down in context). 10 C. English Import. Two inches wide by about 5/8" thick. Shown actual size in three orthographic drawings, and one photo. The third section if Ship Graffiti and Models by Arne-Emil Christianson. This one looks like fun, it has a number of graffiti of early ships including a horned dragon head ship and some obvious toys and models. Both carved models and real boats are illustrated. Also a Birka coin and a wooden gaming piece from High Street which is rather like a checker piece. 25 illus. Bibliography. The fourth section is Romanesque bookbinding fragments by Joseph McDonnell and has a number of book stamp styles illustrated. Not the actual punches but the impressions of them. This kind of illustration is fairly rare. The leather bits and the six different stamp designs used are depicted. A palmette, a repeating palmette, a lobe shaped dragon, a dove without a nimbus enclosed in a palmette frame, an Ostrich?, and a boar. The last section if Pilgrim Souvenirs by Brian Spencer which consists of quite a number of differently shaped Ampullae. Ten illustrations and about 40 citations in the bibliography. Magnus Malleus, OL, Atlantia, GDH / R.M.Howe .......... ***Not to be forewared to SCA-Universitas or any open Newsgroups, especially the Rialto. Closed email lists of the SCA or reenactor community are fine. Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2001 01:44:12 -0500 From: rmhowe To: - Medieval Leather List Subject: Further Period Bookbinding Articles Some book citations on Medieval Bookbinding I got from Jim Graham who's also on the Regia Anglorum - North America list. (via tom at netword.com if you are interested in joining such things) This was in return for my postings on the Fulda Bookbinding and the Dublin Miscellanea 1 bookstamps article. He's in the process of building a period cover. I'm sure someone out there wants this stuff. You give, you get. Everybody wins. I'm a sift. Go figure. ;) Magnus Christ, K. (1937): "Karolingische Bibliothekseinbande". in (LEYH, GEORG) Festschrift Georg Leyh. Aufs‰tze zum Bibliothekswesen und zur Forschungsgeschichte dargebracht zum 60. Geburtstage am 6. Juni 1937 von Freunden und Fachgenossen. Leipzig 1937. 4to. Illustrert. pp. 82-104. "Christ discusses leather-stamping technique and it's application to cover decoration in a number of Carolingian (read: Saxon/Viking Age) bindings (mostly Continental). Provides line-drawings of 20 stamped impressions, including some knotwork, circles, and animals." In German. Vezin, J. (1989). Le decor des reiures de cuir pendant le haut Moyen Age. _Bulletin_du_Bibliophile_ , Vol 1 pp. 16-33. "Has some great photos of 6 different stamped leather bindings (mostly German, one French) from the 8th to 10th centuries. Provides a discussion (or so my French-speaking friends tell me) of blocking stamp-work through this time period, and provides evidence (though not direct) that this technique was used through the 11th century (again, like the pouches, this seems to be a case where the technique was used just prior to and just preceding the 11th century, but no surviving 11th century evidence has been found - I'm relying on the translation of a friend, so I'm not sure how eloquent his arguement is). While the examples deal mainly with Continental bindings, paralells are drawn between the examples and the Stonyhurst Gospel, and he discusses Anglo-Saxon design in some detail." From: rmhowe Date: April 26, 2004 11:02:04 PM CDT To: - Authenticity List , - Medieval Leather List , - Medieval Sawdust , - Regia Anglorum - North America , - BARONY of WINDMASTERS' HILL , - Authenticity List Subject: Some unusual bindings SCROLL COVER : http://www.kb.dk/elib/mss/treasures/bogbind/nks_298d.htm 4/04 Photos of a 1490's girdle book. http://www.kb.dk/elib/mss/treasures/bogbind/rostgaard_6.htm 4/04 Magnus From: "merouda_ at _gmail.com" Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Period book cushions Date: 31 Mar 2005 11:54:26 -0800 Greetings from the humble scribe Merouda Pendray. Gentles, I'm looking for information on book cushions. For those who are not familar with them, they are devices used to protect books with extremely elaborate bindings. Some period bindings include protruding gems and so forth; the book cushion prtocets the binding both in use and in storage. The earliest example I have been able to find online dates from 1630-1650, in the fabled "gray area." (go to http://images.vam.ac.uk/ and search for museum number T.53-1978 to see it yourself.) I'm looking for earlier evidence, pictures and/or text mentions. Can any one help me? Many thanks, your servant, Merouda From: georg Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Period book cushions Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 20:26:21 GMT merouda_ at _gmail.com wrote: > Greetings from the humble scribe Merouda Pendray. > > Gentles, I'm looking for information on book cushions. For those who > are not familiar with them, they are devices used to protect books with > extremely elaborate bindings. Some period bindings include protruding > gems and so forth; the book cushion protects the binding both in use > and in storage. > > The earliest example I have been able to find online dates from > 1630-1650, in the fabled "gray area." (go to http://images.vam.ac.uk/ > and search for museum number T.53-1978 to see it yourself.) > > I'm looking for earlier evidence, pictures and/or text mentions. Can > any one help me? > > Many thanks, your servant, Merouda It's not a cushion, but the Armenians always held their gospels with a scarf- they did not touch the books directly, as the books were considered Holy. I have seen pictures. I can dig and find if you wish citations. -georg From: "Sabine" Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Period book cushions Date: 1 Apr 2005 22:28:05 -0800 You may want to look at illuminations of the Annunciation, as Mary is often depicted reading in those images. Other good sources would be Books of Hours commissioned for nobles, as they sometimes include scenes of the patrons reading from prayerbooks. If you look at , the pictures include both opened chemise bindings acting like the book scarves georg mentioned, and also at least one cushion (figure 9). Your servant and that of the East, Sabine de Kerbriant Edited by Mark S. Harris bookbinding-msg Page 5 of 5