BPG Ethiopian Bindings

Book and Paper Group Wiki > Book Conservation Wiki > Ethiopian Bindings

This page covers the structure and conservation of Ethiopian bindings. See also: Book Boards. For information on other binding traditions, see Bookbinding Traditions by Region or Culture.

Wiki Compilers: Eliana Dal Sasso, Bill Hanscom, Marcela Ivanovicova
Wiki Contributors: Tessa Gadomski, Cathie Magee, please add your name here

Copyright 2023. The Book and Paper Group Wiki is a publication of the Book and Paper Group of the American Institute for Conservation. It is published as a convenience for the members of the Book and Paper Group. Publication does not endorse nor recommend any treatments, methods, or techniques described herein. Information on researching with the wiki and citing the BPG Wiki can be found on the Reference and Bibliography Protocols page. The BPG Wiki coordinators can be reached at bookandpapergroup.wiki@gmail.com.

Cite this page:

BPG Ethiopian Bindings. 2023. Book and Paper Group Wiki. American Institute for Conservation (AIC). Accessed June 6, 2023. https://www.conservation-wiki.com/wiki/BPG_Ethiopian_Bindings

Terminology

Issues related to the chosen system of transliteration

The Ethiopian manuscript culture

History

When it developed and its link with Christianity. Islam culture in Ethiopia.

Number and distribution of manuscripts

How many and where they are.

Dating of manuscripts

How old they are.

The production of the codex

Scribes and bookbinders

Who are they, the training etc.

Writing supports

The composition of the quire

Pricking, ruling, composition of the quire, tackets.

Conservation

Ethical concerns, approaches

Bibliography

Abbadie, Antoine. Catalogue raisonné de manuscrits éthiopiens appartenant à Antoine d’Abbadie. Imprimerie impériale, 1859, http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1044499.

Bausi, Alessandro, et al. Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies: An Introduction. Edited by Alessandro Bausi et al., COMSt, 2015, https://www.aai.uni-hamburg.de/en/comst/publications/handbook.html.

Bull, William. “A 17th Century Ethiopic Bookbinding.” The Abbey Newsletter, vol. 11, 1987, pp. 44–45.

Capon, Lester. “Extreme Bookbinding: A Fascinating Preservation Project in Ethiopia.” Skin Deep, vol. 26, Autumn 2008, pp. 2–11, https://www.hewit.com/skin_deep/?volume=26&article=1.

Dal Sasso, Eliana. “Describing Ethiopian Bookbinding in TEI.” Journal of the Text Encoding Initiative, 2022, https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.4000/jtei.3790.

Di Bella , Marco and Nikolas Sarris. 2014. "Field conservation in East Tigray, Ethiopia." Care and Conservation of Manuscripts 14. 271-307.

Faqāda Śellāsē Tafarrā. ጥንታዊ የብራና መጻሕፍት አዘጋጃጀት (Ṭentāwi yaberānnā maṣāḥeft azzagāǧāǧat, ‘The ancient manner of preparing parchment books’). Addis Ababā Yunivarsiti Prēss, 2002.

Godet, Éric. “La préparation du parchemin en Éthiopie.” Abbay, vol. 11, 1982 1980, pp. 203–10.

Hanscom, Bill. “Towards a Morphology of the Ethiopian Book Satchel.” Suave Mechanicals on the History of Bookbinding, edited by Julia Miller, The Legacy Press, 2016, pp. 300–55.

Mellors, John, and Anne Parsons. Bookmaking in Rural Ethiopia in the Twenty-First Century: Ethiopian Bookmaking. New Cross Books, 2002.

Bookmaking in Rural Ethiopia in the Twenty-First Century: Scribes of South Gondar. New Cross Books, 2002.

“Manuscript and Book Production in South Gondar in the Twenty-First Century.” Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on the History of Ethiopian Art, Addis Ababa, 5–8 November 2002, edited by Birhanu Teferra and Richard Pankhurst, vol. I, Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University, 2003, pp. 85–99.

Nosnitsin, Denis. Catalogue of Ethiopic Manuscripts. Codices Etiopici. NIAS Press-Det Kongelige Bibliotek, 2017.

“Lesser Known Features of the Ethiopian Codex.” Movements in Ethiopia, Ethiopia in Movement. Proceedings of the 18th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, edited by Éloi Ficquet et al., vol. I, CFEE–IES and Tsehai Publishers, 2016, pp. 75–90.

Nosnitsin, Denis, and Dorothea Reule. The Ethiopic Manuscripts of Dayr As-Suryān: A Catalogue. Harrassowitz Verlag, 2021.

Pankhurst, Richard. “Ethiopian Manuscript Bindings and Their Decoration.” Abbay, 1984, pp. 205–57.

“Imported Textiles in Ethiopian Eighteenth Century Manuscripts in Britain.” Azania, vol. 16, 1981, pp. 131–50.

“Imported Textiles in Ethiopian Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Manuscripts in Britain.” Azania, vol. 15, 1980, pp. 43–55.

Paterson, Dan. 2008. "An Investigation and Treatment of an Uncommon Ethiopian Binding and Consideration of its Historical Context." The Book and Paper Group Annual 27: 55-62.

Śərgaw Ḥable Śəlāse. Bookmaking in Ethiopia. Karstens Drukkers, 1981.

Tomaszewski, Jacek, and Michael Gervers. From Dust to Digital. Ten Years of the Endangered Archives Programme. Edited by Maja Kominko, Open Book Publishers, 2015.

van Regemorter, Berthe. “Ethiopian Bookbindings.” The Library, vol. s5-XVII, no. 1, 1962, pp. 85–88, https://doi.org/10.1093/library/s5-XVII.1.85.

Winslow, Sean M. Ethiopian Manuscript Culture: Practices and Contexts. University of Toronto, Medieval Studies, Nov. 2015, https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/71392.

“Making Manuscripts.” Treasures of Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, edited by Jacopo Gnisci, Manar al- Athar–University of Oxford, 2019, https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:24d3e531-863c-4c39-8d8b-ba331f769788.

Winslow, Sean Michael. 2015. "Ethiopian Manuscript Culture: Practices and Contexts." Thesis, University of Toronto.

Winstanley, Mark. “Tsbook - (Tigrinya for Good). An Ethiopian – and the Repair of the Illuminated Pages of the 6th-Century Gospel of Abba Garim.” Skin Deep, vol. 23, Spring 2007, pp. 2–10, https://www.hewit.com/download/sd23.pdf.

History of This Page

This page was created in September 2021 from content previously found on the Bookbinding Traditions by Region or Culture page under the heading "Ethiopian".