Renaissance Bindings: Markings that Map the Past
Read MoreRecycled vellum wrappings were affordable alternatives to leather bindings. This manuscript leaf comes from the Sarum Rite, a fourteenth-century breviary that fell out of use after the introduction of the Book of Common Prayer in the mid-sixteenth century. This may explain why the leaf was recycled as a temporary wrapper in the seventeenth century. It has been tacketed (loosely stitched to the text block), and is too small to cover the leaves of the book entirely; clearly it was not intended as a permanent binding. However, it appears to have been applied with an appreciation for its beauty, which may explain why it was never replaced.
[Front cover]
Author: Jacques Michelet
Title: Discours de geographie contenant les principales pratiques pour les descriptions de la Terre, et de la mer [A geographical discourse, containing practical principles for describing the Earth and sea] (Paris, 1615)
Shelfmark: D.20.21 (catalogue record)
14th century16th centuryD.20.21bindingsmanuscript wastemusicvellum wrappings
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