erikkwakkel: Eye candy Whether medieval or modern, sometimes a bookbinding has just the right proper

erikkwakkel:

Eye candy

Whether medieval or modern, sometimes a bookbinding has just the right properties to make it look like candy. Both of these bindings have that effect on me. The top one is still in its wrapper, while the lower one, milk chocolate with a white filling, is ready for consumption. Their likeness is interesting, because the two couldn’t be more different. They were produced 600 years apart in opposite corners of Europe: the upper one in early-twentieth-century Paris, the lower one in fifteenth-century England. Moreover, the material is quite different too: fish skin (top) as opposed to calf skin (lower). Perhaps the candy-esque appeal of the two is the photographer’s doing. Colour, shine and shape: the images catch the bindings in just the right light to make you want to take a big bite out of them.    

Pic: Stockholm, National Library of Sweden, 1930s (upper pic, more here); London, British Library, Add. 10301, 15th century (lower pic, more here).

Lovely!