PhD in Bookbinding History
After five (almost six) hard-working years, Ieva Rusteikaitė (Siberiana) has defended a PhD thesis on bookbinding in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the 16th and 17th centuries. The thesis was written in the Vilnius Academy of Arts and supervised by Dr. Jolita Liškevičienė.
The doctoral dissertation examines the development of bookbinding in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the second half of the sixteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century, with particular attention to the bookbinding school that emerged in Vilnius. The research is based on the analysis of written sources and surviving artefacts, namely the bindings of books that circulated within the region. Using a structured descriptive model, the study systematically investigates the structural, material, and decorative features of the bindings. The findings reveal new evidence on the technological diversity of local bindings and the presence of imported artefacts. The study shows that bindings associated with the Vilnius school belong to a broader Northern and Central European tradition, while also displaying distinctive local characteristics. The analysis of one of the largest collections of books printed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the region, formerly owned by the Vilnius Jesuit Academy Library, provides new insights into early modern practices of book circulation and use. The dissertation contributes to a deeper understanding of printing, book distribution, and craft of bookbinding in this period and proposes a methodological framework for further research.
PhD theses in bookbinding are quite rare, therefore it was a really great occasion to celebrate this contribution to the book history in Lithuania and neighboring countries.
Ieva Rusteikaitė, Knyga kaip dirbinys: vilnietiškos mokyklos įrišų technikos ir dekoras iki XVII a. vidurio / The Book As an Artefact: Binding Techniques and Decoration of the Vilnius School to the mid-17th Century, Doctoral Dissertation, Art Studies – H 003 (Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademija, 2026). See summary in English.
