A grand old man

One of the great men of British book conservation is Chris Clarkson, who trained under Roger Powell and the Cockerells (who are, incidently, the family who gave us the hovercraft).

Earlier this week I was delighted to be able to attend a talk by Chris on medieval book structures, a subject in which he is an acknowledged expert. One of the interesting things he told us was that the standard of Anglo-Saxon carpentry, was markedly higher than during the later Romanesque period. Early books were sewn onto cords and/or leather thongs and these were channeled through tunnels in the edges of the boards (generally of oak in England), which allowed the boards to fit snuggly around the pages and to open easily. These tunnels were cleanly cut and well fitted to the cords, which raises the question of how they were made. The short answer is, nobody knows. Chris suggested that they might have used twist drills, perhaps made by wrapping wire around a steel shaft and then sharpening it.

For anybody interested, click here for a link to Chris Clarkson's website