We are hosting an amazing short course at Shrewsbury School about English Bookbindings with Dr David Pearson 24-27 March 2026.
Find out more here: buff.ly/LUQw4TX
#Bookbindings #RareBooks
Question for book people: does anyone know of any examples of #earlymodern booksellers (c.1710) who offered books not only for sale but also on loan or to read in the shop (like a library)? Asking for my PhD student #BookHistory
A squirrel on an old embroidered book binding.
Seventeenth-century squirrel, looks like it’s eating a little nut. On an embroidered binding from a 1641 psalter, SSS.34.27 @theul.bsky.social.
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekBforBooks 📷 #photography
🧵 Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the work that goes into lovingly repairing historic books from The Portico's 19th-century collection...
FINAL CALL! ⏰
One week left to apply for our Nottebohm Fellowship!
☟ ☟ ☟
Front cover of the book with a brownish cloth binding decorated with flowers by means of needle work in different colours. It contains the library shelf mark on the top left corner
Spine of the book with several flowers sewn on a cloth cover in different colours.
Back cover of the book with a brownish cloth binding decorated with flowers by means of needle work in different colours. You see a fragment of a silk thread in the middle.
A 17th-century bookbinding in full bloom!
While screening the collections for books to show during a hands-on workshop on historical bookbindings, we stumbled upon this devotional book bound in a beautiful embroidered binding featuring flowers, usually associated with female makers and/or owners.
Marbled boards- wait there’s more! In #RareBook collection 2/4 vols Livy’s Decades by Venice printer Aldus Manutius have edges gilded (painted in gold) & gauffered (stamped decorative detail).
bit.ly/livy-decades...
#MarbledMonday #GaufferedEdges #Marbling #MarbledPaper #AldinePress #PrintersDevice
Title page of the manuscript which reads 'Beschrijvinghe ende onderwijsinghe ter discreter ende vermaerder consten des boeckbinders handwerck, hier inne te sien ende te lesen hoemen de boecken op alderhande manieren binden ende maecken sal.'
Dutch cover of the book in parchment painted in red and part of it in white sheep leather that has been blind tooled.
Detail of the edges of the manuscript painted in red and green respectively.
French cover of the book in parchment painted in green and part of it in white sheep leather that has been blind tooled.
This manuscript by Anselmus Faust, dated 1612, is the oldest surviving European manual on bookbinding. Written in Latin & Dutch, it was created for the St Bernard's Abbey near Antwerp.
What makes it especially unique is its rare dos à dos binding: 2 books bound back-to-back, sharing a single spine.
Embroidered binding made for George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, with his portrait on a presentation copy of Bacon's Essays (1625). After the Duke's assassination on 23 Aug 1628 the book was given to the Bodleian by Lewes Roberts, London merchant. (Bodleian Library Oxford
Well, @sibyllacumae.bsky.social and I are back (on schedule), with a longer-ish issue - we're talking about bindings! Read it here: 📜 #bookhistory
open.substack.com/pub/twohalfs...
Parchment bound book with later-looking leather strapping and weird metal floral clasps. And some chains, but they're not serious.
This Is NOT A Chain Binding
But what the heck kind of pastiche IS it? Book from 1621 in the Greenlee Collection at #NewberryLibrary.
A small book (a Book of Psalms) on vellum, bound in red velvet with a single silver clasp. The velvet is slightly torn showing a part of the thin wooden board.
July holding the Psalm book from the previous photo, showing that it is tiny (smaller than the palm of her hand) with tiny script and tiny illuminations.
An Ethiopian codex, sewn with a kettle stitch, showing writing in Ge'ez.
A dark brown leather binding with a flap and panel stamps with renaissance motifs.
Some more bindings from the KBR collections.
A young woman, July Van Malderen, standing behind a table with four very old bindings.
The oldest binding of the Low Countries, a Carolingian binding from the 10th century from Saint-Omers (now North of France, then Flanders). KBR Ms. 8380-9012, Liber pontificalis, 10th century.
Close-up of the endband of the binding in the previous picture.
A treasure binding from the 12th century. The binding is completely covered in gold- and silvercoloured metal, topped with large gems (polished white rock crystal) and enameled decorations.
A day of looking at bookbindings at the Royal Library of Belgium, hosted by July Van Malderen! Showing here some of the oldest bindings in the KBR, including the oldest binding from the Low Countries.
📜 📚💙 💎 #BookHistory
Volume with decorated original full leather binding and strap
This month’s highlight focuses on the unique bookbinding techniques of an account and rental book, which has captivated the interest of our Senior Conservator. #ArchiveConservation #Archive30
Read the blog to find out more: bit.ly/4iDAfSc
Medallions of Erasmus, Luther and Melanchthon
A 16th-century German binding in the collections of the University of Cyprus in Nicosia @ucy1.bsky.social decorated with the medallions of great reformers and pre-reformers, notably Erasmus, Luther and Melanchthon:
#bookhistory #bindings #reformation
Paper covered board with 12 parallel horizontal cords and two vertical cords on each side, creating a form
The cords threaded through the front board were used to line pages before adding text! The cover isn’t attached to the textblock & loose pages are wrapped in a case, a binding style common on West African books.
Mukhtasar (epitome of Maliki law) manuscript copied in 18c?, Yale Arabic MSS 198
Still a few weeks left to submit an abstract for our wonderful conference in November! ☟ ☟ ☟
#earlymodern #bookhistory #rarebooks 💙📚📜
Blue background with image of book bound by Roger Powell. The book is a teal coloured leather with gold, yellow, orange and brown details.
Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding (18 February-3 May 2025)
Explore the life and work of renowned bookbinder Roger Powell, whose work transformed generations of bookbinding. 📖
Discover the extraordinary designs of contemporary binders with 20+ books from members of Designer Bookbinders. 📚
Look at the different bookbinding styles 😍
Doen jullie even allemaal @huisvanhetboek.bsky.social volgen?
Register now!
January 17 (15.00h CET): Bookbindings Academy 2025 session 1.
Alberto Campagnolo: Carolingian-Romanesque bookbinding practices
Melissa Moreton, Suzanne Conklin and Ian McCallum: beaverskin and birchbark book covers
Registration: boekbandengenootschap.nl/activiteiten...
Share=👍
Kids these days, always messing around with books. wapo.st/49Gdd9M #bookbinding
The @bookbindings.bsky.social conference was a succes. Lovely to be there, talking about reused bookbindings with my colleague @daniel-ermens.bsky.social
Registration open! 🎉 The Belgian-Dutch Bookbindings Society celebrates its 40th anniversary on 22 November at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. We invite everyone to come to the conference (in Dutch) and to celebrate with us! boekbandengenootschap.nl/veertig-jaar... Share=👍
