Bookbindings in the British Library

The original tooled red goatskin binding of the 7th century St Cuthbert Gospel is the earliest surviving Western binding

The British Library contains a wide range of fine and historic bookbindings; however, books in the Library are organised primarily by subject rather than by binding so the Library has produced a guide to enable researchers to identity bindings of interest.^[1] The collection includes the oldest intact Western bookbinding, the leather binding of the 7th century St Cuthbert Gospel.

Some gifts by, or purchases from, collectors of bindings are registered and kept together.^[2] A small number of bindings are always displayed in the Ritblat Gallery at the St Pancras site in London, and others can be examined in the reading rooms. There is also a display of the stamps and tools used for the books of George III near the entrance to the Conservation Centre.

See also

• John Jaffray (bookbinder)

References

Further reading

• Marks, P.J.M. (2011) Beautiful bookbindings: a thousand years of the bookbinder's art. London: British Library. ISBN 978-0-7123-5823-1
• Marks, P.J.M. (1998) The British Library guide to bookbinding: history and techniques. London: British Library. ISBN 978-0-7123-4582-8

External links

• British Library Binding Index

British Library
Named collections	Ephemera Ettridge Collection Evanion Collection Francis Place Collection Jaffray Collection National Reports Collection Literature Ashley Library Cotton Library Dexter Collection Durrell Collection Eccles Collection Ediciones Vigía Garrick Collection Hannas Collection Harold Pinter Archive King's Library Leyden Medical Dissertations Paston Letters Thomason Collection Todd-Bowden Collection of Tauchnitz Editions Manuscripts Arundel Manuscripts Coptic Language Collection Cotton Collection Egerton Collection Harleian Collection Royal manuscripts King's manuscripts Lansdowne manuscripts Stowe manuscripts Syriac Collection Stefan Zweig Collection Maps Beudeker Collection Newspapers Burney Collection Philatelic Bailey Collection Blackburn Collection Bojanowicz Collection Booth Papers Burnett Collection Campbell-Johnston Collection Chismon Collection Chinchen Collection Contributions Agency Collection Crawford Library Crown Agents Archive Crown Agents Collection Davies Collection Ewen Collection Feldheim Collection Fitzgerald Collection Fletcher Collection Foreign & Commonwealth Office Foreign Office Collection General Collection Ginger Collection H.M. Customs and Excise Collection H.M. Stationery Office Collection Harrison Collection Harrison & Sons Collection Hasluck Collection Heys Collection Imperial War Museum stamp collection Inland Revenue Stamping Archive Johnson Collection Kaluski Collection Kay Collection Langmead Collection Landmark Trust Lundy Archive McInroy Collection Model Collection Monks Collection Mosely Collection Muraleetharan Papers Murray Collection Photograph Collection Postal Authority Publicity Collection R.P.S.L. Handouts Collection Row Collection Ryan Collection Seymour Collection Scott Collection Shelley Collection Sherborn Collection Smith Collection Supplementary Collection Tapling Collection Treasury Excise Correspondence Turner Collection of Forgeries Turner Collection of Newspaper Tax Stamps Turner Collection of Railway Letter Stamps U.P.U. Collection Walker Collection Williams Papers Wilson-Todd Collection Sound British Library Sound Archive Oral History of British Science St Mary-le-Bow Debates
Other	Bookbindings British Library Sounds Employees Friends British Museum Reading Room National Preservation Office
Category Commons Portal