A visit to St Brides Library

I’ve had an absolutely fascinating afternoon at the St. Brides Library in Blackfriars. The plan was to visit and attempt to find a project for my MA, but I must confess I got rather lost in the wonderfulness of the place – the building, the books, everything! – and have returned home without a project per say, though I have got some potentials here, a particularly interesting one with split stitching.

I must say a very big thank you to Mr Nigel Roche, who took the time to show me the library and the books and tell me a bit of history about the building and the collection.

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A limp vellum binding
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vellum on board, with an interesting spine lining
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Absolutely amazing!
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Look at that spine!
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The mark of the printer Aldus, who was one of the first to use romanic and italic font
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Amazing pencil work in the spine
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This had very damaged corners, but we were not sure what it was from, initially I thought bugs, but it looks more like its been used for a doorstop!

 

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A cambridge binding
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I thought this might have been rebound...
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Speckled edges, familiar to the cambridge bindings
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The gothic type and small book edges, makes me think this may have been rebound.
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An interesting lttle binding that looks like it might need a lot work to the spine and sewing structure.
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Both boards are detached

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