Élodie Lévêque, Book conservator & PhD Candidate, Paris: A rare example of an anomalous medieval book sewing technique found in the Clairvaux Manuscript Collection

Clairvaux, a Cistercian abbey, was founded by St Bernard in 1115 in Champagne, France. Its library held one of the largest medieval monastic collections in the world which is now the foremost medieval collection in France. 1118 volumes have been identified in public collections today. In 2009, the collection was awarded "Memory of the World" status by UNESCO.

About half the collection has medieval bindings, partly modified in the 18th C. and most of them are in an excellent state of conservation. As part of PhD research, these bindings are being conscientiously observed and recorded in order to highlight evidence of the library’s history and find some evidence of French bookbinding features and practices.

During the initial examination phase of the first segment of the corpus, a subtly distinctive binding was discovered. Very few examples of this type of binding have been recorded to date: it is therefore proposed to present details in this poster. Under a similar covering to bindings from the same period, a particular sewing system is hidden, which is reminiscent of two earlier manuscripts invaluably described by C. Clarkson in 1996. Manuscript H293 nonetheless presents several particularities which will be outlined. Diagrams will detail the remarkable sewing technique, although the reasons for this anomalous system remain mysterious.

Manuscript H293, held in Montpellier University, consists of unrelated philosophical texts which were dated to the fourteenth century by Olga Weijers in the library cataloguing project currently underway at the IRHT. There is evidence of the handwriting of several, mostly English, scribes.

The Clairvaux rosters of the thirteenth century, in which are inscribed the names of the monks in charge of various tasks for each week, reveal the presence of many English monks at Clairvaux. Could this manuscript have been introduced to Clairvaux in the luggage of an immigrant monk? Or bound on site by one of them? Could it be the work of an English workshop?

Examination of the entire collection in the coming years will perhaps provide some answers.