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.
A limp vellum bindingvellum on board, with an interesting spine liningAbsolutely amazing!Look at that spine!The mark of the printer Aldus, who was one of the first to use romanic and italic fontAmazing pencil work in the spineThis 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!
A cambridge bindingI thought this might have been rebound...Speckled edges, familiar to the cambridge bindingsThe gothic type and small book edges, makes me think this may have been rebound.An interesting lttle binding that looks like it might need a lot work to the spine and sewing structure.Both boards are detached
