#gothic binding

Carolingian bindings were from before they figured out sewing frames, so they laced one board on, sewed the book, and laced the other board on. Gothic bindings had boards shaped on both sides to accommodate the swell from the sewing. Romanesque bindings happened between these two developments. There is a lot of extra bulk from the thread that has to go somewhere, and better convex than concave so it doesn’t poke out the foredge and get damaged.

My poor precious beautiful book! The boards are offended because they are not quartersawn and not in the right grain direction and it is very upsetting for me. I pasted down the pastedowns and put it under a million weights last night and it improved one board, but not the other. 

Behold my completed historic model, the greatest book you have ever seen.

My dear friend and I spent many hours in the workshop today, but let me tell you, it was entirely worth it. We aren’t finished just yet, but we just need to nail a few more things in. Here is a picture of some things not yet nailed in to keep you from being too overwhelmed by its incredible majesty when I show you the finished book.

Alum-tawed leather is really hard to tool. It is very like tooling a sponge. I had decent success tooling it dry, but only after I tried to tool it while it was damp and all the impressions just popped back up again. 

Historic model covered. I actually covered it twice, because I found a lot of tiny leather dye particles that are invisible until it is too late, including one right in the middle of the spine, and also because I tried that thing people did when the leather was really difficult to fold over the boards. I cut the turn-in area of the board in a crosshatch pattern and cut bits out of the leather and it looked very uh rustic. I was so embarrassed I cut a new piece and covered it again.

Pegged my boards on today, but failed to take pictures before I trimmed and tidied. Next step is covering, which I might be able to accomplish tomorrow.

I spent a fair bit of the week drilling holes and filing away at them until they joined up. My poor three pound needle files have nearly given up, but I got all the slots done.