The Bookbinder
The art of bookbinding was a monasteries' prerogative up to the XIV - XV century.
They were culture and knowledge holders par excellence: assembling a book was compared to the shaping of a masterpiece or a jewel.
In fact, the manuscripts were gifted to the nobles, to the King and they were even included among the young brides' dowry.
They were considered prestigious because they were decorated with gemstones, precious metals, silk and most of all they were rare.
Before the paper appeared in the West, the writing material consisted first in the papyrus and then in the vellum.
The amanuensis arranged the writing material through different sheets sewn together and they handed letter the manuscripts; even if the topic was the same, the books were always different one from another.
The artwork often required to be more people involved in its realization, so that it was a long-lasting making of.
The Middle Ages were characterized by parchment manuscripts, made of animal membranes.
But how did they process the animal skin?
Generally, after an eventual phase of soaking, the animal skin was immersed in a solution of water and lime in order to remove all the hair.
This procedure took place on a special easel where the skin could be scraped with a sharp, semi lunar knife to remove the last of the hair on the side that was in contact with the meat
and get the skin to the right thickness.
Then the skins were placed on a stretching frame and left drying under tension.
As soon as the parchment was dry, it could be moved from the frame in order to make use of it.
It could follow some refining steps by using pomice-stone.
The parchment was divided into quires: bifolium (a single sheet folded in half to make two leaves), duernion (two bifolia, producing four leaves), ternion (three bifolia, producing six leaves); quaternion (four bifolia, producing eight leaves); quinternion (five bifolia, producing ten leaves); sextern or sexternion (six bifolia, producing twelve leaves).
Every half of a folded paper was called Folio: they number the papers, not the pages, and they used to tell recto from verso, that is the front and the back (this procedure is called number folio).
The folders were sewn together through the sturdy strings of a loom made of cotton and hemp.
Once the binding was done, the papers were fixed on the spine by using glues (obtained by the boiling of the skin waste) and membrane materials ready to reuse.
The wooden boards were attached to the body of the book through some stitching supports called nerves; secondly they were covered with leather and fixed with animal originated glue.
Once the leather was dry, it was often decorated depending on the importance of the addressee.
The ornaments were various: metal decorations, spiral-shaped stones obtained by pushing the leather parchment on the cords that lied on the wooden boards.
In the Carolingian and post-Carolingian period the hot stamping was introduced for the very first time.
Since the scrolls were easily subject to usury, the book wooden covers were often fastened through claps or belts called ribs or through metal clasps.
In Italy, the scroll has permanently extinguished with the arrival of the printing and its use of the paper.
This material was invented in China in 105 a.d., but it faced a cold reception at the very beginning of its introduction in Europe.
For example, in 1221 Frederic II forbidden the use of paper for the redaction of the public acts.
According to the historians, the reason of the obstruction was related to the starch glues needed to make the paper waterproof.
The insects were hungry of those glues and they were able to eat a whole archive.
During all the Middle Ages period, the standard ink was the iron gall ink, made of botanical acid that was usually extracted from oak galls. It was very cheap and its use went up to the XX century, but it was chemically unstable.
That is because its acidity damages the writing surface in irreversible way.
Until the print diffusion, the calligraphy was an important element of the manuscripts.
Except for some short historical period, as the one between VIII and IX century where the Caroline or Carolingian minuscule can be defined the first case of European calligraphic standard, we have a flourishing graphic font.
Only a few people were able to write and this necessarily caused the creation of styles which were very close to the artistic trends of their centuries.
Around the XI century, we can find the prestigious Beneventan Script, which originated in the Duchy of Benevento in southern Italy
There were two major centres of Beneventan usage: the Monastery in Montecassino and Bari. They both were based on Roman cursive as written by the Langobards.
The perfect form of the script was used in the 11th century, while Desiderius was abbot of Montecassino, declining thereafter.
After the XI century, the Beneventan script were less and less used up to disappear in the XIII century.
In this period, there is also the Gothic script, developed by the amanuensis living in Northern France.
In Europe, this type of writing became well-known in the XIII century, but in Italy had never been embraced, except for part of the Northern Italy.
Donatella shows the art of medieval bookbinding in a stall where you can find all the fundamental elements of a book.
She makes manuscripts of all types by explaining her manufacturing and by applying the skills acquired through her sector studies and her fieldwork.
Donatella Ricciuti
They were culture and knowledge holders par excellence: assembling a book was compared to the shaping of a masterpiece or a jewel.
In fact, the manuscripts were gifted to the nobles, to the King and they were even included among the young brides' dowry.
They were considered prestigious because they were decorated with gemstones, precious metals, silk and most of all they were rare.
Before the paper appeared in the West, the writing material consisted first in the papyrus and then in the vellum.
The amanuensis arranged the writing material through different sheets sewn together and they handed letter the manuscripts; even if the topic was the same, the books were always different one from another.
The artwork often required to be more people involved in its realization, so that it was a long-lasting making of.
The Middle Ages were characterized by parchment manuscripts, made of animal membranes.
But how did they process the animal skin?
Generally, after an eventual phase of soaking, the animal skin was immersed in a solution of water and lime in order to remove all the hair.
This procedure took place on a special easel where the skin could be scraped with a sharp, semi lunar knife to remove the last of the hair on the side that was in contact with the meat
and get the skin to the right thickness.
Then the skins were placed on a stretching frame and left drying under tension.
As soon as the parchment was dry, it could be moved from the frame in order to make use of it.
It could follow some refining steps by using pomice-stone.
The parchment was divided into quires: bifolium (a single sheet folded in half to make two leaves), duernion (two bifolia, producing four leaves), ternion (three bifolia, producing six leaves); quaternion (four bifolia, producing eight leaves); quinternion (five bifolia, producing ten leaves); sextern or sexternion (six bifolia, producing twelve leaves).
Every half of a folded paper was called Folio: they number the papers, not the pages, and they used to tell recto from verso, that is the front and the back (this procedure is called number folio).
The folders were sewn together through the sturdy strings of a loom made of cotton and hemp.
Once the binding was done, the papers were fixed on the spine by using glues (obtained by the boiling of the skin waste) and membrane materials ready to reuse.
The wooden boards were attached to the body of the book through some stitching supports called nerves; secondly they were covered with leather and fixed with animal originated glue.
Once the leather was dry, it was often decorated depending on the importance of the addressee.
The ornaments were various: metal decorations, spiral-shaped stones obtained by pushing the leather parchment on the cords that lied on the wooden boards.
In the Carolingian and post-Carolingian period the hot stamping was introduced for the very first time.
Since the scrolls were easily subject to usury, the book wooden covers were often fastened through claps or belts called ribs or through metal clasps.
In Italy, the scroll has permanently extinguished with the arrival of the printing and its use of the paper.
This material was invented in China in 105 a.d., but it faced a cold reception at the very beginning of its introduction in Europe.
For example, in 1221 Frederic II forbidden the use of paper for the redaction of the public acts.
According to the historians, the reason of the obstruction was related to the starch glues needed to make the paper waterproof.
The insects were hungry of those glues and they were able to eat a whole archive.
During all the Middle Ages period, the standard ink was the iron gall ink, made of botanical acid that was usually extracted from oak galls. It was very cheap and its use went up to the XX century, but it was chemically unstable.
That is because its acidity damages the writing surface in irreversible way.
Until the print diffusion, the calligraphy was an important element of the manuscripts.
Except for some short historical period, as the one between VIII and IX century where the Caroline or Carolingian minuscule can be defined the first case of European calligraphic standard, we have a flourishing graphic font.
Only a few people were able to write and this necessarily caused the creation of styles which were very close to the artistic trends of their centuries.
Around the XI century, we can find the prestigious Beneventan Script, which originated in the Duchy of Benevento in southern Italy
There were two major centres of Beneventan usage: the Monastery in Montecassino and Bari. They both were based on Roman cursive as written by the Langobards.
The perfect form of the script was used in the 11th century, while Desiderius was abbot of Montecassino, declining thereafter.
After the XI century, the Beneventan script were less and less used up to disappear in the XIII century.
In this period, there is also the Gothic script, developed by the amanuensis living in Northern France.
In Europe, this type of writing became well-known in the XIII century, but in Italy had never been embraced, except for part of the Northern Italy.
Donatella shows the art of medieval bookbinding in a stall where you can find all the fundamental elements of a book.
She makes manuscripts of all types by explaining her manufacturing and by applying the skills acquired through her sector studies and her fieldwork.
Donatella Ricciuti