In the previous video, we have studied the origins of bookbinding and we had as well a quick trip through Oriental book bindings by sometime on Islamic. Back to the West, it was here, the Oriental Carolingian period when sewing on the support started. This is a purely Western invention, and with the exception made of for mania it cannot be found in any other cultural area during the Middle Ages. Regretfully from this early period comprising the ninth to the 11th centuries, very few bookbindings have being preserved more or less intact. Therefore, it remains a mystery how bookbinder's evolved from the link-stitch sewing to the new sewing on supports. Practically, the only thing that can be ascertained is that in the German area from where almost all are were preserved Carolingian bindings come from both types of sewing accord together at least for a while even within the same monastery. The first examples of bookbinding sewing on supports are of the Herringbone type. This type is a sort of an intermediate between the link-stitch and the stretch sewing that we shall find in the following phase. Since the threat is actually moving from one gathering to the previous one and back as in the link-stitch. All preserved boards are made of wood or predominately, and with a thickness of 7-17 millimeters. Three types of a fixation of the boards to the next block has been identified. But all can be reduced to the same procedure. Their work is started with the upper board where a set of thongs or ropes is passed through a series of holes previously thrilled in a strategic position. Then their board is turned around and sewing start. Using the thongs or ropes are sewing supports the binders, so it's gathering after gathering until he finishes with a whole text block and only then he sets the lower board using the ends of the supports. And following the same path he had followed for the upper board but in the reverse order. Fixing the ends of the thumbs of ropes with these small wedges. Then, the end leaves were added and the edge is trimmed with the drawknife. Finally, the binder added the endband which was worked over a leather top lining a several of chamois and the covers which more often than not were made of a thick chamois or Barca's skin in it's original whitish color and sometimes dyed in a darker brown or reddish brown. Decoration occurs seldom except in lavishly decorated manuscripts that were obviously conceived as a deluxe product. What a blind tooling technique was utilized. Fastenings must have been very common, but regretfully most of them have disappeared. They were of this sort of a strap with metal cart and back fixed in the edge of the lower cover that we have already seen. Carolingian bookbindings don't seem to have been provided with protective metal corner pieces or other metal furnishings. The following period in the history of Western bookbinding is the Romanesque period, which extends from the 11th to the 13th century. The main characteristic is that sewing has been made by means of the sewing frame witnessed for the first time in a miniature of this so-called manuscript of Bamberg. The frame renders this sewing much easier speeding the binding process but has the drawback that both boards must be affixed once the sewing is ready. This technique is still in use in traditional handmade bindings. Romanesque's supports are more often than not whitish allum tawed and some five millimeters thick and 8-20 millimeters broad. With a longitude and narrow split across the spine. In some instances, one can still see in the ends the marks that indicate that they have been suspended on the sewing frame so it takes the form of herringbone in some two thirds of cases and is straight in the wrist. Always, except when integral sewing occurs link-stitch is used for the quire change. We have just mentioned the integral sewing, it is an invention of this period consisting of sewing the endbands at the same time and with the same sewing thread and the rest of the spine. However this technique never know a generalized use. Boards were fixed to the text block, one the latter had already been shown by means of the ends of the sewing support that were passed through some tunnel links and grooves previously made in the wooden boards and finally fixed by means of wooden ridges. Another innovation of the Romanesque bookbinding is the reinforcement of the spine with the lining of one or more layers of chamois leather glued with flour and water paste. The covers of Romanesque bookbindings adopt one of two types either whitish or more leather, the void of decoration or brown tanned leather dyed with some vegetable dye and blind tooling decoration. They are glued to the boards with flour and water paste and the turnovers were not trimmed. The way of work in the corners could vary a lot. And once can adopt several shapes, and sold with the fly leaves. Finally, fastenings are an essential element in Romanesque bookbindings. Although very few of them have survived intact. Two types are found. The first one is very similar to the Carolingian fastenings. The second which occurs more often, consists in a relatively longer strap with the back not in the edge of the cover but in the front. The hospice, more often than not of bronze and sometimes of iron. We include under the label of Gothic bookbinding, the bindings made in Western Europe during the 14th to the 16th century of which thousands have been preserved. This period is characterized by a huge increase in book production that culminates with the invention of the printing press which demanded a reduction of the required time and the simplification of the procedures of bookbinding, even at the cost of a reduction in quality. Although of course, the looks manuscripts received excellent findings. When the gatherings were made of paper it became common to reinforce the center of the quire with a piece of recycled or low quality parchment of 10 to 20 millimeters, broad and a length that's slightly shorter than the height of the book. The purpose of this piece called Guard, as you might remember from another video, is to prevent the centerfold from being cut through by the sewing thread. Then, the flyleafs were added many times, also made of recycled parchment. And the binder prepare the sawing by sewing the spine to prepare the stations and then he started sewing. In general, the number of sewing stations is proportional to the height of the book and they are set in regular intervals. So, in the worst performed tone supports of leather or rope and with the help of a sewing frame. The most prominent characteristic of Gothic Bookbinding is the convex shape of the spine. As you might have observed during the previous phases, the spine was a straight and frequently it was deformed adopting a concave shape. The physical principle that explains the rounded shape is very simple. Because the gatherings are slightly thicker in the fold than in the fore edge, each one pushes the following one and the book's spine adopts spontaneously the concave shape or the convex shape if it is conveniently encouraged by the inner profile of the boards. In some instances we see the arches near the spine the marks that prove that a mallet has been used to back the spine and that means that at this point, the text bloke was immobilized in the vertical cutting press. And most probably with the text bloke is still in the vertical press, the spine received its next treatment consisting of a lining of one or more layers of animal glue and leather reinforcements. As shown in the figure, these leather pieces will help us well in the fixing of the books. The purpose of this reinforcement was to prevent the deformation of the spine. To ensure it, some binders added several layers of leather and glue. But it rendered a very rigid spine, compromising the opening of the book. For trimming, the drawknife was displaced by the newly introduced binder's plough. This consists of a knife mounted on a screw which is mounted on a support. With the text block still in the vertical press, the knife was passed once and the knife took away a few snippets at a time. Then, the binder turn the screw and repeated the operation as many times as were necessary until the whole text block had been trimmed. Next operation was sawing the endbands that often adopt a creative patterns and only then the boards were added. The immense majority of the boards are made of wood, although there are some instances of cardboard mostly in the south of Europe. The edges of the boards were previously prepared to fit around the shape of the spine. The way the boards were fixed to the text block was much simpler than in the Carolingian and Romanesque bindings. Most commonly, the slips of the sewing supports run on the boards through grooves carved in the surface instead of the tunneling in the edge and the edge of the board is beveled. In the diagram, the most frequently occurring lacing parts are shown. The most common covers were of leather dyed in several colors, an operation that was also undertaken by the bookbinder. But it is not clear if it happened before or after the leather was glued on the boards. The adhesive used for this operation was a mixture of flour and water paste and animal glue. The inner sides of the boards were scratched so that they could better receive the glue. Another characteristic of Gothic bookbindings is that the cover was also glued to the spine. In order to strengthen the other ends, the binder performs some small cuts along the sewing support, which causes the sewing supports to be seen perfectly from the outside even when the cover is undamaged. Some books with Gothic binding are also provided with a second cover or sopracoperta that can adopt one of the following variants, leather, precious textile fabric also called chemise, which was very appreciated by noble ladies, girdle book that allowed the owner to easily transport his or her book hanging from the belt, and partial cover, limited to the spine. The decoration of covers experienced a huge increase. The designs of the blind tool and decoration that were already known in the previous period became much more intricate thanks to the use of ever bigger and more sophisticated tools and the appearance of the ornamental roll and printing blocks and panels. So, what previously could only be achieved by the repeated application of the same small tool could now be completed in one and the same operation. Also, one finds new techniques, such as this so-called cuir cisele consisting in practicing very superficial cuts on the surface of the leather. Working is lengthy and difficult but the results can be spectacular. The most transcendental innovation is the introduction of the first gold-tooled bindings. Naples seems to have been the first place to adopt this technique, probably adapting Hispano-Arabic techniques documented at least from the first century. The last step undertaken by the binder was affixing the fastenings and other metal furnishings. Practically, all manuscripts were provided with fastenings. They are of two different sorts. The first one is very similar to the fastenings in Romanesque book bindings, with the house bending on a leather strap. The other type, which appears around year 1400 is entirely made of metal with two hinges and it is reserved for the most luxurious manuscripts, since it had to be made expressly for each book as all books are of for different thickness. The aesthetic of the clasps depends on the geography but the way they work is exactly the same everywhere. Protecting metal furnishings are less common than the clasps and in general, they depended on the size and content of the books. The big liturgical books are usually provided with bosses and corner pieces and so were the chained books of some libraries, but they actually use this depend on the geographical areas. When they exist, the metal furnishings are usually of bronze but there are instances of metal furnishings made of iron and even of wood and bone. There were other sorts of book bindings that deserve some attention. One, the so-called Limp Binding was very basic without board but just parchment covers. The other, the Treasure Binding, very rich and lavishly decorated. But we have no time to deal with them and they will remain a subject for other videos. And so we come to the end of our brush account on the evolution of medieval book bindings. Of course, In reality, it is much more complicated than I have presented here. Each period deserves by itself an independent video and possibly, I will make them in the future.
