Making A Medieval Book By Hand - Part 2 - Trimming & Rounding, Edge Decoration, Sewing Endbands

Hello everyone, and welcome to my bindery! This is Part 2 of my in-depth video series on making a medieval-style book - for more information see Part 1 here: This series has no speaking and a minimal amount of music for those who want to enjoy the peaceful simplicity of quiet hand-work. For those seeking insights into my materials and techniques, you can turn on subtitles to read my full commentary on the process as you watch! In this installment I begin by trimming the book to size and rounding the spine. I first cut down the oversized endpapers and glue down the free decorative flyleaves to make what’s called a ’stiff’ leaf. Next I glue out the spine and trim the fore edge of the book using my bookbinder’s plough. With the fore edge smooth I can round the spine of the book and then trim the head and tail. The spine of the book is not ’backed’, meaning I don’t form the type of shoulders seen on later bindings. Instead I line t