The Secret Belgian Binding was my next project on the list of historical bindings to do. I wish I knew more about the history of this binding; there is very little information available online and none of my books have any details.I learned this in a class with Susan Mills. I believe the binding was unearthed by Hedi Kyle, and it has been dated between the 14th and 16th centuries. Story is, this type of binding had been long lost and forgotten until Hedi came upon it and she figured out how it was done. It is thought that it was a special binding method of a particular binder so it was never widely known. If you have any more authoritative information about this, please let me know. Don't bother sending me the Wikipedia link because I wrote that myself.
Now I remember why it has been so long since I did it. It's too tedious! But, nonetheless, I persevered and completed these two black and whites this week. I cheated a little bit. The covers are covered with self-adhesive papers - so I didn't have to wait for any glue or paste to dry. But they turned out fine, the proportions are nice, at 480 pages thick, and nice to hold. I still don't want to start making them very often, though.
8 comments:
Rhonda, your Secret Belgian Binding is lovely. I learned to do this binding recently and think it's one of the most elegant out there. But I agree with you that it's time consuming and not the simplest of bindings.
Thanks, too, for including me on your blogroll. You're on mine as well.
Clara
Thanks Clara, it is tedious but worth it! I had found and read your posts about learning this binding when I was looking for more info about its origins. Great blog, thanks for including me too :)
Excuse me Clara you have the pattern of sewing to this bookbinding? I am mexican bookbinder and I want make this historic binding. Thanks my email is nosocupamosdelmar@gmail.com
Ah, the sewing for this book is rather hard to explain. Maybe Clara has some clear instructions...but I haven't been able to write them out clearly yet. If you keep watching my blog here, I do hope to post a tutorial for making this binding - but i may not have it ready for a while...next month perhaps.
Instructions for making secret Belgian Binding can be found in Cherryl Moote's book entitled books with girth. It can be ordered from her at Moote Pointes. com.
Great instructions on-line at http://users.stargate.net/~dearsam/bookarts/
Enjoy!
Great work Rhonda, keep it coming!
Secret Belgian Binding is a modern invention - developed in the 1980's by Belgian bookbinfer, Anne Goy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Belgian_binding
Thanks! Yes, I'm well aware of that. I have another post here on my blog, actually, where I have provided that information. (At the time this old post was written, I didn't know about Anne Goy.) And funny that you should link the wikipedia article, since I wrote that myself, lol!
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