Vzácné obalové vazby ve sbírkách Knihovny Národního muzea

Abstract

Rare double-cover bindings in the collections of the National Museum Library Unlike contemporary embossed bindings, Gothic double-cover bindings are mostly undecorated, as priority was given to the binding’s useful function. Covered codexes were stored in a horizontal position and the wide overlaps on the front edge of the back panel were inserted between the front panel and the book block; after the fastening of the clasps, the parchment block was perfectly protected by this “packaging“ against the adverse effects of the surrounding environment. The originally Romanesque type of binding was used for larger format codexes and appeared practically throughout the Middle Ages, until the 16th century. In domestic literature, double-cover binding is wrongly included in the “shape and binding curiosities“ category; abroad, the terminology for describing and determining structural types of bindings with a secondary cover is not clear. During conservation research in the National Museum Library, a total of 45 Gothic double­-cover bindings was found in various states of preservation, from which we can determine a wide range of structural types and several methods of execution. A set of ten double-cover bindings published by Dr. Hamanová was expanded to include bindings from Augustinian monasteries