A vast unknown population. Parchment bookbindings in the 16th and 17th century

Abstract

The study of parchment bookbindings in the past has been greatly neglected. Interest for the bindings was in fact associated with the antiquarian book market and limited to the so-called artistic binding; decorated covers that are rather rarely found on parchment. The recently developed interest for them is more concentrated on particularities in small samples of study than on the entire ‘population’ of the bindings. The current research therefore focusses on the general evolutions of the materials and the manufacturing techniques of parchment bindings from the 16th and 17th century. A sample of about 5000 bindings of printed books kept in the Bishop's Seminary Library of Padua forms the basis of this study. Two research objectives are aimed. First, a methodology is proposed to extend the traditional research corpus and to deal with a quantitative remarkable amount of parchment bindings. Second, a more detailed study is performed summarizing significant evolutions and trends in the history of parchment bindings, both cultural and chronological. In the first phase, relevant characteristics for the research has been selected. Material and structural characteristics of each binding has been collected in a database. Besides, models are derived to describe the (combination of the) most common characteristics, to group bindings and to facilitate the second step of the research. In that phase, the database has been interrogated to highlight chronological tendencies and variations between different language areas. In this way, the experimental research aims to present a unique view on the chronological evolution and the cultural variations in the structural characteristics and the techniques of the manufacturing of the parchment bindings.