British Bookbindings Presented By Kenneth H. Oldaker to the Chapter Library of Westminster Abbey

Nixon, Howard M

ISBN 10: 0901953040 / ISBN 13: 9780901953049

Published by Maggs Bros, London, 1982

About this Item

[9], 10-139pp, [1]. Original cloth, author, title, and date blocked in silver to spine, gilt title within a frame to upper cover. Very minor edge wear, generally bright and clean. Seventy-one bindings are described and photographically illustrated (three in colour). "Altogether, the collection if not grand has great charm for anyone with an eye for British bookbinding. It is the happiest of circumstances that it should have encouraged Howard Nixon to produce some of his best and most characteristic scholarship" (Nicolas Barker in 'The Book Collector', Winter 1984). The "catalogue entries have been prepared with great care . the majority contain much new material or material that is now for the first time presented in a clear and ordered way. Sometimes it is information about the binder, sometimes about related bindings, or it may refer specifically to the binding in question. So it is that the worth of the book far exceeds that of an ordinary catalogue" (Jan Storm van Leeuwen, in 'Quaerendo', Volume XIII/4, 1983, page 295. Schmidt-Kunsemuller 3527 Size: 4to.

Seller Inventory # 004905

Bibliographic Details

• Title: British Bookbindings Presented By Kenneth H. Oldaker to the Chapter Library of Westminster Abbey
• Publisher: Maggs Bros, London
• Publication Date: 1982
• ISBN 10: 0901953040
• ISBN 13: 9780901953049
• Binding: Hardback
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket (as Issued?)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Bibliography and Reference

About this title

Synopsis

The process of binding books in principle has always been very much the same. The folded sheets were originally sewed to leather bands, the ends of which were fastened to wooden boards, the boards being then joined together and covered with leather. Cords have been substituted for leather bands. Binder's board has taken the place of wood for the sides, and cloth and paper to a certain extent has superseded leather for the covers. In early books the sections consisted of four sheets folded to make eight leaves. An old wooden binding, with mortise by which book was held while being read The section mark or signature was usually written at the foot of the last page. To assist in the collation the first word of a page was repeated under the last line of the preceding page. Page numbers, or folios, came into use in the Fourteenth Century, The sawed back (by which method the binding cords were sunk into the leaves of the book) was first used in the Sixteenth Century. In the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries books were covered with velvet, silk and linen. Many of these were embroidered sumptuously. Gold tooling was introduced into Europe late in the Fifteenth Century. Half-binding, of German origin, is a style of binding wherein leather is used only for the backs and corners the parts receiving the most wear