Rare 17th century deerskin binding Of all the different types of leathers used to bind books after the medieval period, deerskin is one of the most uncommon. Deerskin is quite often found on medieval books, as well as…
In 1616 Ben Jonson gathered a collection of poems, plays and other works that would be published as a collected volume of Works. Jonson worked very closely with the press to execute a uniform work in style and format.…
An unrecorded James Scott of Edinburgh binding A recently catalogued volume of three of Robert Colvill’s (d. 1788) poems stood out from the tedium of commercial 18th century bindings found in the last portion of the…
Robert Tullis (1775-1831) moved to Cupar in 1797 and founded the company of R. Tullis & Company, initially as a bookshop and bindery. In 1803 he acquired a printing press and established the Tullis Press which…
Another early St Andrews binding, with manuscript fragments from St Andrews Cathedral Priory St Andrews’ copy of Franz Lambert’s “Exegeseos Francisci Lamberti Avenionensis, in sanctam diui Ioannis Apocalypsim, libri…
Original post from 29 June 2011 We were contacted by members of the Scottish media shortly following an early post on this blog on a set of heraldic playing cards printed in Edinburgh in 1691. This post, and its…
18th century fine Scottish binding with beautiful Dutch gilt papers I have recently been working through some late 18th century Edinburgh imprints, mostly bound in standard commercial calf bindings, so when TypBE.D62BB…
The new Highlight section has been created to feature our lesser-mentioned treasures and our most important recent acquisitions. Each post will be written by members of the Department of Special Collections staff,…
Two of the earliest St Andrews bindings: The St. Leonard’s Chained Bible and a 1501 copy of Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples’ commentary on Aristotle This week’s Fantastic Binding is, again, a double bill; only this time we…
This week’s posts are both focused on the historical collections of St. Andrews, look for the new bindings post on Friday! Many of the books in the Special Collections department have been in the University’s…