![]() ![]() Leather straps are attached to the binding to keep the book shut. This copy of 'Speculum Vitae', written in the early fifteenth century, retains an early, perhaps original binding. The designs which feature on this binding include a hare, a lamb with flag, and a dolphin with arched back.ĭetail of stamped Oxford binding on the back board of prayer book, WLC/LM/11 Digitisation allows the enlargement and enhancement of details. Identification of the designs on these boards show them to be the work of a prolific Oxford binder, and enable us to date the binding to sometime in the 1470s. The design on the prayer book below has been achieved by blind stamping. Some binding boards were covered with embroidered or woven textiles, but very few of these have survived from before the sixteenth century. The stamps used to decorate the bindings were small metal devices which were pressed into the leather to create impressions of flowers, leaves, animals or figures. Stamped leather bindings became popular in northern France from the late twelfth century and this method of decorating bindings became more widespread by the late fifteenth century. Plain leather cover of 'L’estoire del Saint Graal', WLC/LM/7 Others were covered with leather, either immediately or later in their history. Sometimes they remained plain and unadorned. The decorative nature of the wooden binding boards varied considerably. Leaves from a service book, used in the binding of 'L'Estoire del Saint Graal',WLC/LM/7, inside front cover 'Gui de Warewic' fragment, Special Collection BX1756.J6 Old pages from a service book were also re-used in the binding of a copy of 'L'Estoire del Saint Graal'. This was the fate of the'Gui de Warewic' fragment, which comprises two strips of parchment from a manuscript of the Anglo-Norman romance, which was found inside the binding of an early printed book of sermons from Oakham Parish Library. ![]() Leaves from unbound manuscripts could also be used as fly-leaves, or as paste-downs to reinforce stitching in a binding. When manuscripts were no longer deemed of value or use to their owners, new uses were often found for them because the materials from which they were made retained a practical value. Inside view of front cover of WLC/LM/9, showing cords threaded inside wooden board The quires were then secured onto the boards with dowels or wooden pegs. The boards used for binding books were often very slightly larger than the manuscript, their edges neatly bevelled.Ĭords threaded inside wooden board, prayer book WLC/LM/11 before conservation In Britain these boards were usually made from oak, which makes the bound book extremely heavy to lift but which can help to flatten the naturally springy vellum or parchment of the manuscript. The ends of the cords onto which the stack of quires had been stitched would then be threaded through holes and channels which had been drilled into wooden boards. WLC/LM/3, before conservation, unbound, showing damage to stitching at the spine Sewing onto cords, part of prayer book WLC/LM/11 However, throughout the rest of the period it was more usual to sew the gatherings onto leather cords or thongs which ran horizontally across the spine which had been formed by the pile of ordered quires. In the early Middle Ages this might have involved sewing gatherings together with thread through the central fold of the quire. When quires were assembled in the correct order, they would be sewn together to form a book. These are called ‘catchwords’ and are generally evidence of professional book production.Ĭatchword, ‘he graspeth’, from John Gower, 'Confessio Amantis', WLC/LM/8, f. This was to write at the bottom right-hand side of the last page of the gathering the first few words of the text in the next gathering so that the binder could match consecutive quires. 155rīy the twelfth century scribes also used another way of keeping their work in order. Sign to help the ordering of completed loose leaves for sewing, from John Gower, ‘Confessio Amantis’, WLC/LM/8, f. Here is an example of a ‘t3’ signature, indicating the third leaf of the 20th quire labelled ‘t’. Early medieval scribes sometimes numbered their gatherings by writing letters or numerals. The gatherings would have to be assembled in the correct order to make the complete book. When the copying of a text had been completed, and any decorative scheme planned had been executed, the resulting collection of quires or gatherings containing the text could be sent for sewing and then binding. ![]()
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