Hi everybody,

 

If you’re into nicely decorated books , this one might be for you:

 

Last month the National Library of the Netherlands (KB) donated 760 historical bookbindings from the period 1100-1875 (public domain) to Wikimedia Commons : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Bookbindings_from_Koninklijke_Bibliotheek

 

The bindings range from sober ones in leather and parchment to richly decorated in textile, silver or tortoise shell. They give a small insight into how historical binding techniques were used and how successive decorative styles developed over time. In the details one can recognize the requests of patrons, the craftsmanship of the binders and the preferences of collectors.

 

The current donation is a small selection from the larger collection of some 12.000 bindings the KB takes care of: https://www.kb.nl/en/resources-research-guides/kb-collections/bookbindings-and-paper-history/bookbindings

 

 

With kind regards

 

Olaf Janssen

 

Wikipedia & open data coordinator

 

Koninklijke Bibliotheek - National Library of the Netherlands 

olaf.janssen@kb.nl

+31 (0)70 3140 388

@ookgezellig

www.slideshare.net/OlafJanssenNL