RBMS Controlled Vocabularies: Binding Terms

. SN: Bindings dyed by means of Kermes (a red dyestuff obtained
. from a Mediterranean scale insect). Kermes was largely
. supplanted by cochineal as a dyestuff after the latter's introduction into Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.

. Lacquered bindings

. SN: Bindings with scenes on their covers which are first
. painted and then covered with lacquer. Primarily 16th
. century; the painted scenes can be on leather or pasteboard.

. Leather bindings

.. Calf bindings

... Marbled calf bindings

.... Tree calf bindings

... Mottled calf bindings

... Sprinkled calf bindings

... Stained calf bindings

... SN: Use for leather stained in ways other than by marbling,
... mottling, or sprinkling. This includes staining by means
... of blocking, stencilling, or free-hand design.

.. Cuir-ciselé bindings

.. CM: Cuir-ciselé or cut leather is a self-explanatory decorative
.. technique: the leather is given patterns inscribed by a
.. knife or other sharp tool."--Needham

.. Deerskin bindings

.. HN: Term added 2/97.

.. Diced leather bindings

.. Goatskin bindings

... Morocco bindings

.. Kangaroo leather bindings

.. HN: Term added 2/97.

.. Molded leather bindings

.. Ostrich leather bindings

.. HN: Term added 2/97.

.. Pigskin bindings

.. Relievo bindings

.. HN: Term added 01/01.

.. SN: Use for bindings of deeply embossed leather executed in
.. Leake's patent relievo process (1846-1850s).

.. Reversed leather bindings

.. Russia leather bindings

.. Sealskin bindings

.. HN: Term added 6/02.

.. Shagreen bindings

.. Sheepskin bindings

... Lambskin bindings

... Marbled sheepskin bindings

... HN: Proposed by Rose-Ann Movsovic; term approved 1/2006

... SN: Use for sheepsking bindings whose surface has been treated
... with acid to produce a marbled effect.

... Roan bindings

... Tree sheep bindings

... CM: In case of doubt use Tree calf bindings.

. Maril

. Onlays

.. Paper onlays

.. HN: Approved 6/2008.

.. SN: Use for decorative pieces of paper adhered to the cover
.. material of a binding, frequently color-printed and
.. employed in the decoration of publishers' cloth bindings

. Painted bindings

.. Painted leather bindings

.. Vellucent bindings

. Paper bindings

.. Corrugated board bindings

.. HN: Rem added 7/00.

.. SN: Use for bindings made of corrugated board.

. Papier-mâché bindings

. Pictorial cloth bindings

. Printed boards

. Quarter bindings

. Stamped or tooled bindings

. SN: Gathering term; do not use; index under a narrower term.

.. Blind tooled bindings

.. Blocked bindings

.. HN: Scope note added 6/2007; disambiguated from
.. "panel-stamped bindings" based on literary warrant.

.. SN: Use for cloth or leather bindings, originally appearing in
.. the 1820s, with blind, gilt, or color designs made from the
.. impression of relief blocks.

... Gold blocked bindings

... SN: Bindings with a design impressed by a block through gold.

.. Gold tooled bindings

.. CM: Gold tooling--the bonding of gold leaf to leather by means
.. of heated stamps."--Needham

.. Panel-stamped bindings

.. HN: Approved 6/2007. Disambiguated from "blocked bindings"
.. based on literary warant.

.. SN: Use for leather bindings with designs in relief from the
.. impression of intaglio dies, produced predominantly in the
.. 15th and 16th centuries.

.. Pinhead style bindings

.. Platinum tooled bindings

.. Pointillé tooling

.. Punch-dotting

.. CM: A type of decoration of Islamic origin in which small
.. punched depressions in the leather are filled with a kind
.. of colored gesso." -- Needham

.. Semé

.. Silver tooled bindings

.. Types of tools

.. SN: Gathering term; do not use; index under a narrower term.

... Fillet tools

... Geometric tools

... Gouge tools

... Hatched tools

... Medallion tools

... Open tools

... Pallet tools

... Plaquette stamps

... Solid tools

... Vegetal tools

... Zoomorphic tools

. Three-quarter bindings

. Tortoise shell bindings

. Tracery

. CM: Cutout leatherwork, or tracery, was never a common
. technique in European bookbinding, but examples are known
. from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ... Several of
. the earliest European gold-tooled bookbindings, from both
. Venice and Naples, have leather tracery decoration, which
. was brought out, as in the Islamic archetypes, by being
. laid over a bright azure ground." -- Needham.

. Treasure bindings

. CM: Covered with gold and silver, ivories, enamelwork, and
. gems." -- Needham.

.. Enamel bindings

.. Ivory bindings

.. Jewelled bindings

.. Silver bindings

. Unlettered bindings

. HN: Approved 6/2005.

. SN: Use for bindings with no title or author’s name on the
. spine or cover.

. Vellum bindings

.. Stained vellum bindings

. Visible structure

. CM: Originally proposed to include bindings whose elements have
. become visible through wear; BSC edited scope to reflect
. only bindings whose elements were designed to be visible.

. HN: Candidate term, 1/2006

. Waste

.. Manuscript waste

.. Printed waste

. Wooden bindings

.. Mauchline ware bindings

.. CM:

.. HN: Submitted by: Jennie Clements, UNC Chapel Hill, 9/9/11;
.. added 6/26/2012.

.. SN: Use for novelty bindings decorated using a technique that
.. originated in the 1830s in the Scottish town of Mauchline,
.. in which wooden boards are decorated with stenciling,
.. transfer prints, photographs, etc., then heavily varnished.

Send comments to Ryan Hildebrand, Controlled Vocabularies editor.