Friendly classes of bookbindery II
2020 was also special in very good ways. Siberiana made new friends Gabrielė and Modesta. For a several months they became Siberiana’s students, colleagues and little helpers in our studio. Here we present Modesta’s experience.
Modesta finished medieval history studies and recently stepped in the book and paper conservation field. In the meantime in Siberiana’s studio she created a fine binding for a Lithuanian edition of “The Autumn of the Middle Ages”, a classic work by Johan Huizinga.
According to Modesta,
As a lover of classic literature and former student of history, I am always looking for a good read. Yet I had never thought about what goes into making a book tangible until I started learning about various bindings and bookbinding in general. This new skill, in which I am still a novice, helps to connect the book’s contents to its overall appearance. Having held, flipped through and read books dating back to the 17th century as a history student, I can now see them in the light of a bookbinder to-be: how they were bound, what materials were used, what their background is etc., and not just think ‘wow, what a nice old book!’. I can even learn to and try to replicate the process myself! This joy of discovering history and experiencing it in practice little-step-by-little-step for me is by far the best part of working at Siberiana Books.
