Workshop on historic bookbindings

Workshops on historic bindings
Monastery of Saint John the Theologian
Patmos (Greece)

27-31 August, 2007
and 3-7 September, 2007
Deadline for applications: 27 July, 2007

The 11th century Greek Orthodox monastery of Saint John the
Theologian is situated on the island of the Apocalypse, Patmos. It
preserves one of the most important monastic libraries of the
Christian world, containing a wealth of Greek bound manuscripts,
early documents and printed books.

The two workshops offered will be conducted in the book conservation
studio of the monastery.   The library holds many original Byzantine
style and Western European bindings which will be examined by the
students and used to demonstrate the structures being taught on the
courses as well as highlighting conservation issues.  All materials
will be provided, however students will be asked to bring with them
some basic bookbinding tools. Some knowledge of the history of
bookbinding would be desirable, but not essential, and there is a
pre-course reading list available. The courses will appeal to book
conservators, design binders and those interested in the history and
the making of the book.

The classes, which will be given in English, will be held between
9am and 3:30pm, allowing plenty of time to explore the island and
enjoy the beautiful scenery during the rest of the day. Lunch,
coffee and refreshments will be provided in the monastery.
Travelling and accommodation must be arranged by applicants but
information will be supplied on application.

For booking and information contact:

    Nikolas Sarris
    Supervisor of Book Conservation Studio,
    St. John Theologian Monastery, Patmos
    sarris1 [at] otenet__gr

Course 1
A practical introduction to Byzantine Binding
Tutor: John Mumford
27-31 August 2007
Course fee: 520Euro

    This 5 day course is an introduction to Byzantine bookbinding.
    Through a series of practical demonstrations it is hoped that
    the student will gain an understanding of the construction of a
    Byzantine binding which will include sewing, board preparation,
    endbands, and covering with leather. The students will then
    embellish their bindings with blind tooled decoration, drawing
    on the classic motifs used on historical Byzantine bindings, and
    then construct the edge pins and laced leather straps.

    Maximum class number: 6

    John Mumford served a five year apprenticeship at the British
    Museum, afterwards joining the team which established the Rare
    and Early Book Conservation Studio at the British Library. From
    1992 he was manager of the Oriental and India Office Book
    Studio, and in 1998 became manager of the Book Conservation
    Studio at the new British Library at St. Pancras. He has taught
    part time at the University of the Arts, London, as well as
    undertaking workshops in the UK and abroad. John has a
    particular interest in early binding structures and their
    development placed within a conservation context. John is
    currently Head of Book Conservation at the British Library,
    London.

Course 2
Limp and semi-limp vellum bindings course
Tutor: Flavio Marzo
3-7 September 2007
Course fee: 520Euro

    On this 5 day course 3 examples of limp and semi limp vellum
    bindings will be discussed and models made up, based on the
    historical structures of the period ranging from the 15th-17th
    centuries.  In the history of the book, parchment has always
    been a very popular and versatile material.  In more recent
    times it has become a material used in conservation, mainly as a
    covering material, due to its stability, strength and lasting
    flexibility. Following the aftermath of the Florence flood in
    1966 leading conservators found that the limp structures in
    paper and parchment survived the flood with the best results and
    looked into developing these historical structures for use
    within conservation.

    Maximum class number:  6

    Flavio Marzo served a four year apprenticeship at a private
    studio in the Benedictine Monastery of Novalesa (Italy),
    followed by a two year (1998-2000) course in Book Conservation
    in Spoleto (Italy) in the "Fondazione per il Restauro e la
    Conservazione dei Beni Librari e Cartacei". On successful
    completion of the course Flavio worked in COOBEC Italy in a
    private  specialised workshop. Flavio also spent 4 months at the
    Bodleian Library in Oxford under the direction of Christopher
    Clarkson, which included a two month period in the Magdalene
    College in Oxford . In 2001 he returned to the studio of the
    Benedictine Monastery where he worked until January 2005, while
    he also spent a period in the Book Conservation studio of The
    Vatican Library. Flavio is currently working as conservator in
    the Book Conservation Department at the British Library, London.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:3
                  Distributed: Thursday, May 10, 2007
                        Message Id: cdl-21-3-017
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