Flattery
Well-Known Member
Re: The Nine Gates - COMPLETED
Thank you very much for posting those photos, Rogue428. It's nice to see a replica made by the original binder in such detail, and I must thank you for confirming some things (by posting the pictures).
That right there is bookbinding in its entirety. After you correct your first 1000 mistakes, it gets a little easier.
I've in fact bound many books like that before. It was one of the first leather binding techniques I learned years ago and still practice it to this day.
You can see in the fifth photo three distinct ridges on the inside cover, a little wide -- less than an inch (also you can see the sewing stations inside the hinge -- from the bottom one, two more above it but closer together). The book was sewn on three tapes (usually linen cloth) laced into the board, each one between those two sewing stations that are close together (making a total of 8 sewing stations including the kettle stitches) confirming for me that the book is a hollow-back and the bands are glued inside the cover case. Good choice on the tapes, too -- that would allow the binder to sew it quickly but also allow for the flexibility needed for screen usage.
Reference for tape sewing: Bookbinding 101 Sewing with Cloth Tapes - YouTube
With the endbands being glued on strips instead of being sewn, plus the sewing method of the entire textblock, if I could get the right leather (crushed grain goatskin would be a good pick to match), I could bind a series of screen-accurate copies like that, each one taking maybe 2 days including the pressing time if people were really interested, but I don't want to just copy someone else's work. That would feel wrong to me.
--Argh, I just realized that my writing above really comes off sounding bad. I apologize for that. What I mean to say is that now that I've seen the details I need to see, yes, I know exactly how that book was bound. I'm going to keep my project period accurate as it was intended, as tapes and false bands would never have been used until the 19th C., but it's very good to know how the binder went about their work here, and made some good choices when it comes to getting it bound quickly but flexibly. For a little while I was going nuts wondering "tapes, or recessed cord?"
Thank you again. I do really appreciate you taking the time to provide these photos. My curiosity about the original work has been sated.
Cheers!
Thank you very much for posting those photos, Rogue428. It's nice to see a replica made by the original binder in such detail, and I must thank you for confirming some things (by posting the pictures).
That right there is bookbinding in its entirety. After you correct your first 1000 mistakes, it gets a little easier.
I've in fact bound many books like that before. It was one of the first leather binding techniques I learned years ago and still practice it to this day.
You can see in the fifth photo three distinct ridges on the inside cover, a little wide -- less than an inch (also you can see the sewing stations inside the hinge -- from the bottom one, two more above it but closer together). The book was sewn on three tapes (usually linen cloth) laced into the board, each one between those two sewing stations that are close together (making a total of 8 sewing stations including the kettle stitches) confirming for me that the book is a hollow-back and the bands are glued inside the cover case. Good choice on the tapes, too -- that would allow the binder to sew it quickly but also allow for the flexibility needed for screen usage.
Reference for tape sewing: Bookbinding 101 Sewing with Cloth Tapes - YouTube
With the endbands being glued on strips instead of being sewn, plus the sewing method of the entire textblock, if I could get the right leather (crushed grain goatskin would be a good pick to match), I could bind a series of screen-accurate copies like that, each one taking maybe 2 days including the pressing time if people were really interested, but I don't want to just copy someone else's work. That would feel wrong to me.
--Argh, I just realized that my writing above really comes off sounding bad. I apologize for that. What I mean to say is that now that I've seen the details I need to see, yes, I know exactly how that book was bound. I'm going to keep my project period accurate as it was intended, as tapes and false bands would never have been used until the 19th C., but it's very good to know how the binder went about their work here, and made some good choices when it comes to getting it bound quickly but flexibly. For a little while I was going nuts wondering "tapes, or recessed cord?"
Thank you again. I do really appreciate you taking the time to provide these photos. My curiosity about the original work has been sated.
Cheers!
