Ligatures of the Early Modern Book

This article proposes that the early modern book was constituted of numerous forms of stringing, tying and binding. Exploring ligatures at the level of the printed or handwritten letter-form, the stitching, the binding and the clasps or ties that served to open and close the book, I argue that books were not merely bound in to their containing volumes but were also bound outwards to material environments and social networks. The interlaced designs on decorative bookbindings are read as meditations on a connectedness that was actualized in shared ownership or giftgiving. Clasps turned the book into a box, and an apt metaphor for the human heart, while silk ties connected the book into the worlds of clothing and textiles. While our experience of connective communication is now dominated by the Internet, there are some signs that the material book is fighting back