Trapezuntius: Rhetoricorum libri

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Description of binding

Size of the book: 379X276 (with sewing supports 282)X55-58 mm; dimension of the board: 275X7-8 mm

Originally, codex under shelfmark OSZK Cod. Lat. 281 must have had a purple full velvet covering. It was fastened with four pairs of left-to-right fastening, hooked class-type, trefoiled brass clasps. Only one catch plate, placed on the board, survived on the book. The boards are made of beech wood. The bookblock, consisting of parchment quires, is sewn all along on three double white leather sewing supports with kettle stitches. The edge is painted, gilded and gauffered on all three sides; the red, blue and green ornamental, tendrillar, floral decorations run parallel to the boards along the edge; they are positioned in one column, one above another. The author’s name and the titling, painted on the fore-edge, are framed with green color; feet of letters face the right board. The book was restored by Dezső Sasvári and Mrs. Ágnes Kálmán-Horvátth.

1. Decorating technique

The edge is painted, gilded and gauffered on all three sides; the red, blue and green ornamental, tendrillar, floral decorations run parallel to the boards along the edge; they are positioned in one column, one above another. At the head and the tail, the flower heads face the endband, while on the fore-edge, they face the titling.

Detail of the head-edge
Detail of the head-edge

2. Binding technique

2.1 Board
2.1.1 Covering

Originally, the book must have had a purple full velvet covering. Fragment of the velvet can currently be detected only on the right board, right under the only surviving catch plate (on the fore-edge, at the head). The corners must have been mitered, but it can be surmised only from the multiple, not too deep incision marks visible on the wooden boards. Coloring on the inner face of the board shows the one-time location of the turn-ins.

Incisions of the mitered corner
Incisions of the mitered corner
2.1.2 Board

The boards are made of beech wood; their external surface is shaped with a gentle curve around the borders in the form of peripheral cushions. The curves were shaped by grating the edges of the board. Traces of grating can be easily detected on the edges of the board, in an approximately 3-centimeter width.

Board with peripheral cushion
Board with peripheral cushion

Parts of the sewing supports extending beyond the width of the spine lie in recesses drilled to accommodate them on the boards. Currently, the sewing supports do not fully fill in the recesses made for them.

Endings of the endband core were led to the outer face of the board where they fit in recesses (forming an approximately 45-degree angle with the edges of the boards). In addition to the currently used recess, partly overlapping it, but continuing in a different angle, there is also a recess at the head of the left board and at the tail of the right board. On top of that, the recesses come complete with one hole each, through which the endband core could be pulled over. (Presently, they are out of use.)

The right board split in two was put together by using a wooden peg, and it was complemented with a piece of the size of 15,5X2 cm along the spine (made in 1989).

According to the restoration documentation, the boards were lubricated with wood mordant in 1989.

2.2 Spine

Currently, there is no covering on the spine. Pigskin put on during the restoration in 1989, fully covering the spine fields, is visible; the ends do not extend to the boards.

2.3 Fastenings

The book must have been fastened with four pairs of hooked class-type, left-to-right fastening brass clasps. The trefoild form on the board and the direction of the fastening are characteristic of the hooked class-type. Only one catch plate survived out of the catch plates on the right board (on the fore-edge, at the head); the presumably smaller, rectangular clasps on the straps, corresponding to the type, had been lost. The on-board clasps are made of plates, they are undecorated. (The arc in the middle is peaked, while the right and left arcs are arched.) The cylindrical blockage part of the clasp extends beyond the edge of the board.

Trefoiled clasp on the right board
Trefoiled clasp on the right board

Currently, the clasp is fixed with three convex-headed brass nails. On the right board, there is no recess to accommodate the clasps. Three rust stains are visible in place of the clasp at the tail, inside the fore-edge of the right board; at the head and the tail, there are no traces of clasp fastening.

The straps or ribbons fastening the clasp lay in four, shallow, rectangular recesses cut onto the left board; no fragment of any of them had survived. The shallowness of the recess suggests that ribbons were used. Traces of two iron nails can be detected at the head and the tail, that are perpendicular to the edge of the board; on the fore-edge, traces of four iron nails each can be seen. No recess was made to accommodate the strap at the edge of the board.

2.4 Titling

The author’s name and the titling, painted on the fore-edge, are framed with green color; feet of letters face the right board.

2.5 Bookblock
2.5.1 Composition of the textblock

The present sewing is presumably a newer one, originating from 1940. The original sewing must have also been sewn all along on three double white leather supports with kettle stitches. The photographs taken before the restoration in 1989 show the sewing supports that are visible even today, but their fastenings are different. There is no sign of re-sewing on the sheets; during restoration, the original pierced sewing holes, as well as the recesses drilled into the wooden boards must have been reused. Pierced sewing holes and kettle stitches had been marked by incision on the sheets. Parts of the sewing supports extending beyond the spine had been tunneled into an outer channel on the surface of the board. During the restoration carried out in 1989, all endings of the sewing supports were fixed with two wooden nails. Pinholes and holes of the size of bigger angular shaft are visible on the straps.

The bookblock is slightly rounded.

2.5.2 Edge

The edge is painted, gilded and gauffered on all three sides; the red, blue and green ornamental, tendrillar, floral decorations run parallel to the boards along the edge; they are positioned in one column, one above another. At the head and the tail, the flower heads face the endband, while on the fore-edge, they face the titling.

On the fore-edge, the author’s name and the titling can be read in a green painted frame; feet of letters face the right board, so the book must have been stored lying on its right board.

2.5.3 Endleaves

One leaf each survived from the original endleaves, which are undersize compared to the leaves of the textblock; with the help of an additional elongation, they are folded over the first and the last sheets. During the 20th-century repairs, the book was complemented with one folded and sewn parchment leaf each, which were not pasted down on the boards.

2.5.4 Bookmark

There is no bookmark.

2.6 Endband

The currently detectable endband was put on the book during the restoration perfomed in 1940. The white leather endband core was fastened with sewing thread. The core does not feature decorative embroidery.

In a rather unusual way, the leather endband core had been fastened with flesh side out, and it is much shorter than the recess made to accommodate it.

Fastening of the endband core
Fastening of the endband core

3. Conservation

According to the entry written in ink on the verso of the original surviving leaf of the left endleaves, “Restoration was made by Dezső Sasvári in 1940”, who must have re-sewn the book and sewed new endbands on it. The present spine lining was made during the restoration performed in 1989 by Mrs. Ágnes Kálmán-Horvátth in the Restoration Laboratory of National Széchényi Library. Damages of the wooden boards (wood-beetle chewing, traces of nails) were repaired, and the right board split in two was put together by using a wooden peg, and it was complemented with a piece of the size of 15,5X2 cm along the spine. The outer face of the boards was lubricated with wood mordant. Wooden nails were hammered into the leather straps. New endleaves were mounted on the book. Leaves of the book were repaired.

Restoration documentation in Hungarian (pdf)