PSA: I just read that the oldest known bound book is from 600 AD

I was flipping through a library copy of 'The Craft of Bookbinding' by Arthur Johnson and saw a note about the St. Cuthbert Gospel. It's a tiny leather-bound book from around 698, found in a saint's coffin in Durham Cathedral. The binding is still intact after over 1,300 years. Has anyone here tried to replicate a historical binding style like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

tara6427d ago

What kind of leather did they use back then? I tried making a simple leather cover once and it was way harder than it looked lol.

sage3087d ago

Isn't the whole focus on old bindings kind of missing the point? The real skill is making a book that lasts now, not copying a 1300-year-old method. @tara642, your struggle with modern leather shows how much easier materials are today. That old gospel survived because it sat in a dry coffin, not just from the binding. Trying to copy that exact style seems more like a history project than actual useful craft.

the_lee7d ago

They used vegetable tanned leather, which is still available from specialty suppliers. Modern chrome tanned stuff is softer but doesn't hold shape or tooling the same way. It's worth trying the traditional material if you want that kind of result.