Bookbinding

Abstract: A new model for the study of the book, Thomas R Adams and Nicholas Barker the commercial production of manuscript books in late 13th-century and early 14th-century Paris, RH Rouse and MA Rouse the codex in the 15th century - manuscript and print, Lotte Hellinga American papermakers and the panic of 1819, John Bidwell bookbinding and the history of books, Mirjam M Foot the "trade of authorship" in 18th-century Britain, WB Carnochan Mount and Page - publishers of 18th-century maritime books, Thomas R Adams libraries and the mind of man, Nicolas Barker

Abstract: Part 1 Why bookbinding?: bookbinding and the history of books some bookbinders' price lists of the 17th and 18th centuries. Part 2 Bookbinding - a dead craft?: a binding by Paul Kersten, 1900 a binding by W.T. Walker, 1909 the Thomas Harrison memorial competition, 1955-1975 - a record modern bookbindings acquired by the British Library, 1974-1983 a binding by Pierre-Lucien Martin, 1961. Part 3 The late medieval tradition in bookbinding Part IV Gold-tooled bindings. Part 5 Unusual materials. Part 6 Collectors and collections. Part 7 Preserving the past.

Abstract: In the past, studies of the history of bookbinding were mainly concerned with the exterior decoration. This book focuses attention primarily on the physical aspects of the binding and its construction principles. It is an expanded version of a series of lectures delivered by the author while Visiting Professor at the University of Amsterdam in 1987, supplemented with the results of ten years of intensive research in major libraries on the Continent, the United Kingdom and the USA. It surveys the evolution of binding structures from the introduction of the codex two thousand years ago to the close of the Middle Ages. Part I reviews the scanty physical evidence from the Mediterranean heritage, the early Coptic, Islamic and Ethiopian binding structures and their interrelation with those of the Byzantine realm. Part II is devoted to a detailed analysis of Western binding techniques, distinguishing the carolingian, romanesque and gothic wooden-board bindings as the main typological entities; their structure and function is compared with those of contemporary limp bindings. The book is illustrated with over 200 drawings and photographs and contains a comprehensive bibliography.