Gothic bookbinding with an ‘envelope’ flap photo 1

Gothic bookbinding, anonymous bookbinder, Central Europe, late 15th–early 16th c. Bound: Jan of Głogów (1445–1507), Quaestiones super Analytica posteriora Aristotelis, cum textu et cum titulis quaestionum secundum Ioannem Versorem, Leipzig, Wolfg. Stöckel pro Io. Haller, 1499. University Library in Toruń, sign. Inc. II.93.
This exceptionally modest binding with an ‘envelope’ flap draws attention with its specific technique of execution. It was made from a trimmed piece of brown leather (20.8 × 49 cm) which was simply glued to the block in the spine section. It misses the cords used to sew the text block with the spine covering, nor are there the thick leather ‘plates’ to be found in the volumes presented above. There are also no longer sewing bands that could have been glued to the inner sides of the covers. This happened despite the fact that originally these parts of the binding were most likely covered with paper (traces of its being torn off have survived). The supports probably take the form of parchment straps, which made it easier to glue the leather and allowed the spine to be given a flat shape without the so-called humps.

Binding with an ‘envelope’ flap