'Unclasp a Secret Book': Miniature Bindings Workshop

Directed by Linette Withers

When: Friday 05 July, 10.00-16.00
Where: Parkinson Building: Room B.09
Price: £42.50

Book history has a strong tradition of miniature bindings (those less than 10cm tall) - from miniature books of hours such as the one held in the Lázaro Galdiano Museum, Madrid (1600s); to Ambrosius Lobwasser’s Die Psalme Davids (1659), bound in tortoiseshell; to the tiny books produced by the Brontës as children in the 1820s.

This bookbinding workshop will lead you through the steps of producing your own miniature binding, inspired by late-medieval examples, from preparing the text-block to lacing into the boards, covering, and closures, to produce a roughly 75mm x 100mm miniature notebook for you to take home. Participants can choose to cover their miniature book in velvet or leather, as a complete book or as a cutaway model.

This workshop is suitable for beginners, though some previous crafting experience will be helpful. All tools and materials provided.

Linette Withers completed an MA in Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds before joining the IMC team as Senior Congress Officer. She has been binding books since 2005, and since 2012 she has worked as a professional book binder, producing codices and stationery that are inspired by historical examples. Her work was shortlisted for display at the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford as part of their ‘Redesigning the Medieval Book’ competition and exhibition in 2018. One of her books is also held in the permanent collection of The Lit & Phil in Newcastle after being part of an exhibition of bookbinding in 2021. In addition, she works with private and library repair projects and teaches bookbinding in her studio in Leeds.

This workshop can only accommodate a limited number of participants. Early booking is recommended.