Historical book binding terms and meaning’s

Book binding as an art was introduced to Europe from Italy in the late 15^th century, upon the fall of Constantinople , in 1453 it is said a great number of manuscripts were carried into Italy and where this manner of finishing books was derived.

There was a methodical process to book binding, this wasn’t a job or a practise this was an art and a skilful passion, painstaking, detailed and time consuming , examples still here today are testament, standing the test of time in all their excellence . I will summarise the steps, Start of this process modestly named ………

• Folding – simply using a instrument named a folding stick to precisely fold the sheets to enable a generous margin to allow the book to be trimmed with minimal interruption. Next step was
• Collation – ensuring all the pages are in their proper sequence, letters were used to sequence the sheets, letters j, v and w were not used, letters where then doubled up on exhaustion. The older the book the more obscure the sequencing, then the more seasoned craftsman’s skills would come into play. the next in the process was
• Beating or Pressing –  as it sounds, an iron slab and a hammer were used to press the books sufficiently this is done in sections and with great care not to press unevenly or to damage the sheets. Last of the process and most importantly is the
• Marking up & Sewing – this will not only secure the binding but also dictate the decoration. The early Italian printers selected paper according to the size of the book, smaller books – thinner, larger – thicker. The Europeans used thicker paper which only offered a less pleasing binding. The Italians would also often use a double cord which gave a richer feel to the spine once covered.
• Endpapers – coloured endpapers started being used around the end of the 16^th century stamped with repeat patterns, then in the beginning of the 17^th century we see the start of marbled end papers.