Bookbinding History and Sacred Cows

Abstract Book history has increasingly developed a cohesive view of the printing, selling, owning, reading and use of books, but bookbinding continues to struggle to find its place in the teaching and perception of the disciple. This is counter-intuitive, and a missed opportunity, in a world in whic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inLibrary Vol. 21; no. 4; pp. 498 - 517
Main Author Pearson, David
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Oxford University Press 01.12.2020
Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
Subjects
Book binding
Book industry
Education
History
Materiality
Methods
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Summary:Abstract Book history has increasingly developed a cohesive view of the printing, selling, owning, reading and use of books, but bookbinding continues to struggle to find its place in the teaching and perception of the disciple. This is counter-intuitive, and a missed opportunity, in a world in which we talk so much about the book as a material object. This paper examines the reasons, and challenges many of the assumptions or beliefs that remain endemic in binding history. It offers examples of ways in which a different approach to binding studies is needed, while considering debates about the relative usefulness of methodologies based around decoration, or structure. It sets out a philosophy, or methodology, for the study of bindings in a book-historical context, with some basic questions which we should bring to any binding before us.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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content type line 14
ISSN:0024-2160
1744-8581
DOI:10.1093/library/21.4.498