Frets (bookbinding)
Bünde is a technical term for the cords or ribbons that run across a book spine and serve both to connect the layers and to attach the book block to the book cover . A distinction is made between the real frets, which are raised under the cover material, and the sawn-in frets that are let into the book block and make the spine appear smooth after covering. There are also false frets or dummy frets. However, these are not structural elements of the book cover , but a mere decoration of the book spine. For this purpose, correspondingly cut narrow cardboard strips or pieces of string are glued onto the back insert before covering . The frets also include the so-called Fitzbünde , which, however, are not very bulky and therefore, except in the case of damage to a book, just like the sawn-in frets, are not visible.
history
The binding on frets, attested since around 600 AD, was the characteristic binding method of the West . Since it is inevitably linked to the manual production and the process of the attached volume, it became increasingly rare after the introduction of the industrial cover tape and is now only used for bibliophile books and library bindings.
Materials used and stapling techniques
While hemp cord was mainly used for the frets until the Carolingian era , easy-to-use parchment strips were preferred in the 12th and 13th centuries , around which the stitching thread was often simply passed over. This early technique lasted until the 15th century, but other possibilities were also used in parallel. Stitching was an alternative, a variant in which the thread was guided once around the waistband between the cut-out and the cut-in from the layer.
The most common form of waistband in the Middle Ages , however, was the suede waistband , which was mostly split across the width of the book block and looped around twice by the stitching thread, creating a double waistband. Often, one end of the strip was passed through the resulting slot so often before binding that the two halves rolled up, which gave the waistband additional strength. In addition, a double collar could also consist of two independent strips of material.
Around 1500 suede disappeared as a material and made room for the previously popular hemp cord. This, too, was often worked as a double waistband, but the sewing thread was led out between the cords, wrapped around them one after the other and led back through the puncture hole into the position. In the 18th century, sawn-in frets increasingly appeared, the diameter of which was also significantly smaller than that of the raised frets. With machine stitching (on staples or gauze with thread) since the late 19th century, this type of bundle largely disappeared from practice. Hemp frets are still sometimes used in manual binding. As a rule, however, tapes, such as. B. Linen or twill tapes are preferred, because books bound in this way are often easier to open and better correspond to more modern stapling methods.
Number of frets
In the case of the medieval binding, three real double frets were common, but the more precious the book became, the more frequent it became. Depending on the format , the number could vary between two and seven. Later, from the 16th century, one often faked a higher number with false frets, but actually only attached a few real ones.
Connection with the book covers
"Attaching" or "tying up" the lids to the frets differed depending on the material, place and time and also the type of binding itself. In the case of Carolingian bindings, for example, which often had very solid walnut wood covers, the frets were passed through holes pointing forward at an angle to the outside of the cover, where they were guided into sawn-in channels, from where they were guided back through further holes and wedged there with small pieces of wood were. In late Romanesque and Gothic bindings, on the other hand, the frets were usually only inserted laterally into the inside of the cover and immediately wedged. A little later, it was decided to first lead the frets past the lid edges to the outside and from there, through the lid, back to the inside. However, many workshops also developed their own deviating methods, so that binding research relies on extensive comparative material for the allocation of individual bindings.
The emergence of cardboard lids towards the end of the 15th century fundamentally changed the attachment technique. The now mostly simple hemp frets were mostly pulled through the lids several times and linked in themselves. An English technique of the 18th century, pulling through twice without linking, led to a lower sharpness of the folds, since the bundle was usually easily pulled out of its guide and made the book look uncleanly bound.
literature
- Hellmuth Helwig: Handbook of the binding customer. Volume 1: The development of cover decoration, its purpose, evaluation and literature. Preserving and cataloging. The single-tape hobby over the centuries. Maximilian Society, Hamburg 1953, pp. 22 and 25f.
- Thorvald Henningsen: The manual for the bookbinder. 2nd edition. Rudolf Hostettlerverlag et al., St. Gallen et al. 1969, p. 102f.
- Otto Mazal : Binding customer. The history of the book cover (= elements of the book and library system 16). Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden 1997, ISBN 3-88226-888-3 , p. 14f.