With professional development funding from the Pine Tree Foundation at the Morgan, I attended a week-long bookbinding class in Montefiascone, Italy, in July 2024. By happy coincidence, the Montefiascone Conservation Project offered a course on 15th-century Italian bindings with Islamic-influenced decoration—closely related to the Codex Lippomano from my Plaquette Binding research. This was a valuable opportunity to deepen my understanding of the historical context and technical details of these bindings from experts in the field. The course was taught by Jim Bloxam, former Head of Conservation and Collection Care at Cambridge University Library, Shaun Thompson, Conservation Manager at Cambridge University Library, and Alison Ohta, Director of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

Workshop description from the Montefiascone Conservation Project website: “Manuscript CUL Add. 8445 (circa 1480) is a copy, written in humanist script, of Cicero’s Topica. It has a contemporary leather binding with intricate blind, blue and gold tooling which bears witness to the beginning of a bourgeoning expansion of the decoration of Italian books, impacted by Near and Middle Eastern bindings. Jim, Shaun and Alison first taught this binding at Montefiascone in 2017.  In the subsequent years they have continued their research on the techniques and decorative elements which were introduced into the Italian bookbinders’ repertoire that were eventually to permeate throughout Europe. However, influences are only to be found in terms of the decorative techniques; Italian binders did not adopt the Islamic structure.

The tutors will enable the course participants to recreate the binding. Processes will include sewing the text block, sewing the endbands, shaping and attaching the beech boards and covering with leather. The covered books will be blind, blue and gold tooled and have brass fittings and fixtures applied. Complementing the practical aspect of the course, Alison will lecture and seek to set the binding into context.“