The sewing in a Gothic style bookbinding

A model of the sewing in a Gothic style bookbinding. Straight, packed sewing around double cord supports, the sewing of the endbands is separate from the main sewing in this instance. The wooden boards are bevelled slightly on all edges but with a more pronounced curve at the spine edges, accommodating the swell of the sewing and encouraging a slight round to the spine. Holes are drilled and channels filed into the boards, wooden pegs are hammered through the holes where the cords emerge to secure the supports and anchor the boards to the book structure. The excess cords and pegs are cut and sanded flush. The added colour of the paper section edges and the sewing supports is to aid in their photogrammetric imaging. It shows that the packed sewing has a few gaps, but that can be remedied by wrapping thread into the gaps. Created by Mark Furness, Conservator.