Art of the book: a brief history of decorative book binding

Abstract

This article traces the history of the fine art of decorative binding in India, Egypt, Central Asia and Europe where it was mostly prevalent during ancient and medieval times and the cross cultural influences. Early modern era too had beautiful work on binding covers. Some works have even been called ‘treasure bindings’ made for important people in high social positions. The book bindings are still available across libraries, museums and private collections. Great care was taken to make the binding of a revered text strong and look appealing. The ancient and medieval times craftsmen used various methods and materials like wood, leather to make the bindings and used ivory, metal and pigments for embellishment. The article briefly describes the technique of book binding and showcases some specimens of fine book covers from across the world.