reliure

Reliure, or bookbinding, is the craft of assembling a book by attaching pages to a cover and protecting them with boards and a spine. It typically involves sewing folded sheets into signatures, attaching endpapers, and fastening the assembled text to a rigid cover. The exterior materials range from leather and parchment to cloth or paper, and decoration may include gilding, blind tooling, inlay, marbling, and edge treatments.

Bindings come in various styles. Full leather bindings cover the entire outside with leather, often featuring raised bands on the spine and gold tooling. Half or demi-bindings use leather on the spine and corners with a different material on the boards. Cloth and paper bindings are common in mass-produced books. Endpapers, joints, and the condition of the spine influence both durability and aesthetics. Decorative elements such as marbled endpapers, gilt edges, and corner pieces reflect period taste and bibliophilic value.

History and development: binding practices have ancient roots, with early codices and parchment covers evolving into medieval European bindings on wooden boards wrapped in leather. In the 16th–18th centuries, bindings became more elaborate, incorporating gold tooling and decorative motifs. The 19th century saw widespread use of cloth bindings and mass production, while the 20th century brought renewed attention to conservation and the restoration of historical bindings.

Conservation and value: libraries and collections often prioritize preserving original bindings, balancing stabilization with historical integrity. Rebinding may occur to protect a fragile text, but it can affect a book’s historical character and provenance. The study of reliure intersects with conservation, bibliology, and the history of the book.