This post is written by and posted on behalf of Sumeeya Mohamed, who worked in the Foyle Special Collections Library, as part of her apprenticeship with the wider Libraries and Collections department at King’s College London.
Throughout my three-month placement in the Foyle Special Collections Library, I’ve had the privilege of helping the team with their day-to-day work. My primary responsibilities were processing and shelving catalogued books, but I also had the opportunity to assist with library visits.
As time went by, my interest in bookbinding began to grow. After speaking with Adam Ray, Special Collections Manager, and William Wood, Special Collections Digital Content Coordinator, I was encouraged to write a blog about an item from the collection that had caught my eye.
I chose the Complutensian Polyglot Bible because of its remarkably well-preserved binding.
The Complutensian Polyglot Bible (printed between 1514–1517) is the first printed polyglot of the bible; and includes the Greek New Testament, the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) and Targum Onkelos, a Jewish Aramaic translation of the Torah. The work was published as a six-volume set. Around 600 sets were originally printed, with approximately 120 known to survive today.
King’s College London received this copy in 1835 as part of a donation from William Marsden, a linguistic scholar and collector. Marsden donated roughly two-thirds of his collection of books and manuscripts to King’s. During his travels, he collected Bibles in many different languages, so it is perhaps no surprise that his library also included the Complutensian Polyglot Bible.
When searching for the item on Library Search, the catalogue record describes the binding as follows:
All volumes are bound in eighteenth century red morocco with gold-tooled decoration. At the centre of each board is a gold tooled vignette on a black background. Raised bands divide the spine into six compartments each of which have gold-tooled decoration.
When I first read this description, there were several unfamiliar terms that immediately caught my attention and piqued my curiosity. I decided to take this opportunity to learn more about the specialised terms and techniques used in bookbinding.
Red morocco leather
‘Red morocco’ refers to the treated and dyed leather used in the binding. During the 17th–19th centuries, morocco leather was highly valued for its durability and quality, making it a popular choice for expensive books. Despite its name, the leather was not produced directly in Morocco.
Leather made from the skin of Maradi, also known as the Red Sokoto Goat, was sold through Moroccan ports to European merchants. The goat is indigenous to Guinea, Niger and Northern Nigeria and was considered a luxury product due to it having both a soft texture and a strong structure, ideal for fine book bindings. Morocco leather was regularly dyed and decorated with gold tooling to further accentuate its natural grain.
Gold tooling
Gold tooling, also known as ‘gilt tooling’, is quite an easy technique to spot, especially in the case of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible, which is covered in gold patterns, shown here.
Tooling is a decorative technique that helps to add texture and details to a binding. The process involves artisans using a metal implement (with handles sometimes made of nylon, wood or even asbestos) to carve patterns onto leather. Some tools would have pre-made metal ends embossed with shapes that could speed up the patterning process. Gold was a popular choice when filling in this tooling due to it being a metal that doesn’t tarnish very easily.
What is a vignette?
Out of all the binding terms I researched, ‘vignette’ was the most puzzling as I couldn’t figure out why the centre piece of both boards was considered a vignette. My understanding of a vignette was the process of desaturating and darkening the outer corners of an image to help draw attention to the centre.
To my surprise, that definition is only applicable to photography. A vignette can generally refer to an image with an abstract frame, traditionally created by overlaying decorative artwork. Vignettes in bookbinding are done by utilising tooling to create a decorative frame that draws attention to the centre of a book board – which might have a stamp, an illustration or the title of the book.
Raised bands and the hollow-back spine
The final feature I explored was the raised bands on the spine.
Raised bands (or cords), are a common feature of antiquarian leather bindings. They appear as horizontal ridges across the spine. These bands developed naturally during the sewing process. When book sections were sewn together, the cords and threads created visible ridges beneath the leather covering.
These raised bands, whilst aesthetically popular, could place strain on the binding structure over time. This sometimes led to cracked leather or detached spines. Whilst book leaves were held together steadily, issues were developing with this technique; book-spines were detaching and the leather binding was cracking.
Eventually, the hollow-back spine was invented to prevent these issues from occurring by adhering a thin tube of paper onto the spine and sticking the leather binding on top the tube – allowing the spine to flex more freely when the book was opened.
Researching the binding details of this rare and unique work has given me a much deeper understanding of bookbinding techniques, how they developed and why they were used. My time with the team at the Foyle Special Collections Library has been one of the highlights of my experience at King’s College London and the specialised experience I’ve gained has helped me to think more clearly on where I’d like to develop my career.
If you would like to view this treasure in person or any other from our rich and storied collections then please contact us at specialcollections@kcl.ac.uk to book your visit today.
***
Select Bibliography
Primary Sources
Complutensian Polyglot Bible. Vetus testamentum multiplici lingua nunc primo impressum: et imprimis pentateuchus hebraico greco atque chaldaico idiomate. Adiuncta unicuique sua latina interpretatione. Alcalá de Henares: Arnao Guillén de Brocar, 1514–1517. [Marsden Collections]; R2/1
Secondary Sources
American Institute for Conservation. Big book decoration – MediaWiki. Conservation Wiki, n.d. [https://www.conservation-wiki.com/wiki/BPG_Book_Decoration] Accessed 31/05/26
DN Cutter. Morocco leather and material understandings of the Maghreb in early modern Britain. Memorients, 2022. [https://memorients.com/articles/morocco-leather-and-material-understandings-of-the-maghreb-in-early-modern-britain] Accessed 31/05/26
Etherington & Roberts. Hollow back. Bookbinding and the conservation of books; a dictionary of descriptive terminology, n.d. [https://cool.culturalheritage.org/don/dt/dt1763.html#:~:text=hollow%20back%20(%20hollow%20back%20binding,spine%20of%20the%20text%20block] Accessed 31/05/26
Etherington & Roberts. Bands. Bookbinding and the conservation of books; a dictionary of descriptive terminology, n.d. [https://cool.culturalheritage.org/don/dt/dt0226.html] Accessed 31/05/26
Etherington & Roberts. False bands. Bookbinding and the conservation of books; a dictionary of descriptive terminology, n.d. [https://cool.culturalheritage.org/don/dt/dt1263.html] Accessed 31/05/26
S Fain. Broken spines + creative minds. The conservation of Adirondack sketchbooks part II, n.d. [https://artconservator.williamstownart.org/the-conservation-of-adirondack-sketchbooks-part-ii] Accessed 31/05/26
C Funke & JR Siegel. Judging a book by its cover: gold-stamped publishers’ bindings of the 19th century. Columbia University Libraries, 1997. [https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/exhibits/show/bindings] Accessed 31/05/26
King’s College London. Marsden collection. King’s College London, 2020. [https://www.kcl.ac.uk/marsden-collection] Accessed 31/05/26
Language of Bindings Thesaurus. False bands. n.d. [https://lob.is.ed.ac.uk/concept/1326] Accessed 31/05/26
Language of Bindings Thesaurus. Raised bands. n.d. [https://lob.is.ed.ac.uk/concept/1533] Accessed 31/05/26
New York Public Library. The complutensian polyglot bible. n.d. [https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/galleries/belief/item/16728] Accessed 31/05/26
Princeton University Library. Hand bookbindings: blind tooling. 2004. [https://static-prod.lib.princeton.edu/visual_materials/hb/cases/blindtooling/index.html] Accessed 31/05/26
Princeton University Library. Hand bookbindings: gold tooling. 2004. [https://static-prod.lib.princeton.edu/visual_materials/hb/cases/goldtooling/index.html] Accessed 31/05/26
M Ruzaikina. Gold tooling in bookbinding: what it is and how it’s performed. Pimlico Bookbinding, 2025. [https://pimlico-bookbinding.co.uk/library/gold-tooling-in-bookbinding-what-it-is-and-how-its-performed/] Accessed 31/05/26
P Thomson. Book anatomy (parts of a book) & definitions. iBookBinding, 2014. [https://www.ibookbinding.com/blog/book-anatomy-parts-book/] Accessed 31/05/26
R Wolcott. Ben franklin unbound: a lesson on sewing. American Philosophical Society, 2018. [https://www.amphilsoc.org/blog/ben-franklin-unbound-lesson-sewing] Accessed 31/05/26