Sacred Texts: Codices Far, Far Away - Episode 11. W.836 binding

Walters Art Museum W.836 Binding

On October 8, 2018, Dr. Brandon Hawk and curator Dot Porter met to talk about these ancient books, and to compare them with manuscripts from the collection of the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts at the University of Pennsylvania. This series is a record of those discussions.

Walters Art Museum W.836: A broken binding
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In this video we compare the bindings of the Jedi texts with that of Walters Art Museum W.836. W.836 is an early 14th century Ethiopian Gospel book from Tǝgray, Northern Ethiopia. The covers of this book are simple wooden boards, but at some point the front cover broke into two pieces, and someone fixed it by sewing the pieces together. Composite bindings - covers made from multiple pieces of hard material attached together - are a notable aspect of the Jedi texts, although it is a very unusual practice on earth.

Images of the “Tree Library” by Seth Engstrom & Rodolfo Damaggio

Mock-ups of four Jedi books by James Carson

Mock-ups for six pages from the Jedi books by Chris Kitisakkul

[davidkelsey]

I have an Ethiopian Codex that has Wooden covers that are carved with thin marble inserts images of angels and it has a leather cover over the spine similar to one of the Jedi examples .

[joshuapray]

I assumed the cover on the Jedi manuscript was three pieces of wood that were hinged together, so they would almost mimic the effect of a paperback cover's arch when opened rather than remaining flat. Being not a conservator myself, I can't speak to whether or not the design would improve longevity by eliminating the danger of cracks, or if the extra hardware required for the hinges would simply produce their own set of problems after many years.


Love this series! Thanks for producing it.