Cambridge Bookbindings : Pasteboards made of compacted printed waste, ca.1540

Dolet, Etienne 1509-1546, Guenther, Johann 1505-1574

Cambridge Bookbindings

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>This image has been chosen to illustrate the common practice, in the 1530s and 40s, of making the pasteboards of small-format books not from plain coarse paper (as we are more used to seeing), but from compacted sheets of contemporary printed waste. It is often seen in Cambridge work of this time, and also in that from other English binderies. The binding here was made in the Garret Godfrey workshop in the late 1530s, and is covered in dark brown calfskin simply blind-tooled with roll DI.h(3). The pastedowns of medieval manuscript waste, from a liturgical manuscript, have lifted to reveal the tanned leather supports and the nature of the boards. Sometimes, openings like this in historic bindings reflect a single sheet of printed waste covering a standard pasteboard; here, the slight peeling of the board layers which can be seen at the spine edge reveals tiny traces of print on some of the layers beneath.</p><p>Dr David Pearson</p></p>