A Bradel binding (also called a bonnet or bristol board binding) is a style of
book binding
Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by a series of automated processes. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers alon ...
with a hollow back. It most resembles a
case binding in that it has a hollow back and visible joint, but unlike a case binding, the cover boards and spine stiffener are joined together with a strip of sturdy paper before covering.
Characteristic of the binding is that the material covering the outside boards is separate from that covering the spine. Many bookbinders consider the Bradel binding to be stronger than the Case binding.
History
The binding may be traced to 18th-century
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. The originator is uncertain, but the name comes from a French binder working in Germany, Alexis-Pierre Bradel (also known as ''Bradel l'ainé'' or ''Bradel-Derome''). The binding originally appeared as a temporary binding, but the results were durable, and the binding had great success in the nineteenth century.
Today, it is most likely to be encountered in
photo album
A photographic album or photo album, is a series of photographic prints collected by an individual person or family in the form of a book. Some book-form photo albums have compartments which the photos may be slipped into, usually made out of pl ...
s and
scrapbooks.
The binding has the advantage of allowing the book to open fully, where traditional
leather
Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...
bindings are too rigid. It is sometimes modified to provide a rounded spine. This lends the appearance of a book where the paper is not suited to spine rounding; this is also to provide a rounded spine to a book too thin for a spine rounding to hold. The binding may also provide an impressive-looking leather spine to a book without incurring the full expense of binding a book in full or partial leather.
See also
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Book design
Book design is the graphic art of determining the visual and physical characteristics of a book. The design process begins after an author and editor finalize the manuscript, at which point it is passed to the production stage. During productio ...
*
History of books
References
External links
Bradel binding instructions with full bibliography
Bookbinding
History of books
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