Binding and the Archeology of the Medieval and Renaissance Book

4to (28 cm), 88 pp. Laminated wrappers (minor shelf wear). A richly illustrated dealer's catalogue issued by the manuscript specialists Les Enluminures (Paris and Chicago) to mark the tenth anniversary of their textmanuscripts project. Conceived as the first in a projected series devoted to textual manuscripts, the volume presents thirty-two manuscript books from the Gothic and Renaissance periods, selected in large part for the survival of their original bindings. The catalogue is organised into five thematic sections: medieval bindings; leather and vellum blind-stamped bindings; textile bindings; Renaissance bindings; and reused, recycled, and rebound structures. Each section foregrounds the binding not merely as protective covering but as a primary source for the study of book production, use, and transmission. Sandra Hindman's introduction articulates a methodological framework informed by the "archaeology of the medieval book," associated with François Delaissé, and by Mirjam Foot's pioneering studies of binding structures. The entries themselves provide close technical descriptions of sewing structures, board attachment, pastedowns, and other physical evidence, using bindings as evidence for patterns of readership, circulation, and repair. The catalogue includes a separate price list for the thirty-two items offered for sale, ranging from pedagogical manuscripts such as a grammar manual to a Book of Hours associated with the circle of Jean Markant. A significant contribution to the material study of manuscripts, bridging scholarly codicology and the contemporary antiquarian market.…