The Art of Bookmaking
In the 800’s, Baghdad became a major papermaking center for creating books, but how were Islamic books made? Books were very important for the Muslims’ value of education. Wealthy people like kings and nobles supported bookmaking and it also provided job opportunities. Illustrators, scholars, craftsmen, calligraphers, paper and leather suppliers, and librarians all were necessary in the art of bookmaking. The Islamic bookmaking was a complicated process that consisted of three steps; making paper, writing and illustrating, and binding. To start, they had to make the paper needed to create books. The paper was made of cloths and fibers, like linen and hemp, and cut into strips. It was then softened in tubs of lime water and dried in a rectangular mold. The paper was then strained through a cloth sieve to separate the coarse materials from the fine materials and attached to a frame. Sometimes it was tinted or marbled for decoration. After that, illustrators and …show more content…
The binder sewed the pages together and added the cover. Most covers were made of leather and were joined to the spine. Following that, stamps, molds, impresses, and designs were attached to the cover and then given to the libraries or sold to merchants. There was even a library called the House of Wisdom built in Baghdad to meet the high demand for books and knowledge. Bookmaking was an elaborate and complicated process, but it was organized and wealthy people spent a vast amount of money into it. The three main steps in Islamic bookmaking, creating paper, writing and illustrating, and binding, were difficult to perfect, but the Muslims managed to do it by working together and combining all their skills. Without the Islamic books, a considerable amount of history would be lost. Bookmaking was not only important to them, but to us too. It led to the rise of literature, poems, intelligence, and
In the 800’s, Baghdad became a major papermaking center for creating books, but how were Islamic books made? Books were very important for the Muslims’ value of education. Wealthy people like kings and nobles supported bookmaking and it also provided job opportunities. Illustrators, scholars, craftsmen, calligraphers, paper and leather suppliers, and librarians all were necessary in the art of bookmaking. The Islamic bookmaking was a complicated process that consisted of three steps; making paper, writing and illustrating, and binding. To start, they had to make the paper needed to create books. The paper was made of cloths and fibers, like linen and hemp, and cut into strips. It was then softened in tubs of lime water and dried in a rectangular mold. The paper was then strained through a cloth sieve to separate the coarse materials from the fine materials and attached to a frame. Sometimes it was tinted or marbled for decoration. After that, illustrators and …show more content…
The binder sewed the pages together and added the cover. Most covers were made of leather and were joined to the spine. Following that, stamps, molds, impresses, and designs were attached to the cover and then given to the libraries or sold to merchants. There was even a library called the House of Wisdom built in Baghdad to meet the high demand for books and knowledge. Bookmaking was an elaborate and complicated process, but it was organized and wealthy people spent a vast amount of money into it. The three main steps in Islamic bookmaking, creating paper, writing and illustrating, and binding, were difficult to perfect, but the Muslims managed to do it by working together and combining all their skills. Without the Islamic books, a considerable amount of history would be lost. Bookmaking was not only important to them, but to us too. It led to the rise of literature, poems, intelligence, and