New database--Folger Bindings Image Collection

The Folger Shakespeare Library is pleased to announce public access
to a new database of digital images: the Folger Bindings Image
Collection, now accessible as an additional resource at
<URL:http://luna.folger.edu>, or via direct link

    <URL:http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/BINDINGS~1~1>

About this database: The Folger Bindings Image Collection provides
access to high resolution images and descriptions of bindings from
the rare book and manuscript collections of the Folger Shakespeare
Library. Bindings are chosen from the collection for photography and
description not only because of decorative tooling but also for
their physical features as functional objects and cultural
artifacts. Recording information about binding structure and
decoration can reveal items where the same or similar tools may have
been used at different times by different binders or binding
workshops. Uncovering such similarities can also help link multiple
bindings to individual owners, collectors, binders, or
workshops--even in cases where a binder may be as yet
unidentified--as well as to specific geographical regions or time
periods.

Included among the over 3,000 images depicting over 1,000 bindings
are descriptions and depictions of:

    Bindings in our collection of incunabula, including for instance
    this 15th century German half-leather and wood board binding on
    a 1481 Nuremberg edition of Platina's Vitae pontificum
    (<URL:http://shakespeare.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=90419>):
    <URL:http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/s/wy05ba>

    Bindings by specific people or workshops, for instance by the
    18th century English bookbinder Roger Payne:
    <URL:http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/s/7me9e3>

    A newly-identified group of bindings referred to here as by the
    "Tulip Spine Binder, ca. 1670
    <URL:http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/s/0zm27m>

    Gauffered fore-edges
    <URL:http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/s/97924h>

    Painted fore-edges
    <URL:http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/s/62xdua>

    Identified and unidentified armorial bindings
    <URL:http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/s/smmlkj>

Most of the records in this database represent new bindings research
and photography created by Folger Rare Bindings Specialist and
former Head of Conservation J. Franklin Mowery, with the assistance
of Bindings Database Intern Rachel Bartgis. Some of the contents of
the database were imported from past projects, including:

    A 1992 exhibition catalog Fine and Historic Bookbindings from
    the Folger Shakespeare Library, by Frederick A. Bearman, Nati H.
    Krivatsy, J. Franklin Mowery; photographs by Julie Ainsworth
    <URL:http://shakespeare.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=79506>

    A previously-unpublished guide to The Bindings of Edward Gwynn
    in the Folger Shakespeare Library, by J. Franklin Mowery

    Previously-unpublished conservation documentation and
    photography of Shakespeare First Folio bindings in the Folger
    Library, by J. Franklin Mowery.

Continuing work: Work on the Folger Bindings Collection continues,
focused on:

    Revision of existing entries; upgrading existing image files

    Addition of information and images for newly-researched
    bindings;

    Continued addition of terms from the RBMS controlled vocabulary,
    Binding Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special
    Collections Cataloging
    <URL:http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_vocabularies/binding/alphabetical_list.htm>:

    Updating vocabulary lists:
    <URL:http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=4150>
    <URL:http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=4152>

    Additional links to other resources
    <URL:http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=4151>

Corrections, additions, and questions would be welcome.

Please email fmowery<-at->folger<.>edu or bindingshelp<-at->folger<.>edu

J. Franklin Mowery
Rare Binding Specialist
Folger Shakespeare Library
201 East Capitol St. SE
Washington DC. 20003
202-675-0362


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 26:5
                  Distributed: Saturday, June 23, 2012
                        Message Id: cdl-26-5-003
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