Book binding is the result of binding and sewing several quires or gatherings in order to form a volume. It was the last operation the codex underwent, with which it was already complete. The function of bookbinding is not only keeping all gatherings bound together and in the correct order, but also to protect them, and it could confer decoration and luxury to the codex as well. Although, as a matter of fact, we know that some books were circulated just being sewn, without any boards or cover. Not many medieval bookbindings have been preserved, in part because the sole use of the book can end up breaking the bonds, and then a rebinding becomes necessary, but also because many of the great collectors and bibliophiles liked to have all their books bound similarly, and as a consequence they had too many codices rebound. And, what is most appalling, until relatively recently, manuscript restoration didn't give much attention to book bindings, and many of them were separated from their original text-block, and even discarded and thrown away. The study of bookbinding, at least from a codicological point of view is no older than the middle decades of the 20th century. Before that only lavishly decorated bookbindings received attention, and only from an artistic point of view, as one of the minor arts; and therefore, only decoration of the covers was taken into consideration. Nowadays, things have changed and the codicological modus operandi is reconstructing the technical process that was followed in each period. Here we meet our curious situation: the best moment to study the binding of a book is when it is deteriorated and its structural elements are visible, since when a bookbinding is in a perfect state, these remain hidden. Actually, the ideal moment to study a bookbinding is when the manuscript is dismounted for restoration, but it is extraordinarily unusual that libraries give researchers access to the restoration labs, and therefore in practice this possibility remains reserved to the restorers and the curators of the libraries. In the remaining minutes of this video, we shall see the parts of a bookbinding and the elements that each of the parts has.This is necessary because the description of a bookbinding uses a highly controlled vocabulary, which we need to know. For the following video, we leave a general view of the evolution of bookbinding techniques. When considering bookbinding, we distinguish three fundamental parts: the text-block or book-block, boards, and cover. The text-block is the set of quires or gatherings that form the volume, already in their correct order. The most common method of keeping the gatherings together is sewing them with twine thread or a fine cord. The sewing thread goes through the centerfold of each of the quires, binding it to the preceding and following quire. The side of the text-block that has received the sewing is called spine and the rest of the sides, edges. In order to sew the gatherings together, they are usually preferred by means of small holes in their precise places where the sewing thread will go through. The normal procedure is cutting these holes on the centerfolds of the quires, but it is also possible, especially when binding loose leaves, that the sewing happens on the inner margin, near the fold, in which case it is called the stabbing or side-sewing, in its modalities of saddle-stitch and overcasting or oversewing. As said, the most common method was passing the sewing thread through the holes pre-made on the folds of the gathering, and from fold to fold the thread runs inside the gathering, in parallel to the fold. There are two techniques of sewing the quires: link-stitch and sewing supports. Link-stitch is the oldest technique. It consists on linking each quire to the preceding one by means of a loop that goes behind the sewing thread of the previous quire, as shown in the figure. There are two possibilities. The first and most common one is using a single thread that moves along the quire centerfold, chain-sewing with one thread, or two different threads, in which case the thread moves only between two contiguous sewing stations, as shown in the image. This last technique mustn’t be mistaken for a similar one, in which two threads are also used, but they cross each other between the pair of sewing stations. Link-stitch provides a very solid union among the different quires but is not devoid of disadvantages. To start with, with the frequent use of the book, the spine tends to deform and adopt a concave shape, apart from the fact that the sewing thread is not a strong enough to support the weight of the wooden boards. But the main inconvenience is that the pressure caused by the opening of the book can end up tearing the stitching. These inconveniences were solved by means of other technique utilized to keep the gatherings together, which is the sewing supports. The term sewing supports is applied to the ropes or leather thongs that run perpendicular to the quires coinciding with the sewing stations. Then the sewing thread leaves the interior of the gathering through the sewing station, moves around the sewing support, and returns to the gathering through the same hole it had left. Sewing supports can be simple or double. A special sort of support has a longitudinal split across the spine, forming a kind of double simple support. To prevent the supports from being seen through the spine covering, it was possible to stuff them in the book block by means of a beveled cut that was practiced on the centerfold of the quires. This type of sewing was called "alla greca". Besides keeping the gatherings together, sewing supports can be used to hold the book boards. But the techniques of fixing the boards to the textblock are very different in each period, and therefore, we leave the details for the following video. As the most fragile component of the sewing is the upper part of the spine, this was reinforced by means of an endband, which is a reinforcement sewn independently from the rest, sometimes on a piece of leather or a sewing support. As the endband sewing is always visible, even when the book is closed, sometimes colored threads were used for it, and so the endband also became an ornamental element. The boards are pieces of more or less rigid material that are placed on both sides of the book block in order to protect it. The most common materials utilized for boards are wood and cardboard, but there are also book bindings that do not need rigid boards, and then the board and the cover are one and the same thing. These are the so-called limp bindings. The joint between the boards and the textblock could be made in several ways. It was possible to use one of the boards as a base for the link-stitch, or the ends of the sewing supports could serve the purpose as well. Basically, each period developed its own particular technique, and therefore we shall leave this aspect of bookbinding for the for next video. The board placed at the beginning of the volume is the upper or front board and the board placed at the end of the volume is the lower board. The inner side of the boards is often referred to as the inside cover. The place where the board meets the textblock is the hinge or joint. Typically, it is easily visible in the form of a straight line perpendicular to the spine. Sometimes it happens that the boards are slightly bigger than the textblock, and then the part that protrudes over it is called a square. Many times between the book block and the boards we find some leaves, the flyleaves or endleaves. The cover is the lining for the boards and spine. More often than not, it is made of a flexible material such as leather or textile, and the way of fixing it to the cover is very similar to the way we currently cover a book, by folding the fabric over the edges and fixing it on the inner side of the boards, in what is called turn-in or turn-over. In Islamic books, it is very normal that the end cover gets an extension by means so flap that when the book is closed falls on the cover of the front board. Somewhat similar is the "yapp cover, " where both covers are extended on the side of the fore edge, and in this way when the book is closed the fore edge of the book block remains totally protected. But the book may not have always received a full cover. Another possibility was a back cover, that is, a piece of leather or textile that covered only the spine and the adjacent parts of the board; it is also called half binding, and sometimes it received as well corner pieces. But many times the boards remained uncovered. When that happens we speak of bare boards. When a cover was fixed to the boards it might or not receive decoration. Decorative techniques are multifarious. A very characteristic one is the so-called “cuir ciselé”. Here the decorations are practiced on the leather by means of a sharp instrument. "Gauffering" is a decoration made on the cover using hot iron tools. In gilding gold sheets are applied by means of iron instruments previously warmed up. Especially in the late Middle Ages some sort of metallic overlays become quite common, their function being at once protective and ornamental. They take the shape of shoes, heels, corner pieces and bosses. And together with them, with find clasps of different types and frames for title labels. Finally, everything could receive a second cover, dustjacket or chemise, that is a piece of textile or may be leather independent from the covers and wraps up the whole book for extra protection.
