New database--Folger Bindings Image Collection

The Folger Shakespeare Library is pleased to announce public access
to a new database of digital images: the Folger Bindings Image
Collection, now accessible as an additional resource at
http://luna.folger.edu>, or via direct link

   http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/BINDINGS~1~1>

About this database: The Folger Bindings Image Collection provides
access to high resolution images and descriptions of bindings from
the rare book and manuscript collections of the Folger Shakespeare
Library. Bindings are chosen from the collection for photography and
description not only because of decorative tooling but also for
their physical features as functional objects and cultural
artifacts. Recording information about binding structure and
decoration can reveal items where the same or similar tools may have
been used at different times by different binders or binding
workshops. Uncovering such similarities can also help link multiple
bindings to individual owners, collectors, binders, or
workshops--even in cases where a binder may be as yet
unidentified--as well as to specific geographical regions or time
periods.

Included among the over 3,000 images depicting over 1,000 bindings
are descriptions and depictions of:

   Bindings in our collection of incunabula, including for instance
   this 15th century German half-leather and wood board binding on
   a 1481 Nuremberg edition of Platina's Vitae pontificum
   (http://shakespeare.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=90419>):
   http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/s/wy05ba>

   Bindings by specific people or workshops, for instance by the
   18th century English bookbinder Roger Payne:
   http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/s/7me9e3>

   A newly-identified group of bindings referred to here as by the
   "Tulip Spine Binder, ca. 1670
   http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/s/0zm27m>

   Gauffered fore-edges
   http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/s/97924h>

   Painted fore-edges
   http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/s/62xdua>

   Identified and unidentified armorial bindings
   http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/s/smmlkj>

Most of the records in this database represent new bindings research
and photography created by Folger Rare Bindings Specialist and
former Head of Conservation J. Franklin Mowery, with the assistance
of Bindings Database Intern Rachel Bartgis. Some of the contents of
the database were imported from past projects, including:

   A 1992 exhibition catalog Fine and Historic Bookbindings from
   the Folger Shakespeare Library, by Frederick A. Bearman, Nati H.
   Krivatsy, J. Franklin Mowery; photographs by Julie Ainsworth
   http://shakespeare.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=79506>

   A previously-unpublished guide to The Bindings of Edward Gwynn
   in the Folger Shakespeare Library, by J. Franklin Mowery

   Previously-unpublished conservation documentation and
   photography of Shakespeare First Folio bindings in the Folger
   Library, by J. Franklin Mowery.

Continuing work: Work on the Folger Bindings Collection continues,
focused on:

   Revision of existing entries; upgrading existing image files

   Addition of information and images for newly-researched
   bindings;

   Continued addition of terms from the RBMS controlled vocabulary,
   Binding Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special
   Collections Cataloging
   http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_vocabularies/binding/alphabetical_list.htm>:

   Updating vocabulary lists:
   http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=4150>
   http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=4152>

   Additional links to other resources
   http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=4151>

Corrections, additions, and questions would be welcome.

Please email fmowery [at] folger__edu or bindingshelp [at] folger__edu

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