Twined End-bands in the Bookbinding Traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean - The British Library

A five-day practical workshop

Book end-bands (small cords or strips of material affixed near the spine, usually of hardcover bindings) can be beautiful as well as practical, and they can also tell us a great deal about a book’s creation, its provenance, evolution, purpose and relationship with other crafts.

This five-day course offers a chance to practise and clarify the characteristics of twined or woven end-bands and their technical and decorative variations.

Twined end-bands represent a distinct category of rather elaborate compound end-bands commonly found in virtually all the bookbinding traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean. Over the course of the week participants will be able to make at least six different twined end-bands – a Coptic, an Islamic, a Syriac, a Byzantine, an Armenian, and a tablet woven end-band – to be taken away at the end of the course.

An introductory lecture will explain their evolution in time and place, their classification and terminology, their structural and decorative features as well as their relation to fabric-making techniques. Working materials, a hand out with explanatory drawings and some reading material will be also provided.

The course is led by Georgios Boudalis, Head of Book and Paper Conservation at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Day 1Morning session: Introductory lecture on end-bands

Afternoon session: Hands-on basic technique of twining

Day 2Morning session: Coptic split-twined end-band

Afternoon session: Islamic twined end-band

Day 3Morning session: Syriac twined end-band

Afternoon session: Byzantine twined end-band

Day 4Morning and afternoon sessions: Armenian end-band

Day 5Morning and afternoon sessions: The tablet-woven end-band (15th-16th century Russian and Byzantine bindings)

Details

Name:	Twined End-bands in the Bookbinding Traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean
Where:	British Library St Pancras
When:	Mon 23 Jul 2018, 09:30 - Fri 27 Jul 2018, 17:30
Price:	Full Price: £400.00
Enquiries:	+44 (0)1937 546546 boxoffice@bl.uk

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