PHAIDRA – Collezioni digitali

Bookbinding has always been a fundamental component of the book in codex form, a system for assembling the sheets containing the text and protecting them from the wounds of time and the manipulations associated with book use.
In addition to their functionality, historical bookbindings can be considered mines of non textual information.
In their multi-materiality, they reveal the complexity of craftsmanship, technological advancement, usage, trade, and even the faith of the human community that produced them. However, the interest in more than just decorating the covers in these objects is quite recent and it is related to the gradual understanding that books are artefacts to be safeguarded in their entirety as material historical evidence and part of our cultural heritage.
The essays collected in this volume reflect different approaches to the study of historical bookbindings in the Western Mediterranean basin as well as in the Byzantine and Islamic worlds, including projects for the census of bindings, the study of written sources, the direct examination of book collections and the application of the methods of the archaeology of the book to analyse materials and structures involved in bookbinding manufacture.
Terminologycal issues in their description are also addressed.
Many different approaches help to place the book artefact in the historical context in which it was produced and to learn in detail about the technical characteristics of its production.

Collezione: Studi di archivistica, bibliografia, paleografia 7