A Binding Beauty
by Kelli Piotrowski and Anne McLain
Lately, we’ve all been charmed by this striking vernacular binding on a 1614 first edition of Bouquet Sacré (346 Boucher *) held by the Harvard Divinity School Library. Written by the Franciscan priest and theologian Jean Boucher (ca. 1548–1644) and printed in Le Mans, France, the book recounts his travels to the Holy Lands at a time when the practice of pilgrimage was being called into question.
Curator of Historical Collections Nell Carlson had long been aware of the book’s unusual binding, but it was Conservation Technician Anne McLain, who saw the library’s post and recognized it as gilt leather, a material more commonly associated with luxury wall coverings in European interiors from roughly the 15th through 18th centuries. Although gilt leather is known to have been used for bookbindings, through research and communication with several people familiar with the material, Anne found that relatively few examples have been documented. In a 2024 paper, Dr. Charlotte Ross, now Cataloger of Medieval Manuscripts at the British Library, identified nine examples in addition to the seven previously identified by Dr. Eloy Koldeweij, a leading authority on Dutch gilt leather and among the first to publish on the reuse of gilt leather on bindings.
Gilt leather was made by applying silver leaf to leather and coating it with yellow or orange-brown varnish to mimic the effect of gold. Designs were sketched, pounced, or stenciled onto the surface and then impressed with punches, as seen on 346 Boucher, or later, embossed with carved wooden molds or metal plates. Paints and glazes could then be applied for further effect, followed by additional layers of varnish and sometimes wax.
The craft originated in North Africa and spread throughout Europe, with major centers of production in Spain, Italy, France, and the Netherlands. Production techniques and decorative styles varied by region and period, with earlier designs tending to be flatter, and later examples having greater three-dimensionality. The Boucher binding is an example of the earlier style.
When Nell discovered that no digitized copy of this edition existed, she sent it to the Weissman Preservation Center, where Special Collections Conservator Kelli Piotrowski treated the book for imaging and closely examined its binding.
The textblock was sewn by an experienced binder on three pairs of cords using herringbone stitch and abbreviated sewing. The cover, by contrast, was clearly made by a less practiced hand, but one that showed considerable creativity. The semi-limp structure incorporates multiple layers of paper, including manuscript waste dated 1634 and a printed leaf from Seneca the Younger’s De Brevitate Vitae. Twine was used to stitch the boards together and attach the punched gilt leather covering, which originally had three pairs of fore-edge ties, though only the central pair survives.
The first several gatherings had partially detached, with tears and splits along the folds. Most had been tipped together with a now-desiccated adhesive, while others were held with a straight pin.
To prepare the book for imaging, the textblock was released from two non-original threads that were causing damage. The attachments were documented, the loops untied, and their ends secured with new thread to preserve their association. The tipped-on gatherings were then released, tears repaired, and the conjugate leaves reunited before the gatherings were resewn onto their original supports. Unstable areas of the gilt leather were re-adhered with gelatin, and tears in the fore-edge ties were repaired with toned Japanese tissue. Finally, a large bookplate on the inside front cover and a call number label on the inside back cover were removed with gellan gum, revealing the decoration and manuscript waste beneath.
With the binding stabilized and more of its decoration visible, the next question was where and when the gilt leather had been made. Conservation Technician Bill Hanscom took ultraviolet-induced fluorescence images, while Kelli captured infrared images with the Video Spectral Comparator and documented each style of punchwork with macrographs. These images were shared with Céline Bonnot-Diconne, a leather conservator and proprietor of 2CRC in Paris, whom Anne had consulted about the binding. Céline noted that the cover represents approximately one-quarter of a complete decorative panel and that varnish had been deliberately removed from certain motifs, creating contrast between the gilt and silvered areas, a technique characteristic of seventeenth-century Italian gilt leather.
Interested in learning more about this binding? Nell has added a binding note to the catalog record based on the conservation record, providing a detailed physical description.
Since completing this project, we have learned of several other gilt leather bindings and are planning an editable site on Harvard’s Dataverse where others can share information about bindings they encounter. Have you come across a gilt leather binding in another collection? We’d love to hear about it!
REFERENCES
2CRC - website of leather conservator, Céline Bonnot-Diconne.
Gilt Leather Society- for more information about the history, technique and conservation of gilt leather.
Koldeweij, Eloy. Bookbindings and Folders Made of Gilt Leather. Conservation of leathercraft and related objects: [4th] interim meeting on the treatment of and research into leather, in particular of ethnographic objects [held ] at the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science, Amsterdam, 5-8 April 1995.
Leather Conservation Centre (UK)
Ross, Charlotte E. (2024). The Curious Gilt Leather Binding of MS. Ashmole 46. Bodleian Library Record, 37(1–2), 98–111.