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Szirmai, John - The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding

Szirmai, John - The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding

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pristine condition is the back covering <strong>of</strong> the Glazier codex, 8<br />

having a simple decoration<br />

with blind tooling, partly running over the edge flap at the head (see Figure 2.5). Similar<br />

edge flaps have been found on the Mudil codex (Gabra 1995 pp. 30-1). <strong>The</strong> backs <strong>of</strong><br />

Codices A and B, assumed to be <strong>of</strong> goatskin, are blind tooled with lines and stamps <strong>of</strong> geometrical<br />

and animal figures; allegedly Codex B had 'a fillet <strong>of</strong> burnished gold foil' at the<br />

back (Lamacraft 1939 p. 228).<br />

Van Regemorter (1958b) described a number <strong>of</strong> loose wooden boards that she<br />

claimed to have come from bindings, although none <strong>of</strong> them exhibits any holes in an array<br />

comparable to those in the codices described above. According to Powell (1963) only the<br />

pair <strong>of</strong> boards <strong>of</strong> Dublin, Chester Beatty Library Inv. nos. 3-3a are justifiably described as<br />

boards <strong>of</strong> a binding: cedarwood, 124 x 84 x 9 mm, with a 3 mm deep groove set 10 mm<br />

away from the supposed spine edge, with two holes drilled from the bottom <strong>of</strong> the groove<br />

towards the edge, next to the grooves a strip <strong>of</strong> 'leather filigree work with a golden fond'<br />

(van Regemorter 1958b pp. 18-20, figs 2, 3, pi. 7). Powell (1963) attempts to correct van<br />

Regemorter's reconstruction <strong>of</strong> the board attachment by <strong>of</strong>fering the plausible suggestion <strong>of</strong><br />

a structure that had been hinged with the sewing thread itself.<br />

2.5 FASTENINGS AND OTHER APPENDAGES<br />

Leather wrapping bands were used to keep the codex closed: they were fastened through<br />

holes in the upper cover and tied around the codex several times. <strong>The</strong>y have been preserved<br />

in an incomplete state in Codices A and B and the Glazier codex; Codex C, PML M 910,<br />

the Scheide codex and the Mudil codex retain evidence only in the form <strong>of</strong> holes and<br />

Figure 2.7 <strong>The</strong> wrapping bands and bookmarker <strong>of</strong> the seventh-century Codex B (Dublin Chester Beatty<br />

Library MS 814; from Petersen 1954 fig. 8).

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