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Hand Bookbindings

During the incunabula period (that is, the second half of the fifteenth century), books were seldom bound at the printer's shop. Instead the printed sheets were bundled and shipped to buyers at various destinations. A book's first, temporary binding was likely to be ordered or created by or for a bookseller; it was intended to be removed by the purchaser, who would have the book more personally and permanently bound. The ends of the sewing supports and endband cores could easily be pulled out of the slits in the interim case and reused to attach permanent wooden boards or pasteboards. Features such as untrimmed textblock edges, or the lack of endbands may be indications of a temporary binding. Many of these interim bindings of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries were made with real sophistication, and show skillful sewing, well-made endbands, and thoughtfully fashioned paper or parchment cases. Some could very well have been meant to be permanent, intended for the buyer who did not want the expense of a new binding. Indeed, even though many of these bindings were certainly intended to be temporary, they have survived in remarkably good condition for 500 years, a testament to the quality of the materials and the durable flexibility of their structure.

Tacketing is a method of attaching a case to a sewn textblock without using the sewing supports for lacing. Instead the case is attached with tackets, such as strips of parchment or leather thongs.