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9:16pm March 4, 2015

dduane:

erikkwakkel:

Books with feet

Book with feet: not possible. It did occur back in the day, I can assure you, although not that often. When medieval binders knew that the object they were processing would be placed on a lectern, for example in a chained library, they often added tiny feet like the ones seen here. They made sure that the lower edge of the binding and the bottom part of the pages would not be damaged by the rough wood of the lectern - notice the shiny bottom of the feet. It was a simple trick to extend the half-life of the book, although it looks kind of funny from our modern perspective.  

Pics (my own): Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, BUR Q 1, c. 1100 (pics 1-2) and BPL 67, 9th century (pic 3). More about these feet in this blog I wrote recently.

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