Ligatus Summer School

The History of European Bookbinding 1450-1830 and Identifying and
recording bookbinding structures for conservation and cataloguing.

Istituto Ellenico di Studi Bizantini e Postbizantini di Venezia
Venice
(Italy)

September 19-23 and 26-30, 2011

The 6th Ligatus Summer School, following the success of the courses
in Volos, Patmos, Thessaloniki and Wolfenbuttel, is to be held this
year in collaboration with the Istituto Ellenico di Studi Bizantini
e Postbizantini di Venezia. We are delighted to announce the summer
school in the historic city of Venice and particularly in the
Istituto Ellenico, which has a distinguished reputation in the field
of book studies. This year students will have the opportunity to see
bindings from historic collections in the city, including the
Biblioteca Marciana. With access to a range of important libraries
and the unique environment that the city offers, this year's summer
school will be a unique experience.
<URL:http://www.ligatus.org.uk/summerschool>

Summer school context:

The contribution that bindings can make to our understanding of the
history and culture of the book is often neglected, but they can
offer insights into the study of readership, the booktrade, and the
provenance of books which are often not available elsewhere. In
order to realise this potential, it is important to understand not
only the history of the craft but also to learn how to record what
is seen in a consistent and organised way. Librarians, cataloguers,
conservators, book historians and all scholars who work with early
books, need therefore to understand the structure and materials of
the bindings they encounter in order to be able to record and
describe them. Such descriptions of bindings are not only valuable
for the management of library collections, pursuing academic
research and making informed decisions about conservation, but are
also important for digitisation projects as they can radically
enrich the potential of image and text metadata. It is our belief
that bindings should be seen as an integral part of the book,
without which, our understanding of the history and use of books is
often greatly circumscribed.

The purpose of the summer school is to uncover the possibilities
latent in the detailed study of bookbinding and it mainly focuses on
books which have been bound between the fifteenth and the early
nineteenth century. While both courses concentrate in particular on
the structure and materials of bookbindings, each of the two courses
offered in this summer school looks at bindings from different
geographical areas and with a different approach. The first course
looks at the history of bookbinding as it was carried out in Europe
in the period of the hand press (1450-1830), with the opportunity to
look at examples from different collections during the afternoons,
while the second course looks at the development of bookbinding in
the eastern Mediterranean and gives hands-on training in how to
observe and record bindings, again working with examples from the
collections. Part of this course includes technical hands-on session
for the development of a digital documentation system for recording
bookbindings.

The courses are taught in English and each is open to 12
participants.

Although the courses can be attended individually, participants are
encouraged to attend both courses in order to get a more complete
understanding of the issues discussed, through the comparison of the
wide range of bookbindings considered in each week. Since these are
not beginner-level courses, the participants are expected to be
familiar with bookbinding terminology and have a basic knowledge of
the history of book production in the periods under discussion. A
basic understanding of the use of databases is also desirable for
those who will attend the course in the second week.

Description of courses:

Week 1, European Bookbinding 1450-1830
Tutor: Professor N. Pickwoad

    This course will follow European bookbinding from the end of the
    Middle Ages to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, using
    the bindings themselves to illustrate the aims and intentions of
    the binding trade. A large part of the course will be devoted to
    the identification of both broad and detailed distinctions
    within the larger groups of plain commercial bindings and the
    possibilities of identifying the work of different countries,
    cities, even workshops without reference to finishing tools. The
    identification and significance of the different materials used
    in bookbinding will be examined, as well as the classification
    of bookbindings by structural type, and how these types
    developed through the three centuries covered by the course. The
    development of binding decoration will be touched on, but will
    not form a major part of the discussion. The course consists of
    ten 90-minute sessions with Powerpoint presentations (over 800
    images will be shown). Actual examples of bindings will be shown
    in the first four afternoon sessions while the final afternoon
    will look at bookbinding terminology and offer the opportunity
    for the discussion of questions and issues raised during the
    week.

Week 2, Identifying and recording bookbinding structures
Tutors: Dr. G. Boudalis and Dr. A. Velios

    This five-day course will be divided in two interconnected
    sessions. The first session, run by Dr. Georgios Boudalis, will
    focus upon the major structural and decorative features of the
    Byzantine and post-Byzantine bookbindings and their evolution in
    time and space. The relationship of these bindings with the
    early bindings of the Coptic and other Eastern Mediterranean
    cultures will be discussed, during lectures, slide-shows and
    demonstrations of real bookbindings from Venetian collections.
    This session will centre on the influences and comparisons of
    these different bookbindings. It will consist of eight 90-minute
    computer presentations supplemented by hands-on sessions. The
    second session will be run by Dr. Athanasios Velios and will
    deal with the data management and storage of bookbinding
    descriptions. Alongside a brief reference to the relational
    databases this session will mainly involve discussions on a) the
    semantic web and XML, b) schemas and terminologies for
    bookbinding descriptions, c) commercial and open source software
    options and d) methodologies and workflows for surveying
    collection. A large part of this session will be devoted to the
    actual development and use of a documentation system for
    recording binding structures and the actual recording of
    specific bindings. This session will consist of two 90-minutes
    presentations and eight 90-minutes hands-on workshops. Basic
    knowledge of database use is desirable for this course.

The courses are supported by Ligatus and the University of the Arts,
London, with generous help from the Istituto Ellenico. We have
therefore been able to reduce the cost of the course for this year
to UKP350.00 per week, excluding travel, meals and accommodation. A
number of accommodation options will be provided to the
participants. A detailed schedule of the courses can be sent upon
request. Applications, including a short CV can be submitted online

    <URL:http://www.ligatus.org.uk/summerschool/>

For information about registration please email Ewelina Warner
<e.warner<-a t->camberwell< . >arts< . >ac< . >uk> and mark the message subject with:
'Ligatus Summer School'. A reading list will be sent to those who
will attend the courses in advance. Deadline for applications is t 1
July 2011. The participants will be contacted by the end of July,
2011.

The Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies in
Venice was founded in 1955 and is housed in the building of the
former Flanghinis College. The Institute's main objective is to
study Byzantine and Post-Byzantine history--focussing primarily on
the history of Greek territories under Latin domination, on the
basis of Italian and in particular Venetian archives--and to publish
the relevant historical sources. Its old library (belonging to the
former Flanghinis College) includes 2,000 volumes produced by the
Greek printing houses of Venice from the 16th to the 18th century.
Most of these old books come from the printing houses of Glykis and
Theodosiou, and are mainly ecclesiastical works and school texts;
the new library includes 30,000 volumes. The library also holds 41
Byzantine and Post-byzantine manuscripts from as early as the 12th
century. The Institute's archive holds an important collection of
documents from as early as 1498 which capture the history of Greeks
in Venice. For more information about the Institute see:
<URL:http://www.istitutoellenico.org/>

Venice always offers a number of great cultural activities including
museums and churches. The summer school coincides with the Venice
Biennale exhibition which is another good reason to join us this
year. For a calendar of events in Venice see:

    <URL:http://www.comune.venezia.it/
        flex/FixedPages/IT/Eventi.php/L/EN/YY/2011/MM/9/DD/1>

Ligatus is a research unit of the University of the Arts London with
particular interest in the history of bookbinding, book
conservation, archiving and the application of digital technology to
these fields. Ligatus's main research projects currently include the
conservation of the books in the library of St. Catherine's
Monastery on Mount Sinai and the development of a multi-lingual
glossary of bookbinding terms. Find out more about Ligatus at

    <URL:http://www.ligatus.org.uk>

    **** Moderator's comments: The above URLs have been wrapped for
    email. There should be no newlines.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 24:42
                  Distributed: Tuesday, March 8, 2011
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