Gothic Binding (MS46)

Material:

  • Textblock: acid free archive paper
  • Sewing: linen sewing threads and cords
  • Joints and guards: aero linen inner joints, parchment guards
  • Cover: Brown calf skin on quarter-sawn oak boards with blind tooling
  • Endbands: Hand-sewn blue and yellow silk thread
  • Clasps: brass and silver clasps
  • Adhesive: wheat starch paste (Jinshofu), EVA

It is a mockup of binding made based on observation of the original binding MS46, part of the Founder’s collection at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. MS 46 was made in the southern Netherlands. It mainly consists of antiphons for Matins and the processions for major feasts of the Temporal and Sanctoral. The textblock is made of handmade laid paper with adhered decorative parchment cuttings from the 14-15th century. The manuscript’s watermark suggests an origin between c.1580-1630, probably in Maastricht which is located in the south-west Netherlands, close to Belgium and Germany.