cbl-Newsletter 4/2026

The course offers the opportunity to deepen your knowledge of working with parchment and expand your craftsmanship skills in classic bookbinding. Based on the technique of French fine binding, a parchment binding is created in six days, which is build directly on the book block.
The shoulders are worked at 90°, the covers are attached, and the parchment is carefully processed – the folds and creases are traditionally scraped out with glass shards. During the drying phase, a customised title label is created.
This course is for anyone with prior knowledge of bookbinding who would like to gain in-depth experience working with this special material.

In this four-day course, participants will create two versions of the Edelpappband binding: one with leather-covered edges at the head and tail, and another with a reinforced cap and hidden corners. In addition, coloured edges and title designs will be developed, allowing the decorative paper used to unfold its full effect. The course is aimed at anyone interested in fine leather and paper craftsmanship. Depending on your previous experience, you will complete one cover and begin another.

Students will be introduced to Northern European limp vellum binding styles. The class will begins with a short lecture showing various styles of bindings included in the collection of the Carolina Rediviva Library at the Uppsala University in Sweden. We will focus on materials and details, such as a rigid spine plate, weaving of the sewing thread, markers, and closures. Students will start by constructing a text block, shaping and preparing the supportive spine plate from a variety of materials, cutting the vellum cover to size and finally attaching the cover and adding closures. During the class we will have time for deeper study and discussions on some of the typical features found on books bound with this technique. We will then create two other bindings using these methods more freely … coloring and patterning the vellum, using metal and other nontraditional materials for spine supports of various shapes and sizes and working with unusual sewing patterns.

The Prägnant embossing press is a versatile tool that is used in many workshops. This course focuses on the basics of title setting – from practical applications to typographical issues. In addition, the press opens up numerous creative possibilities, which we will explore together: various embossing tools, foils and colours are used, as well as different materials. This results in a wide range of design ideas that go far beyond classic title embossing.