22 – 26 September (Vienna, Austria)
and
29 September – 3 October (Graz, Austria)
Deadline for applications: 4 July 2025
Successful applicants to be contacted by mid July 2025
Deadline for fee payment: 1 August 2025
The 2025 Ligatus Summer School is co-organised with the Saint Catherine Foundation and it will take place in two Austrian cities: Vienna and Graz, in collaboration with the Institute for Medieval Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Graz.
In Vienna (week 1), material from the following library will be examined:
- Austrian National Library
In Graz (week 2), material from the following libraries will be examined:
Background
The contribution that bindings can make to our understanding of the history and culture of the book is often neglected, but they can offer insights into the study of readership, the book trade, and the provenance of books that are often not available elsewhere. In order to realise this potential, it is important to learn not only the history of the craft but also how to record what is seen in a consistent and organised way. Librarians, cataloguers, conservators, book historians, book collectors and all scholars who work with early books can benefit from understanding the structure and materials of the bindings they encounter and knowing how to record and describe them.
Clear descriptions of bindings are invaluable for the management of library collections, pursuing academic research and making informed decisions about conservation. They are also important for digitisation projects, as they can radically enrich the potential of image and text metadata. It is our belief that bindings should be seen as an integral part of the book, without which our understanding of the history and use of books is often greatly circumscribed.
The main purpose of the Summer School is to uncover the possibilities latent in the detailed study of bookbinding. Both courses offered in this Summer School look at bindings from different geographical areas and with a different approach.
Week 1A (22 – 24 September): Linked Data for bookbinding description
Vienna
Tutor: Dr Athanasios Velios
This course will be taught by Dr Athanasios Velios and will deal with the methodologies and techniques that can be used to record bookbindings. Sessions will focus on: a) Linked Data, the semantic web and the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM); b) standardised vocabularies for book descriptions (Language of Bindings and SKOS); c) the development of database schemas for book descriptions; d) mapping bookbinding description databases to CIDOC-CRM and publishing Linked Data. This course will consist of a combination of presentations and hands-on workshops. Participants will require to bring their own laptops in order to follow the hands-on workshops. Instructions on the necessary software will be circulated in advance of the course. Participants will work in pairs during the hands-on workshops.
Week 1B (24 – 26 September): Eastern Mediterranean Bookbinding Structures
Vienna
Tutor: Dr Georgios Boudalis
This course will focus on the major structural and decorative features of the different bookbinding traditions that have evolved in the eastern Mediterranean – including the Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian and Islamic – with special focus on the Byzantine and post-Byzantine bookbindings. The aim is to look closely at the different components - sewing of the bookblocks, board attachments, endbands, decoration, fastenings etc - and follow the evolution of these closely related bookbindings, in order to establish their similarities and differences. The course will consist of six 90-minute presentations and examinations of real bookbindings from the Austrian National Library's collection.
Week 2 (29 September – 3 October): European Bookbinding 1450-1830
Graz
Tutor: Professor N. Pickwoad
This course will follow European bookbinding from the end of the Middle Ages to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, using the bindings themselves to illustrate the aims and intentions of the binding trade. A large part of the course will be devoted to the identification of both broad and detailed distinctions within the larger groups of plain commercial bindings and the possibilities of identifying the work of different countries, cities, even workshops without reference to finishing tools. The identification and significance of the different materials used in bookbinding will be examined, as well as the classification of bookbindings by structural type, and how these types developed through the three centuries covered by the course. The development of binding decoration will be touched on, but will not form a major part of the discussion.
The course consists of ten 90-minute sessions with Powerpoint presentations (over 800 images will be shown), with the examination of a large variety of bookbindings in the afternoon sessions.
Course Fees
- Week 1A (Velios): £225
- Week 1B (Boudalis): £225
- Week 1 (both courses): £400
- Week 2 (Pickwoad): £400
Please note that course fees cover tuition only. Participants are responsible for arranging their own travel, visas, insurance, accommodation, meals etc. during the School. Due to the short period from the payment deadline to the beginning of the course, the fees are not refundable.
The Institute for Medieval Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
The Institute of Medieval Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences is recognized as one of the foremost centres for the interdisciplinary study of medieval and Byzantine history and culture. Its research concentrates on the period from approximately 300 to 1500 AD, encompassing a broad geographical scope that includes Europe and the Mediterranean basin extending eastward to the Euphrates. One of its defining characteristics is the study of the written cultural heritage (manuscripts, inscriptions) with digital tools.
The Institute is dedicated to advancing scholarly understanding of this era through fostering international collaboration, and facilitating scholarly exchange. To this end, it regularly hosts visiting scholars, organizes international conferences, workshops, and seminars and actively promotes dialogue among researchers from diverse disciplinary and cultural backgrounds.
Graz University Library, University of Graz
The University of Graz is an international educational and research institution that assumes responsibility for the entire region in the south of Austria. It has been doing so since 1585, providing free access to academic sources and making its collections accessible to the public. Once originally part of the Jesuit university, its library now houses over 3 million items including digital media. Its Special Collections Department has over a 250,000 rare books and manuscripts and is home to some very remarkable items such as the Nuremberg Chronicle, of which it has four copies, Johannes Kepler’s letters and ‘The Graz Mummy Book’ - the oldest manuscript in book form.
About Graz
Graz is a vibrant city with over 60,000 students. It is the second largest city after Vienna and thankfully still retains much of its Medieval and Renaissance city core. It has some lovely museums and churches and a rich cultural programme all year round including that of its opera house. Autumn in Graz is truly splendid. The City Park which is located between the old city and newer 19th century suburbs where the University is located, is the perfect spot to enjoy the changing autumn colours. The temperature in September can be warm and as high as 20°C but the evenings can be chilly with average lows of 10°C. Short early evening storms may occur at this time of year so an umbrella always comes in handy.
About the Saint Catherine Foundation
The Saint Catherine Foundation and its related organizations in the USA and Switzerland support conservation work at Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai, Egypt. The foundations in London, New York, and Geneva collaborate with leading universities, museums, libraries and other institutions on cultural, educational and fundraising events and initiatives in Europe, the US and beyond. Partners include the Metropolitan Museum (New York), the British Library (London), State Hermitage Museum (St Petersburg), and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Alexandria). The Foundation has been collaborating with Ligatus researchers over the past 20 years.