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Welcome to the Multilingual Bookbinding and Conservation Dictionary, a project created by Suzy Morgan, a conservator at ASU Library, and Peter Verheyen, creator of the Book Arts Web and the BOOK_ARTS-L listserv. It is an international dictionary of bookbinding and conservation terms, free of use to anyone.
The dictionary is currently undergoing some major back-end updates, which may cause it to go down frequently during this period, or show strange errors on pages. But, it's totally going to be worth it, once these updates are complete! Thanks for your patience!
-Suzy
The goal of this project is to combine, in one place, all the known bookbinding and book conservation terminology, in as many languages as possible. We are also including both current and archaic terms, to make the dictionary useful for both practicing conservators and bookbinders, as well as book history scholars. There are already a variety of multilingual dictionaries in existence, but none so comprehensive as what we envision for this project. In essence, we have taken every available multilingual dictionary of bookbinding, conservation or library words, and combined them.
We are not seeking to define these terms, but rather provide a simple tool for translating words that can be used together with other tools such as Google Translate. There a variety of bookbinding dictionaries available that already have rich definitions of these terms - definitions are provided only when similar-sounding terms need to be clarified, or at the whim of the editor.
You may notice that some words have different translations (or no translation at all!) according to different dictionaries, which is where we need your help! We are very interested in finding collaborators to help us fill in the gaps in those languages other than English and German, and cross-check existing words in those languages for accuracy.
If you'd like to become a wiki editor and participate in the project, please send an email to: Suzy (at) gmail (dot) com and include your desired user name in the email. If you don't want to be an editor, but still have suggestions for corrections, a compliment, or want new words to be added, please send Suzy an email!
Contents
Outline of dictionary
- Bindings
- Bindings by condition of production
- Bindings by external presentation (Including:: Derome style,Fanfare style,Lyonnaise style,Ève style,All-over style)
- Bookbinder's machines (Including:: Adhesive binding machine,Rounding and backing machine)
- Bookbinding machines (Including:: Adhesive binding machine,Rounding and backing machine,Book trimming machine)
- Components
- Cutting and trimming techniques
- Decorated paper
- Decorating techniques (Including:: Blind blocking,Edge decoration,Gilding,Marbling)
- Decoration (features)
- Features
- Finishing techniques
- Forwarding techniques (Including:: Beating,Stitching,Forwarding,Paring,Covering,Rounding,Sewing,Backing)
- Industrial bookbinding
- Knives and cutting implements (Including:: Board knife,Guillotine cutter,Paring knife,Bench knife)
- Leather (Including:: Skiver,Aniline leather,Nappa leather,Spanish leather)
- Materials
- Materials by function
- Materials by origin
- Objects
- Paper
- Paper by manufacture
- Regional styles and terms (Including:: Styles and terms of Italian origin,Styles and terms of French origin)
- Sewing techniques (Including:: Oversewing,Hand sewing,Tape sewing,Flexible sewing,Machine sewing,Herringbone sewing,Recessed-cord sewing,Sewing,Two on,All along (sewing))
- Styles and terms of French origin (Including:: Diapered,Doublure,Lyonnaise style)
- Styles and terms of Italian origin (Including:: Aldine style)
- Techniques (Including:: Forwarding,Finishing,Printing processes,Decorating techniques,Forming techniques)
- Tools and equipment (Including:: Tooling stove,Gilding press,Felt,Sewing key,Adhesive binding machine,Blocking press,Backing press,Finishing tools,Guillotine cutter,Paper cutter,Paring knife,Rounding and backing machine,Sewing frame,Press,Three-knife trimmer,Folder,Bandstick,Beating stones,Bookbinder's machines)
Gallery
What is included
The initial backbone of this project began with matching up the terms from from Etherington and Roberts' "Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books" with non-English entries in other bookbinding, library, or archives focused dictionaries. This website also contains information from The Language of Bindings Thesaurus, which is made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License.
Other terms have also been added from various other dictionaries. A full list of the references used on this website is also provided.
A special section of profiles of bookbinders was also added in 2020.
What is not included
Translations and full descriptions of colors, pigments, or chemicals or other common materials can be found elsewhere on CAMEO: Conservation & Art Materials Encyclopedia Online. Most printmaking and typography terms are not included within the scope of this project, at this time.
Contributors
This project would not be possible without the generous help of Jenny Hille, Sara Rubinow, and Peter Verheyen, who have all helped with providing corrections and suggestions for improvement.
View All Pages
Browse the categories below to view a list of terms in that language. You can also search for specific terms using the search box. Please note that most non-English terms do not have their own separate pages yet.
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Bibliography of other multilingual resources
A full list of other bookbinding, library, archives, and conservation vocabularies is also available. Many of these were used as source material for this project.
Resources for editors
A list of templates, reference shortcuts and other tools is available, to help keep the style of the dictionary consistent.
How is the dictionary updated?
While the initial input of data into this wiki was done in a highly technical and automated way, new words and other updates are done by hand, with love.
