The Beautiful Book

They were often made from parchment and bound in a distinctive style, with the binding extending beyond the bottom edge to form a knot or loop for attachment.

Reminiscent of Venetian window arches and ancient Russian jewelry art , the binding features wood paneling with 21 shaped compartments cut away to reveal decorated mother-of-pearl onlay.

YULE TIDE CHEER: A BOOK OF VERSES FOR THE CHRISTMAS SEASON compiled by Edward A. Bryant (New York: Crowell, 1912) Filled with Christmas Carols and poetry, written by authors such as: Alfred Lord Tennyson, Charles Dickens, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, Martin Luther, and many more.

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THE LIFE OF MAN, Symbolized by the Months of the Year by Richard Pigot (London: Longman, Green, Reader & Dyer, 1866) Illustrated by John Leighton

Palm leaf manuscripts were historically used for religious texts, literature, and documentation before the widespread use of paper.The leaves are bound together with a string passing through holes, allowing them to be fanned out like this image or stacked and stored as a book.

A circular, parchment-like object covered in dense text in a non-English language, possibly Arabic script, and bound with string.

Written on a wooden board in the year 871 during the Tang Dynasty, by an artisan named Cui Qing, who was involved in the restoration of the Famen Temple underground palace.” — visuals_china

19th Century gold binding in the neo-Rrenaissance style. Treasure binding.

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POEMS FOR TRAVELERS by Mary R.J. DuBois (New York: Holt, )