Bookbindings are a key element in our material evidence-focused book historical landscape, but they are often less well understood, or documented, than provenance or printing. This one-day course will give a very introductory overview of key aspects which allow us to date and recognise bindings. It will focus on external, visible features, rather than internal structures, but will cover the materials used to make bindings, and their distinguishing features. Consideration will be given to the context in which bindings should be seen, understood and interpreted. “What are the questions I should ask, when looking at a historic binding?” is a theme that will run through the day.

The course is aimed at anyone who works regularly with historic books in which early, and particularly English, bindings are likely to feature: librarians and curators, humanities researchers, collectors and dealers. Its philosophy is book historical, not art historical – it will cover bindings of all kinds, the cheap, temporary and simple as well as the extravagant and luxurious. Illustrated teaching sessions will be supplemented by the opportunity to see and handle examples from the Christ Church collections.

The day will be led by David Pearson, whose English Bookbinding Styles 1450-1800 (2005, reprinted 2014) is a standard reference book in the field. It is a condensed version of three- and five-day courses on this theme which he has run at several Rare Book Schools.

There is no charge for the day but places are limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

* We regret that access to the Upper Library is by a large spiral staircase only, and may cause difficulty for anyone with limited mobility.

** Lunch is not provided, but can be easily found in the city centre.