The
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
contains a wide range of fine and historic
bookbindings; however, books in the Library are organised primarily by subject rather than by binding so the Library has produced a guide to enable researchers to identity bindings of interest. The collection includes the oldest intact Western bookbinding, the leather binding of the 7th century
St Cuthbert Gospel.
Some gifts by, or purchases from, collectors of bindings are registered and kept together. A small number of bindings are always displayed in the Ritblat Gallery at the St Pancras site in London, and others can be examined in the reading rooms. There is also a display of the stamps and tools used for the books of
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
near the entrance to the Conservation Centre.
Gallery
File:Gallican Psalter with canticles (the 'Lothar Psalter' or 'Lothaire Psalter') - Upper Cover (Add ms 37768).jpg, Treasure binding
A treasure binding or jewelled bookbinding is a luxurious book cover using metalwork in gold or silver, jewels, or ivory, perhaps in addition to more usual bookbinding material for book-covers such as leather, velvet, or other cloth. The act ...
from the '' Psalter'' made for Lothair I (840-855)
File:Qur’an (pt 7) Manuscript -Marakesh, c1256-. - (Or13192).jpg, The oldest known gold-tooled binding in the worldQur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
copied by Abu Hafs Umar al-Murtada
Abū Ḥafṣ ‘Umar al-Murtaḍā ( ar, أبو حفص عمر المرتضى بن أبي إبراهيم اسحاق بن يوسف بن عبد المؤمن; died 1266) was an Almohad caliph who reigned over part of present-day Morocco from 1248 ...
in Marakesh, 1256
File:Part 1; Psalter ('The Felbrigge Psalter'), with a calendar, imperfect (lacking July and August), canticles, litany, and prayers Origin France, N. Date 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 13th centu - Upper cover (Sloane manuscript 2400).jpg, Binding from the Felbrigge Psalter, the oldest surviving embroidered binding from England. 14th century
File:New Testament, imperfect (Gregory-Aland 699; Scrivener evst. 603; von Soden ? 104) Mid 10th century - Upper cover (Add Ms 28815).jpg, Treasure binding from the Guest-Coutts New Testament with scenes from the life of St Demetrius, of post-Byzantine date but probably based on a 14th-century template
File:Korean sutra covers - Avatamsaka sutra (c.1400) - BL Or. 7377.jpg, Covers of the Avatamsaka sutra. Korea, c. 1400
File:Front cover - Historia Scholastica (c.1451), Binding - BL Add MS 18972.jpg, Front cover of ''Historia Scholastica'' by Petrus Comestor
Petrus Comestor, also called Pierre le Mangeur (died 22 October 1178), was a twelfth-century French theological writer and university teacher.
Life
Petrus Comestor was born in Troyes. Although the name ''Comestor'' (Latin for 'eater', ''le Ma ...
. Germany (Amerbach), c. 1451
File:Divan of Nava'i, in Chaghatay Turkish -Painted covers over illuminated manuscript- - Lower cover (Or1374).jpg, Cover of Divan
A divan or diwan ( fa, دیوان, ''dīvān''; from Sumerian ''dub'', clay tablet) was a high government ministry in various Islamic states, or its chief official (see ''dewan'').
Etymology
The word, recorded in English since 1586, meanin ...
of Nava'i with lacquer painting Lacquer painting is a form of painting with lacquer which was practised in East Asia for decoration on lacquerware, and found its way to Europe and the Western World both via Persia and the Middle East and by direct contact with Continental Asia. Th ...
by Mir Sayyid Ali
Mir Sayyid Ali (Tabriz, 1510 – 1572) was a Persian miniature painter who was a leading artist of Persian miniatures before working under the Mughal dynasty in India, where he became one of the artists responsible for developing the style of Mugh ...
. Iran, c. 1540
File:Embroidered back cover - Prayerbook of Princess Elizabeth (1545), binding - BL Royal MS 7 D X.jpg, Embroidered back cover made for trilingual translation of Prayers or Meditations
''Prayers or Meditations'', written in 1545 by the English queen Catherine Parr, was the first book published in England by a woman under her own name and in the English language. It first appeared in print on 8 June 1545. Preceded in the previou ...
by princess Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
. England, 1545
File:Homilies ou sermons de S. Jean Chrysostome...traduits en francois par Paul A. de Marsilly - Upper cover (Davis533) (cropped).jpg, Cover of ''Homilies and sermons of John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of ...
'' by royal bookbinder Antoine-Michel Padeloup. France, first half of the 18th century
File:Silver manuscript cover - The Four Gospels (1755-1756), binding - BL Or. 13895.jpg, Silver binding of Armenian manuscript
Armenian illuminated manuscripts ( hy, Հայկական մանրանկարչություն, translit=Haykakan manrankarch'owt'yown), form an Armenian tradition of formally prepared documents where the text is often supplemented with flourishes s ...
of Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
s made by the silversmith Eghiay in Kayeri (Caesarea) in 1755–1756. The relief depicts Christ's entry into Jerusalem.
See also
*
John Jaffray (bookbinder)
John Jaffray (31 October 1811 - 25 July 1869) was a London bookbinder who was active in the early Chartist movement and who assembled a large collection of literature and notes relating to the bookbinding trade. He arrived in London in about 1836. ...
*
Howard Nixon
Howard Millar Nixon OBE (3 September 1909 – 18 February 1983) was a British librarian and historian of bookbinding. He was a librarian at the British Museum then Librarian of Westminster Abbey from 1974 until his death.
Life
Howard Millar Nixo ...
, scholar of bookbinding and deputy keeper, British Museum
References
Further reading
*Marks, P. J. M. (2011) ''Beautiful Bookbindings: a thousand years of the bookbinder's art''. London: British Library.
*Marks, P. J. M. (1998) ''The British Library Guide to Bookbinding: history and techniques''. London: British Library.
*Marks, P.J.M, and David Grinyer. "The Trials of Going Online: The Image Database of British Library Bookbindings." ''New Library World'', no. 9 (2002): 328–35.
* Francis, Sir Frank, ed. (1971) ''Treasures of the British Museum''. London: Thames & Hudson; pp. 318–22
External links
British Library Binding Index
{{British Library
Bookbinding
British Library collections