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bookbindings.bsky.social
Belgisch-Nederlands Boekbandengenootschap
@bookbindings.bsky.social
160 followers 47 following 2 posts
The 'Belgian-Dutch Bookbindings Society', a network for the study of bookbindings and their materiality since 1984.
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porticolibrary.bsky.social
🧵 Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the work that goes into lovingly repairing historic books from The Portico's 19th-century collection...
October 29, 2025 at 11:12 AM
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zannavanloon.bsky.social
FINAL CALL! ⏰

One week left to apply for our Nottebohm Fellowship!

☟ ☟ ☟
September 24, 2025 at 5:57 AM
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zannavanloon.bsky.social
A 17th-century bookbinding in full bloom!

While screening the collections for books to show during a hands-on workshop on historical bookbindings, we stumbled upon this devotional book bound in a beautiful embroidered binding featuring flowers, usually associated with female makers and/or owners.
Front cover of the book with a brownish cloth binding decorated with flowers by means of needle work in different colours. It contains the library shelf mark on the top left corner Spine of the book with several flowers sewn on a cloth cover in different colours. Back cover of the book with a brownish cloth binding decorated with flowers by means of needle work in different colours. You see a fragment of a silk thread in the middle.
September 23, 2025 at 2:47 PM
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aldenlibdigital.bsky.social
Marbled boards- wait there’s more! In #RareBook collection 2/4 vols Livy’s Decades by Venice printer Aldus Manutius have edges gilded (painted in gold) & gauffered (stamped decorative detail).
bit.ly/livy-decades...
#MarbledMonday #GaufferedEdges #Marbling #MarbledPaper #AldinePress #PrintersDevice
July 14, 2025 at 7:02 PM
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zannavanloon.bsky.social
This manuscript by Anselmus Faust, dated 1612, is the oldest surviving European manual on bookbinding. Written in Latin & Dutch, it was created for the St Bernard's Abbey near Antwerp.

What makes it especially unique is its rare dos à dos binding: 2 books bound back-to-back, sharing a single spine.
Title page of the manuscript which reads 'Beschrijvinghe ende onderwijsinghe ter discreter ende vermaerder consten des boeckbinders handwerck, hier inne te sien ende te lesen hoemen de boecken op alderhande manieren binden ende maecken sal.' Dutch cover of the book in parchment painted in red and part of it in white sheep leather that has been blind tooled. Detail of the edges of the manuscript painted in red and green respectively. French cover of the book in parchment painted in green and part of it in white sheep leather that has been blind tooled.
September 18, 2025 at 10:46 AM
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jdmccafferty.bsky.social
Embroidered binding made for George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, with his portrait on a presentation copy of Bacon's Essays (1625). After the Duke's assassination on 23 Aug 1628 the book was given to the Bodleian by Lewes Roberts, London merchant. (Bodleian Library Oxford
August 12, 2025 at 8:14 PM
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jasonwdean.com
Well, @sibyllacumae.bsky.social and I are back (on schedule), with a longer-ish issue - we're talking about bindings! Read it here: 📜 #bookhistory
open.substack.com/pub/twohalfs...
On Bindings (August 7/8)
we were bound to talk about them sometime...
open.substack.com
August 8, 2025 at 2:02 PM
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drkarrschmidt.bsky.social
This Is NOT A Chain Binding

But what the heck kind of pastiche IS it? Book from 1621 in the Greenlee Collection at #NewberryLibrary.
Parchment bound book with later-looking leather strapping and weird metal floral clasps. And some chains, but they're not serious.
August 9, 2025 at 12:54 PM
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svanimpe.bsky.social
Some more bindings from the KBR collections.
A small book (a Book of Psalms) on vellum, bound in red velvet with a single silver clasp. The velvet is slightly torn showing a part of the thin wooden board. July holding the Psalm book from the previous photo, showing that it is tiny (smaller than the palm of her hand) with tiny script and tiny illuminations. An Ethiopian codex, sewn with a kettle stitch, showing writing in Ge'ez. A dark brown leather binding with a flap and panel stamps with renaissance motifs.
April 11, 2025 at 6:54 PM
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svanimpe.bsky.social
A day of looking at bookbindings at the Royal Library of Belgium, hosted by July Van Malderen! Showing here some of the oldest bindings in the KBR, including the oldest binding from the Low Countries.

📜 📚💙 💎 #BookHistory
A young woman, July Van Malderen, standing behind a table with four very old bindings. The oldest binding of the Low Countries, a Carolingian binding from the 10th century from Saint-Omers (now North of France, then Flanders). KBR Ms. 8380-9012, Liber pontificalis, 10th century. Close-up of the endband of the binding in the previous picture. A treasure binding from the 12th century. The binding is completely covered in gold- and silvercoloured metal, topped with large gems (polished white rock crystal) and enameled decorations.
April 11, 2025 at 6:49 PM
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berksarchives.bsky.social
This month’s highlight focuses on the unique bookbinding techniques of an account and rental book, which has captivated the interest of our Senior Conservator. #ArchiveConservation #Archive30

Read the blog to find out more: bit.ly/4iDAfSc
Volume with decorated original full leather binding and strap
April 4, 2025 at 10:50 AM
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lankian.bsky.social
A 16th-century German binding in the collections of the University of Cyprus in Nicosia @ucy1.bsky.social decorated with the medallions of great reformers and pre-reformers, notably Erasmus, Luther and Melanchthon:

#bookhistory #bindings #reformation
Medallions of Erasmus, Luther and Melanchthon
March 27, 2025 at 4:30 PM
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mazarine.bsky.social
The cords threaded through the front board were used to line pages before adding text! The cover isn’t attached to the textblock & loose pages are wrapped in a case, a binding style common on West African books.

Mukhtasar (epitome of Maliki law) manuscript copied in 18c?, Yale Arabic MSS 198
Paper covered board with 12 parallel horizontal cords and two vertical cords on each side, creating a form
March 25, 2025 at 12:18 AM
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zannavanloon.bsky.social
Still a few weeks left to submit an abstract for our wonderful conference in November! ☟ ☟ ☟

#earlymodern #bookhistory #rarebooks 💙📚📜
March 10, 2025 at 6:45 AM
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petersfieldmuseum.bsky.social
Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding (18 February-3 May 2025)

Explore the life and work of renowned bookbinder Roger Powell, whose work transformed generations of bookbinding. 📖

Discover the extraordinary designs of contemporary binders with 20+ books from members of Designer Bookbinders. 📚
Blue background with image of book bound by Roger Powell. The book is a teal coloured leather with gold, yellow, orange and brown details.
January 16, 2025 at 10:09 AM
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book-historia.bsky.social
Look at the different bookbinding styles 😍
jessemlocker.bsky.social Jesse Locker @jessemlocker.bsky.social · Jan 15
One of the loveliest drawings out there. Anonymous, French, 16th century, Interior with a Man Writing on a Long Table, Pen and brown ink, brush and gray and brown wash, over faint sketch in graphite, 19.2 x 14.9 cm. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) #earlymodern #skystorians
A drawing of a man seated in a 16th-century interior with a window and a tapestry. He writes with a quill pen seated at a long table, on which rest a hat, books, letters, and various writing supplies https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/339953
January 16, 2025 at 1:25 PM
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erikgeleijns.bsky.social
Doen jullie even allemaal @huisvanhetboek.bsky.social volgen?
January 16, 2025 at 10:07 AM
bookbindings.bsky.social
Register now!

January 17 (15.00h CET): Bookbindings Academy 2025 session 1.

Alberto Campagnolo: Carolingian-Romanesque bookbinding practices

Melissa Moreton, Suzanne Conklin and Ian McCallum: beaverskin and birchbark book covers

Registration: boekbandengenootschap.nl/activiteiten...

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Bookbindings Academy 2025 | Belgisch-Nederlands Boekbandengenootschap
boekbandengenootschap.nl
January 6, 2025 at 10:07 PM
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jenhoward.bsky.social
Kids these days, always messing around with books. wapo.st/49Gdd9M #bookbinding
Young readers are taking on a very old hobby: Bookbinding
Fueled by FOMO and inspired by social media, a new generation explores an old craft.
wapo.st
December 18, 2024 at 5:06 PM
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astridbeckers.bsky.social
The @bookbindings.bsky.social conference was a succes. Lovely to be there, talking about reused bookbindings with my colleague @daniel-ermens.bsky.social
November 24, 2024 at 3:30 PM
bookbindings.bsky.social
Registration open! 🎉 The Belgian-Dutch Bookbindings Society celebrates its 40th anniversary on 22 November at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. We invite everyone to come to the conference (in Dutch) and to celebrate with us! boekbandengenootschap.nl/veertig-jaar... Share=👍
October 22, 2024 at 10:33 AM