The Vespiary Book Binding & Book Conservation

As you know from a previous post, I listen to a steady diet of podcasts while I work, one of which is Stephen Fry’s podgrams (you may know Mr. Fry from his character in “V for Vendetta”or for “Wilde”). He also happens to be the darling of the BBC and an insatiable bibliophile. I was recently alerted to his marvellous video about the Gutenberg Press that he starred in, where he not only researches the history behind the press, but then commissions several craftsfolk to recreate as much of the process as possible. Do watch!

Out of an original 180 tomes, there are about 48 copies of the bible left in existence (21 of them being considered “perfect”) and a number of them have been digitized. The German Wikipedia has a good list of those available. NPR has an older program about the digitization procedure, performed by a company called Octavo. (If you like to read instead of listen, the NYT has an informative article about Octavo and the process).

Oh and if you’re reading this, Mr. Gentleman Printer, in case you had forgotten about my request for new equipment, here’s a Cyclotron analysis of the Gutenberg inks from a physicist at my alma mater. I hope we can get one for ourselves, too!