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+--- Thread: Question about Binding (/thread-5194.html)
Question about Binding - ben._corley - 31-12-2025
Hello! I recently watch Lisa's lecture at the University of Toronto, available here (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.). She presented some evidence that the MS was originally meant to to be a collection of singlians, kinda like a pamphlet today if I understand correctly, instead of bound as a book. She explained it much clearer and accurate than I have here, so I recommend you watch.
This prompted a question for me: was the intention to have the MS bound despite its singlian nature? This, of course, prompts several follow-up questions.
1) Would a 15th century scribe be aware/knowledgable about binding practices?
2) Would a typical MS be bound before being authored or authored then bound?
3) What does the handwriting/paleography of the script suggest about the authors' experience and knowledge of writing?
4) If the authors were not experienced, could they have written the MS as singlians still intending for them to be bound?
I do not have any answers for these, just some questions I was left with after watching. I would love to hear what you guys have to think about this!
RE: Question about Binding - oshfdk - 31-12-2025
There is a recent thread about binding:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
Quote:4) If the authors were not experienced, could they have written the MS as singlians still intending for them to be bound?
I think they were at least considering the possibility that it could be bound eventually. There is a way to fold each bifolio in a way that no text crosses the gutter. Given a large number of labels and irregular block of texts, this is unlikely to be an accident. Very rarely images would cross the gutter (which could still work with binding if the image was intended for the centerfold), but as far as I know this never happens with the text.
Especially convincing with pages like You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. where the text spans the whole wide foldout and yet a clear gap was reserved for the binding.