Gothic binding model.

Winecke Meeuws.

Gothic binding model.

The Hague,

2004.

Commissioned by RBS in 2004.

This model, created by Dutch book conservator Winecke Meeuws, illustrates the binding of a typical book produced in Europe between the mid-12th and early 15th centuries. The book is bound in calfskin burnished with an agate stone and blind tooled. Meeuws’s model leaves part of the binding exposed, free of leather, to reveal the underlying sewing structure. Actual medieval bindings are rare and extremely valuable, and they cannot be routinely handled in classroom settings.

From the collection of Rare Book School