A 13th-14thC Style Bookbinding

Crispin Sexi (Jaysen Ollerenshaw), January 2006.

Black book

Fig 1: The finished book.

Despite my thinking that bookbinding looked too difficult, I've been giving it a go. This blank notebook is my second attempt at bookbinding. I've attempted to make the book in a 14th Century style, including:

The text block sewn to cords.
The cords threaded into wooden boards.
Closed (rather than hollow) spine.
Leather cover.
Bosses/mounts on the outside.
Endpapers are re-used pages from another book.
Two fastenings to keep the book closed and stop warping.

Some things I think are correct for the 14thC style:

The text block sewn up using white silk thread.
The boards are bevelled on the fore-edge, top and bottom.
The cover is flush with the text block, unlike modern hardcover books.
The mounts are nailed into the boards, and, despite being upholstery tacks, are somewhat close in design to actual 14thC mounts.
The endpapers have 14thC fables on them, in a gothic font.
I staggered the distance to the second set of holes in the covers. The first row of holes are all in line.
The straps are fixed to the front cover, as was the English style.

Boards and text block

Fig 2: The boards and folded text block.

Fig 2 shows the boards sitting on the folded text block. The cuts for sewing the quires to the cords are visible. The boards are cut to the same height as the pages, but 2-3mm narrower and about 6-7mm thick.

To make the holes for sewing, I stacked the quires, put them in a bench vice and used a hacksaw to cut down to where I thought the inner-most pages would be. This lines up the holes nicely and is very quick.

Sewing frame

Fig 3: The sewing frame.

Fig 3 shows my home-made sewing frame and the folded quires ready for sewing. The cords vanish through holes drilled in the plywood base and attach to hooks underneath.

The quires are made of two A4-sheets, each folded in half twice (ie A6) and one inserted inside the other. This makes 16 pages per quire. I made 7 quires because that was how much paper I had.

Spine

Fig 4: Text block after sewing.

Fig 4 shows the text block after sewing, with the cords threaded into the covers.

Inside the front board

Fig 5: Inside the front board.

Fig 5 shows inside the front cover, after securing the covers using dowel plugs.

Plugs

Fig 6: The plugs securing the cords.

Fig 6 shows an outside view of the plugs securing the cords. The dowel plugs are cut 4mm long for the first set of holes and 6-7mm long for the second set of holes. I hammered the dowel plugs into place, then cut off as much of the cord as possible before sanding it back.

English chanels

Fig 7: The channels inside the cover.

Fig 7 shows the channels inside the cover. I applied some glue here after finding that the dowel plugs were not quite thick enough to hold the cord tightly. (5mm plugs, 6mm holes).

Before covering

Fig 8: Before covering the book with leather.

Fig 8 shows the assembled book, before covering it with leather. Yes, I know the edges of the covers are not straight - I fixed this with my power sander before covering it.

The beginning and end of the silk thread I used to sew the quires can be seen sticking out of the spine.

I then glued a strip of linen over the spine and left it to dry.

The black leather cover was cut to overlap the edges of the book by about 2cm the whole way around. I cut tabs above and below where the spine would go and folded them down before coating on glue and pressing the spine down onto it. I then glued on the front and back covers, making sure to keep the book closed. I then opened the front and back covers in turn and glued in the overlapping leather edges.

Endpaper.

Fig 9: The endpapers.

Fig 9 shows the endpapers, covering the cords, the edges of the leather and occasional bits of nail. The endpapers have fables printed on them. I carefully made sure to chop the bottoms off the text to make them look like a shoddily re-used page from another book.

Top of the spine.

Fig 10: The top of the spine.

Fig 10 shows the top of the spine. The spine is slightly rounded when closed, the quires having been carefully positioned by hand. As the book is opened, the spine bends inwards.

Fig 11 shows the finished book, including a view of the spine, mounts and straps.

Finished book

Fig 11: The finished book.

Some things that could be improved to make this book more realistic:

The cords are cotton, because that was cheep and ready to hand. Vellum for preference. Even better would be slit vellum cords.
I used radiata pine. Better would be hardwood. Even better would be oak, though oak is rare in Australia.
A brown leather cover may have been more correct than black. Most of the 14thC books I've seen appear to be brown leather.
The fastening should have been clasps, rather than strap and pin.
I didn't properly distress (round) the spine. Normally this would be done using a hammer. I think there were not enough quires to do a decent job of this, so instead I positioned the quires and boards by hand.
I used PVA woodworking glue. The glues should have been made from hide.
Possibly the boards should be slightly wedge-shaped, rather than flat planks.
I used some modern tools in construction, including sandpaper and a drill-press.

A 13th-14thC Style Bookbinding

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