15th Century Ledger Book

Introduction

While most of the books that we see today were of exquisite leather bindings with blind tooling and gorgeous brass fittings, there was another type of book that while not as well decorated as some, were ubiquitous for the average merchant from around the late 12^th century on. (Miller, 2010)

The rise of the merchant class changed society as we know it today in a myriad of ways. Disposable income by more than just the upper classes gave rise to the joy of buying trinkets, baubles, and curios. Rich clothing, exotic spices, and imported wines found their way into numerous homes across Western Europe. All of these items were written down and counted by merchants. Prices were written, costs calculated, and ledgers kept. In fact, some of our greatest research resources are the ledgers from monasteries, keeps, and merchants. (Miller, 2010)

Stationary Bindings, or Ledger Books

Known as Stationary Bindings or Ledger Books, these books were often made of paper or low-quality parchment. Folded in quires similar to other books, the pages were left blank to allow the owner to keep notes, accounting, and other random writings in a single place. Unlike their more expensive kin, these books were bound with limp bindings of parchment or leather. Though occasionally decorated, most of the time they were left plain. (Miller, 2010)

The fact that these ledgers were found throughout Western Europe for hundreds of years, it gives lie to the common misconception that most of Europe was illiterate. Found in monasteries, universities, homes, etc., these books were everywhere. They were quick to bind, easily taken apart in order to add or remove quires for bookkeeping purposes, and were inexpensive.

Materials and Tools

I used the following materials and tools:

• Parchment
• Linen paper
• Waxed linen thread
• 2 oz leather – alum tawed tanned
• 5 oz leather – veg tanned
• PVA glue
• Steel needle
• Awl
• Knife
• Pencil
• Bone folder (bone)

All items were purchased, just as they would have been by a 15^th century bookbinder. I used a steel needle as opposed to an iron needle because it was easily accessible. The leathers used were not tanned in a period manner because the period process was onerous and odorous. Modern tanning practices, however, produce leather that are very similar to extant leathers that have been studied.

The paper is an unbleached linen-cotton blend, which is very similar to papers manufactured in the 15^th century. (Hunter, 1943) The waxed linen thread is in keeping with period thread used, though manufactured in a very modern way. All other tools were modernly made but very similar to the tools used by a bookbinder in 15^th century Europe.

A note about the glue that I used. The PVA glue is a plastic-based glue that is absolutely in no way period except that it has the same effect as wheat paste. However, I felt comfortable using it for the very small amount that was necessary. It was no more than a dab on each of the leather pieces to hold them in place while being sewn on, and it simply wasn’t worth mixing a pot of wheat paste for those dabs.

Construction

These books were simple bindings for the most part, though a decorated cover wasn’t rare. Because the covers could be cut free of the quires and reused for the next year’s accounting, that’s not surprising. As such, I decided to do some fun sewing on the leather support tabs to match the pictures shown in Szirmai and Miller's books but chose not to create an overly decorated cover.

 

To create the decoration on the cover, I drew several diagrams to figure out how to match a picture found in Szirmai. After doing so, I glued the leather pieces in the proper places on the parchment cover, poked holes with my awl, and then sewed the decorative stitching in. I created a flat leather button and sewed it on. I then threaded a bead on the linen thread as a bit of decoration and as a weight to hold the thread around the button when stored.

To create the quires, I folded the linen paper in half, pressed it with the bone folder, tore the fold ¾ of the way across, turned the paper and folded it again. I then pressed this fold with the bone folder and set the quire aside. When I had three quires created like this, I put them together into a single quire. While most books in Europe only had eight pages to a quire (four pages, front and back), it was common for ledger books to have more pages in each quire to save time in the making of them.

The quires were sewn around the alum-tawed leather thongs with the waxed linen using the steel needle. I didn’t use a sewing frame as it wasn’t necessary for a book this size. Once the quires were gathered into the book block, I added the additional threads to tie the parchment cover to the spine.

Once the book block was complete, I threaded the linen through the holes on the spine of the parchment cover, twisted the linen together into a knot, then clipped the ends tight.

Conclusion

I really love these books. I think it’s a lovely reminder that our ancestors weren’t really all that different from us. They were educated, capable, and meticulous people. The book, while seemingly simplistic, required a good bit of ingenuity to figure out how to create the decoration and attach the parchment to the book block.

When I make my next one, I think that I will use a thicker linen thread to tie the parchment to the book block and was it heavily prior to tying the knots on the spine. I also think that I would make the leather pieces a bit bigger in order to see the decorative stitching a little easier. But overall, I enjoyed the process and like the result. It could easily be set on a desk in a 15^th century bookbinders office and pass for one of his own making. 

Bibliography

Hunter, D. (1943). Papermaking: The History and Tachnique of an Ancient Craft (1978 ed.). New York, NY: Dover Publishing, Inc.

Miller, J. (2010). Books Will Speak Plain: A Handbook for Identifying and Describing Historical Bindings (2014 ed.). Ann Arbor, MI: The Legacy Press.

Szirmai, J. (1999). The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding (2011 ed.). Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company.

8th-century Carolingian book for Duchess Miranda

A little while ago, a friend approached me to make a book as a gift for an award that Duchess Miranda received at An Tir Coronation. Duchess Miranda has an early-period persona, so I looked toward the Carolingian period. Since I had just taught a class on this at An Tir/West War, I felt pretty comfortable with the process and knew what I was getting into, so I said yes. This is how I made the book.

Materials:

• 1/2" wooden boards, 5.5" x 3.5"
• 1/4" twine, 1 yard
• White 18/2 linen thread, waxed
• Linen paper, 8.5" x 11.5", x 21
• 2-ounce veg tanned leather, 12" x 8" + 2 2" x 3" pieces
• O-ring, 1/4" diameter
• Finishing nail, 1"
• Furniture brads, 1/2" diameter, x 10
• PVA glue

Tools:

• Sewing needle
• Bone folder
• Utility knife
• 12" ruler
• Cutting board
• Drill, 1/4" drill bit
• Fine-toothed saw
• Awl
• Book press (or two boards with two clamps)

Folding Pages

To make the book block, fold the paper in half to match the short ends. Using the bone folder, press the seam as tightly as you can. Then gently tear at the seam a little more than half way across. Fold the paper again to match the new short ends. Press the seam with the bone folder tightly. Do this again with all 21 sheets of paper to make your book block.

Book Boards

The book boards need to be prepped for a Carolingian before you sew the book block. To do this, you'll need to lightly sand the boards to get rid of any splinters or burs, but don't stress over making the boards glass-smooth. They'll be covered with leather, anyway, so it doesn't matter.

A Carolingian book has several methods of being put together. The one that I chose has two sewing stations because it's a fairly small book. I drilled through from the spine-edge to the inside cover of the book at the two sewing stations and at the top of bottom of each board for the endbands. 

Sewing station and endband holes drilled in from the spine-edge. These are drilled at an angle toward the inside of the cover boards.

After I've drilled the spine-edge holes, I drilled two additional holes at each sewing station hole. These holes go straight through. I also drilled one hole at each endband station, again straight through from inside to outside.

Outside cover of boards after all holes are drilled. 

Inside cover of boards after all holes are drilled.

 At this point, I had to carve out space between the drilled holes for the twine to rest in. The goal is for the channels to be deep enough for the twine to rest in without overflowing or having too much room.

The channels between the holes. The board on top is the outside of the board. The one on the bottom is the inside of the board.

Book Block

Now we get to prep the book block. This entails organizing the pages, trimming them to the size of the boards, cutting out the sewing station holes, and sewing the pages to the twine.

Two trim the pages to the size of the book boards, you'll need a book press. Alternatively, you can use two boards with two clamps, which is what I did for this book. Organize the book as follows: press board, book board, book block with spine folds up, book board, and press board. The back book board should be about an inch higher than the back press board. The front book board and book block should be exactly even with the front press board. This will give you something hard to cut against while you're trimming the book block.

You can use a utility knife laid flat on the front press board, but I usually use a flat razor blade. It's a little harder to hold onto, but it's easier to keep it flat against the board, and that bit is imperative. The goal is to shave the pages down to the same size as the boards as evenly as possible, but to do this well, you're going to need to go slowly and smoothly, cutting the pages piece by piece.

Pages being trimmed in the book press.

 Once the pages are trimmed, I marked and cut the book block's spine in order to create the sewing stations. To do this, I put the book block between the book boards and lined up a ruler between the holes drilled in the boards. I then drew a line straight across the book block at the sewing stations. I also drew another line in the middle between the edge of the book block and the sewing stations. This is where I finished the sewing and also where the endbands are sewn to.

The sewing stations and outside sewing places are marked on the book block.

 At this point, the book block goes back into the book press; this time without the boards. I lined the book block up so that half a centimeter popped up above the press boards, then tightened the boards very, very tightly. Then I took a very fine-toothed saw and drew it across the four lines that I'd drawn until I'd cut down to the board press.

Cutting out the sewing stations.

 Take the book block out of the press and make a small check mark in the upper right corner of each quire. Trust me, you'll want this, because at some point one of the quires will get turned around, dropped, or in some other way out of sync. When this happens, if you sew it in incorrectly, that one quire will stick out oddly, disrupting your otherwise beautiful work and driving you crazy. Do the check marks. It's worth it.

Make the check marks. I know they seem silly, but trust me on this.

So, I didn't take any pictures of the sewing here. It's a similar type of sewing that you'll find on YouTube far better than anything I can show you, and honestly, it's really hard to take pictures while you're sewing. I wrapped the twine cords in a figure 8, going around once per hole, and closed each quire off with chain stitches at either end.

Sewing Book Block

Before you sew the book block, however, you need to thread the twine cords through the bottom book board.  To do this, cut the twine into three 1-foot lengths, Wax one end of one length of the twine, and thread it through one of the sewing station holes in the spine, to the right hole, straight through, over to the left hole, and straight back up. Then feed the twine back through the original hole and out. Even the twine so that the ends match up and tighten it against the board. Do the same with the second sewing station.

The twine threaded through holes on the outside of the board.

The twine threaded through the holes on the outside of the board.

 You can use a sewing frame to sew these books, but we have no proof that sewing frames were used this early in bookbinding. The earliest that I've seen is from the late-11th century, and this book is based off an 8th-century book. Plus, that's one more tool that you'd have to buy/get/make, and you don't really need it. Just lay the bottom book board on the table with the cords in front. Lay the first quire down on the book board, and flip the cords up as you use them. This will help keep them out of your way but still allow you to tighten the sewing as you go.

Book block sewn to the bottom book board.

The outside of the bottom book board.

The sewn book block from the inside of the book board.

Sand-Packed Leather Bottle

I've had a number of people ask me how to make the sand-packed leather bottles, so I thought I'd throw a tutorial up for you all to see how I make them. I made a tiny little leather bottle for CosPlay that uses all of the same techniques as its larger counterpart.

Just so we're clear, I do not claim to be a leather expert, nor do I claim that this is the *only* or the *best* way to make a sand-packed leather bottle. This is the way that *I* make them. They hold water, and they look much better than a plastic water bottle at events. If you come up with a better method or some suggestions, please feel free to put them in the comments for others to learn from.

Materials that I use

Materials

• 5-6 ounce leather
• Waxed linen thread or sinew
• Utility knife
• Large-eye, blunt needles
• Paper
• Pen
• Awl
• Scissors
• Diamond stitching chisel (I used a two-prong and a six prong chisel)
• Cutting mat
• Small bowl of water
• Sponge or paper towel
• Block of wood
• Wooden or rawhide mallet
• Beeswax
• Small-rock sand
• 3/8" dowel rod

A note about the materials: You can use heavier or lighter leather, but there are pluses and minuses to both. Lighter leather will tear more easily when sewing and when packing, but will also give you a bit more definition and will be lighter when full of water. Heavier leather will be heavier to carry, harder to sew, and will probably require more wax. It will be sturdier, however, and more resistant to damage and wear and tear. I've found that the 5-6 ounce leather is about the perfect weight, as it is easier to sew, lighter to carry, and still holds up well for use. 

The diamond stitching chisels are a godsend, and are relatively cheap, so far as tools go. They keep your holes evenly space, and the diamond shape makes it far easier to sew than a simple round hole made by awls. If you don't have these, make sure that you have a pair of pliers on hand to pull your needle through the holes, and a slew of extra needles, as you'll end up breaking the eyes on those often.

Process

Make Pattern

Take your paper and pen and draw out the pattern of the bottle that you want. When you do this, there are a couple of things to keep in mind: 1) Your bottle must have smooth sides and no sharp turns, or you won't be able to get the sand into the spaces to puff them out; 2) You're going to be sewing this bottle, and the more weirdness you create now, the harder it will be on you later; 3) Make sure that the mouth of the bottle is neither too large nor too small.

I chose a simple teardrop design for my little bottle, with added "handles" to tie it to a belt. I folded my paper in half, and drew only half of the bottle shape. Then, I cut the shape out and unfolded the paper. This gave me an even shape that matched on both sides.

  

I then laid the paper pattern down on the leather and with my awl, traced it out twice. I didn't wet the leather at all, though you could. In this case, I didn't find it necessary. 

 

Now, I had two pieces of the same size and shape. Yay! Now you're ready to mark your design and make your holes.

Design and Holes

For my little bottle, I used my awl and drew a star shape on one side and a stylized M on the other. To do this, I soaked a paper towel with water and damped the leather faces evenly and thoroughly. I didn't want the leather to be drenched, but I did want it wet enough to easily take the designs. Make sure that you dampen the whole face, even if you're only going to put the design in one small area. Every time the leather gets wet, it discolors the leather slightly. To avoid weird water-marks, wet the whole thing.

Bottle design after the holes were already put in

I also marked the front and back up a bit with my awl because I wanted the bottle to seem worn and battered for the CosPlay it's going to be used for.

Sofya, my friend and instructor on all things leather, had this amazing tool that she used that she would run along the edges of the pieces. It cut a groove at exactly the same distance all the way around, while giving the thread a place to settle into so it didn't stick out above the leather surface. I, however, don't have one of those. So, instead, I took my awl and carefully drew a line all around the edge of the bottle, trying to keep it the same distance from the edge all the way around. (The distance being about 1mm.) It wasn't perfect, but it gave me a visual for where to use the chisel, and created a slight dip for the thread to go into.

The grooves drawn into the pieces

Then I took the chisel out and started making holes. I should note that the leather was still a little wet when I started, and this caused the chisel to stretch and distort the holes a little bit when I pulled it out. As the leather dried, it because much easier to punch the holes.

On one side at a time, place the chisel at the top of the bottle, near the lip of the mouth. Pound the chisel through the leather onto the board with a rawhide or wooden mallet. Remove the chisel, and place one of the tongs in the last hole made, lining the rest down the length of the aw-drawn edge lines. Pound those holes in, then repeat all the way around. By putting one of the tongs in the last hole you made, you maintain the same distance between the sewing holes.

Pounding the chisel into the bottle

Tools used to make the holes

You can see that I probably should have used the two-prong chisel around the bottom curves to make it less straight, but for this bottle, I wanted it to have a rustic, unprofessional look, so I didn't worry too much about it. Use the tools you need to make the bottle what you want, even if what you want is ungainly and ugly. :)

While you're going around, do your best to make sure you're creating the same number of holes on both sides of the bottle. On this little bottle, that was easy. I just counted how many times I used the six-prong chisel, and made sure they matched up. On larger bottles, it's a bit more difficult, but the six-prong chisel is incredibly helpful with that. It spaces everything out evenly, and if you've cut your patterns out to match, it should all match up well when you sew. If not, there are methods to fix "odd" holes.

Sewing

Here's where things get a bit tricky. When you're sewing these bottles, the objective is to minimize leakage. When done correctly, there should be zero leakage. The best method to do this is by sewing the bottle with a stitch called a "saddle stitch". Because there are far better tutorials on YouTube and a variety of different websites than I'm likely to make, I didn't bother getting into the nitty-gritty of that particular stitch here. (I really like the Instructables step-by-step, found here: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-saddle-stitch-leather/?ALLSTEPS. As I said, though, there are a lot of options. Look around until you find one that makes sense to you.)

The interesting thing with these bottles is that you can't just start at the top hole. If you do that, the very top of the bottle (the lip of the mouth) will split open. So you have to wrap around the top edge first, and then follow the holes down and around the edge of the bottle. 

You can see how I went around the top edge and then down the length of the bottle. I sewed the "handlles" after the whole bottle was sewn together, though I could have done it at the same time by just going back down the same holes next to the handles.

Here is the bottle completely sewn together. I also trimmed up the straight edges toward the bottom of the bottle.

If you find that you're got an "odd" hole as you go around, what I normally do is double-up the sewing on the side with fewer holes to make sure that there are no gaps. What I mean by that is I will take the needle on the side with the extra hole through the extra hole and out on the other side through a hole that has already been used. Then I'll take the other needle back through the same spaces. Take that same needle up to the next empty hole, and pass it through to the next empty hole on the other side. That way you're not leaving any empty spaces which might create leakage later.

I'm not sure if that makes sense or not. I'll draw a diagram later and put it up.

Packing the Bottle

The type of bottle that we're making requires that the bottle be soaking wet before we put the sand into it to form and shape it. Because my bottle was so small, I just stuck it in a bowl of water and let it sit for a while. For larger bottles, the easiest way to soak the bottle is to open the mouth under the faucet and let it run for a while, making sure that the whole thing is getting wet. This isn't a time to be light-handed with the water. You want the leather saturated through.

Once it's water-logged, grab your funnel, your sand, and a 3/8" piece of dowel rod. Put the funnel into the mouth of the bottle, and pour sand in until it won't hold anymore. Take the dowel rod and ram the sand in hard, packing it as tightly as you can. Take care not to rub the leather when you do this, as it might distort the leather into lines or ridges. You want the sand to shape the bottle, not the dowel rod. Pack as much sand into the bottle as it can possibly take, making sure to stamp it down throughout the length and depth of the bottle. Once the sand is all the way to the top, tamp it down tightly into the neck of the bottle so that it is round and open.

In this case, the funnel is larger than the mouth of the bottle.
I had to carefully hold them together to get the lentils in. Plus, since
the bottle was so small, I could only put about six lentils into it at a
time before I had to tamp it in with the end of my awl.

Whatever shape your bottle is in right now is the shape that it will be when it's finished. Make sure that it's what you want. Then set the bottle aside to dry completely. Depending on the humidity, it can take anywhere from 24-48 hours for it to dry totally.

On my little bottle, I used lentils because they were handy, and I only had a few on hand anyway. (Who's going to eat just a 1/4 cup of lentils, really?) The issue with lentils is that they can, and often do, get stuck inside the bottles when they dry on the leather. You can remove them by putting a couple of screws into the bottle and shaking it vigorously. You'll probably have to do it a few times, especially if your bottle has squared-off edges anywhere. This is why sand is a lot more popular than lentils.

Waxing and Sealing

Once the bottle is completely dry, pour all of the sand out. To make sure you get all of it out, drop a couple of small screws into the bottle and shake it vigorously, then pour it all out. Do this several times until the only thing that comes out are the screws.

Now you want to heat up your beeswax. It seems easiest to heat the wax in a double boiler system with a metal can sitting in a water bath on a fire. I have mine in a small cauldron that it stays in most of the time. Use what you have that won't scorch the wax.

My wax in my cauldron. Not the best way to heat wax, it seems.
It got too hot and overheated the bottle a little bit.

Set it on to heat, and once the wax is completely melted, you're ready to go. Using a funnel that will now be dedicated to waxing things, put it into the mouth of the bottle. Pour some wax into the bottle and swish it around, paying close attention to the seams. Pour out the excess, and then do it again. You're going to keep doing this until you can see the wax permeating the leather, and that takes a while. Just keep pouring the wax in, letting it rest in the bottle for a few seconds, then pouring it out. Again, you want to pay closest attention to the seams, but you also want the whole bottle to be saturated through. Don't worry about build up. Each time you pour the hot wax into the bottle, it melts away the build up inside, and reheats the leather, making it easier to permeate it.

 

Once the entire bottle has changed color, you're done! Pour any excess out, and hang the bottle to cool and harden. When it's completely cooled, pour some water into it to determine how water-tight it is. If there are any leaks, heat your wax up again, and redo the waxing process, allowing the wax to settle mostly where the leaks are. Keep doing that process until there are no more leaks.

 


Because the cauldron overheated the wax, the leather started to wilt a bit. You can see that in the middle picture above. I put the dowel into the neck to maintain the shape while it cooled and dried. It's still slightly off-kilter, but that actually works for this bottle, since I was going for that rustic look. If you want your bottle to maintain the shape that it has while the sand is in it, though, be very careful not to overheat the wax. A double-boiler will help a lot with that.

Now, it's time to buff the heck out of the bottle. Take a clean, white linen cloth and buff it until it shines. You're getting rid of any excess wax in the bottle, and giving the bottle a beautiful glean. Once that's done, you're good to go! 

 

And so you can see what an intentionally pretty bottle looks like, here's the one that I made for my husband for events.

 


That's it. Not too terribly hard, is it? I'd love to see what you create. Please feel free to comment with pictures, suggestions, or just to say hi. :)

DISCLAIMER: Some time ago, my friend, Her Ladyship Sofya Chyudskaya Smolyanina (modernly known as Anne McKinney), took a class at Gulf Wars on how to make a wax-hardened leather bottle. She had also, in the past, taken a class on making a leather cup, and has made a variety of leather accouterments for her garb. Needless to say, she's my leather maven. Almost everything that I learned regarding these types of bottles came from her, or trial and error (mostly error).

If you like how your bottle turns out, you should thank Sofya. If I do something wrong in the teaching, the assumption should be that I misremembered what she taught me, or just plain screwed up.

DISCLAIMER 2: I have yet to find any documentable evidence that bottles like this were period to the SCA. The only thing that I've seen are ceramic bottles made to resemble these types of bottles, and molded bottles that have a similar shape. If anyone has evidence to support these things being used prior to 1600, please share your links in the comments. I would absolutely love to see some. Until it happens, however, please assume that these bottles are period-esque for SCA purposes, rather than a true representation of historical items.