Gothic bookbindings of 13th-16th century
They exude a specific beauty, and the craftsmanship of selected bookbinding workshops reveals fascinating details about the era in which they were created...
By Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Arkadiusz Wagner, Liliana Lewandowska
Two-colour gothic bookbinding photo 6Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
The late 15th and early 16th c. witnessed a rise in bookbinding production which was a direct result of a dynamic increase in the number of printed books. Following the flourishing bookselling / bibliophile market, bookbinding workshops were gradually established in more towns.
This was reflected in an increased variety of decorative forms and patterns, furnishings and fastenings, and even bookbinding techniques and materials. Unlike before, when bindings had been generally identified as coming from a concrete country or city, the public gradually started recognising skills and techniques characteristic of individual workshops.
Two-colour gothic bookbinding photo 3Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Bookbinding of anonymous leather carver (Lederschneider)
One of the bookbinding works of the anonymous leather carver is the binding of a codex with a Latin text written by John of Bologna (Ioannes Bononiensis). It is a unique piece held in Polish collections in terms of the techniques used in its production.
Two-colour gothic bookbinding photo 1Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
The two-colour decoration of the covers was achieved by cutting out the contours of the decorative motifs in the previously dyed leather, and then scraping off its surface grain, thus exposing its undyed deeper layer (flesh).
In this way, the bookbinder achieved a strong colour contrast accompanied by differences in texture and the impression of shallow relief.
Despite the specificity of the techniques, it qualifies for the category of carved bindings, decorated by the so-called leather carvers between the 1st half of the 14th and the turn of the 16th c., mainly in southern Germany, Austria, the Rhineland and the Kingdom of Bohemia.
Carved leather bookbinding photo 1Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Another bookbinding made by anonymous leather carver
The bookbinding of a manuscript of Ioannes de Lignano (1390s, Rps 43/III) is another example of the bookbinding work of anonymous leather carver (Lederschneider).
The technique for developing the decoration of this binding involved carving the contours of the compositional elements in brown leather with a knife and many repeated stamp strokes in the background, creating a contrast between it and the smooth surface of the decorative motifs.
Carved leather bookbinding photo 2Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
This work is an example of a distinct group of carved leather bindings created between the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th c., most probably in the workshops of Jewish Lederschneider operating in Bohemia.
Carved leather bookbinding photo 4Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
A distinguishing feature of their work is the compositional arrangement of the decorative motifs on the upper and lower covers primarily consisting of round medallions with images of real and fantastic animals taken from the early mediaeval Phisiologus.
Gothic bookbinding of bookbinder from Konrad Dinckmuth’s Printing House Gothic bookbinding of bookbinder from Konrad Dinckmuth’s Printing House (1480s) by Bookbinder from Konrad Dinckmuth’s Printing HouseNicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Bookbinding from Konrad Dinckmuth’s Printing House
Binding of this incunabulum (Pseudo-Albertus Magnus) is made in the 1480s by a craftsman collaborating with the publishing house of Konrad Dinckmuth (Dünkmuth) in Ulm.
Gothic bookbinding of bookbinder from Konrad Dinckmuth’s Printing House photo 1Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Dinckmuth was typographer and bookbinder, considered, alongside Konrad Zeiner, the most important printer of the incunabula era in that city. He probably commissioned one or more craftsmen to bind the prints coming off the presses of his printing shop.
The multitude of die and roll tools attributed to the place conventionally referred to as the “Dinckmuth bookbinding workshop” indicates that more than one workshop was involved.
The maker of the binding from the Toruń collection demonstrated a thrifty mindset or – one could say – an economical approach, manifested by the unchamfered cover boards and modest cover decoration. With cursorily marked lines, he created a frame composition with scattered rosette motifs and the sectioned-off frame corners with the motif of the Lamb of God.
Gothic bookbinding of bookbinder from Konrad Dinckmuth’s Printing House photo 5Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
What stands out against this conventional background is a distinctive rolltooled pattern with images of dragons and dogs creating an antithetical repeated arrangement that breaks the schematism of the other components of the cover decoration.
Koberger binding of Master of Schedel Koberger binding of Master of Schedel (ca. 1500) by Master of Schedel (Schedel-Meister)Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
‘Koberger’ bindings
This presented incunabulum is an example of the so-called ‘Koberger binding’, in this case made in the workshop of the anonymous Master of Schedel (Ger. Schedel-Meister).
The materials used, the production technique and, above all, the decorative style were essentially subject to far-reaching unification or even proto-industrial standardisation in these serial products (referred to as the first trade bindings, Ger. Verlagseinbände). In terms of decoration, it is revealed in a common compositional scheme from a ‘catalogue of ornaments and decorative motifs’, which entailed the use of similar (often even analogous) tools.
Koberger binding of Master of Schedel photo 3Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
The binding is characterised by a great level of mechanisation, understood as the desire to limit the bookbinder’s workload while still maintaining the high aesthetic and technical values of the product.
This approach is revealed in the pomegranate pattern decorating the upper-cover centrepiece: its elements (floral decorative details) were not created by repeatedly impressing three different dies, but by pressing a wooden block, with a segment of the pattern carved out four times.
Koberger binding photo 4Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Another 'Koberger' bookbinding - of Münzer-Meister
This work (Inc.IV.17) is a representative example of the ‘Koberger binding’ created in the circle of bookbinding craftsmen collaborating with the famous company of Anton Koberger in Nuremberg.
The ‘Koberger binding’ was probably made by a bookbinder called the Master of Münzer (Ger. Münzer-Meister) as part of a commissioned series of bindings for Johannes de Bromyard’s work published by the famous publishing house in 1485.
Koberger binding photo 1Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
This claim is substantiated by the binding for another copy of this printed work, described by Marianne Rozsondai.
It uses a composition of decoration of both covers analogous to the Toruń volume, the same gilded inscription and an almost identical set of dies.
Gothic bookbinding with simple linear division of the composition of the covers into frames photo 5Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Dragon Bookbinder
The anonymous master, known as Dragon Bookbinder the Elder, is the first of the 15th c. binders based in Gdańsk, known for his homogenous group of works with unvarying material, technical and ornamental features.
He operated in the 1430s–1450s, mainly producing works commissioned by the Gdańsk clergy.
Gothic bookbinding with simple linear division of the composition of the covers into frames photo 4Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Dragon Bookbinder I
The bookbinding of a manuscript Rps 39/III was made of relatively thick
oak boards covered with pale leather. The volume features long pin strap fastenings with pins mounted at approximately a third of the width of the upper cover.
Gothic bookbinding with simple linear division of the composition of the covers into frames photo 1Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Is has no bosses. The linear division of the composition of the covers into frames and a centrepiece with triangular fields is simple and schematic.
Their – it should be emphasised – impressions were carefully and regularly tooled using several dies, including a round medallion showing a dragon (hence the widely accepted nickname).
Gothic bookbinding of Dragon Bookbinder II photo 3Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Dragon Bookbinder II
Bookbinding from the 4th quarter of the 15th c. (Inc.III.58) is made of relatively thick oak boards covered with cherry brown leather, with ornamental compositions consisting of adjoining rhomboidal fields filled with identical or alternating decorative motifs.
Gothic bookbinding of Dragon Bookbinder II photo 1Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
By maintaining almost perfectly equal distances between the edges of the impressions and the lines of the grid, the effect of internal frames for these motifs was created.
The alternating motifs of the fleuron, and the round medallion with the motif of a rampart lion in the frame surrounding the centrepiece, were distributed with similar efficiency.
Gothic bookbinding of Dragon Bookbinder II photo 6Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
The mastery of the decoration is enhanced by the repoussé, stamped and cut out furnishings and fastenings.
Storyline and preparation, photo selection: Dr. Liliana Lewandowska (University Library in Toruń)
Texts: Prof. Dr. Arkadiusz Wagner (Institute of Information and Communication Studies, UMK), Dr. Liliana Lewandowska (University Library in Toruń). Inspirations drawn from: Oprawy gotyckie XIII-XVI wieku ze zbiorów toruńskich. Gothic book bindings from the 13th-16th centuries in Toruń collections, Katalog wystawy w Muzeum Okręgowym w Toruniu, grudzień 2024 – luty 2025. Catalogue for the exhibition at the District Museum in Toruń, December 2024 – February 2025, oprac. Arkadiusz Wagner, współpr. Magdalena Awianowicz, Marta Czyżak, Beata Madajewska, Krzysztof Nierzwicki, Toruń 2024.
Photos: Piotr Kurek (University Library in Toruń)
University Library in Toruń
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