A Taste of Bookbinding

This clip of a colleague bookbinder will take you through all of the steps of bookbinding from just after the paper was painstakingly torn individually and laid into quires to the completion of the clasps. It is modelled after a 15th Century Gothic binding.

The book also serves as a compendium for restoration. The manuscript facsimiles that you see acting as humble quire covers are actually parchments from kings and nobles recording grants of lands which will find their way back to museums and the dusty vaults in archives.

This book is made with a so-called concertina construction which means that a thin Japanese paper was sewn into the spine which looks, in the end, like a miniature accordion. It serves to separate each section to allow the book to be opened to the center of each quire. This is important in such a small book. The herringbone stitch allows for strength and flexibility as the thread reaches down into a couple of quires below.

The simple white medieval sewn headbands act also to stabilize the construction.

The leather is an exquiste calfskin, paradoxically very fragile and delicate considering the ruggedness of the interior of the book.

The clasps are made of brass hand cut for this small book and finished with much precision and care.

Music: Catherine Braslavsky and Joseph Rowe
Please see their exquisite palette of music at their website.
http://www.naturalchant.com/
They can also be seen performing on their YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/paleopsyc...
used with kind permission