Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books
A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology

plaited headband

A HEADBAND consisting of strips of skin, usually alum-tawed and stained pink. The plaited headband, while rare in English fine bindings, is common in German examples of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. It represents the strongest type of headband ever constructed. Two thongs were plaited around a former of rolled vellum which was already sewn to the text block. In addition, the thongs were threaded through holes made in the leather at the head of the spine where it was cut off instead of being turned in. The closely formed and set appearance of these headbands indicate that the thongs were worked while wet. (236 )