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Details
SIX-FOLD BACKLESS BINDING. A Sammelband of 6 German theological and liturgical works, including: Der Geistlich Herpst. 1575 - Von dem hochwürdigen Sacrament der heyligen Firmung. 1572 - Von der Gnadreichen, Hochberümpten weitaussgebraiten und langhergebrachten Brüderschafft des Psalters oder Rosenkrantz Marie... 1572 - Der Seelen Lustgärtlin. 1575. Gar schöne andächtige und kräfftige Gebett vor der wandlung des heyligen Hochwürdigen Sacraments... (lacks title) - one blank volume. All Dilingen: Sebald Mayer.
8o and 16o (147 x 96 mm). Contemporary six-fold, backless binding of brown calf, the covers divided into two panels, one decorated with an arabesque design heightened with reddish and white paint, the other with a coat-of-arms (only faintly discernible) all four edges gilt, gauffered and colored with floral design (restored, with contemporary sides laid down, new endpapers).
"Known generically in German as 'Vexierbücher' (puzzle books or tease books; the French term is 'reliure à surprise'), volumes like the present one are usually found on religious books; perhaps they were handed around for quiet amusement during long sermons. They are known from the mid-sixteenth century onwards. This example is a 'Sechsfächerband,' a six-fold binding that can be opened in one of six different directions, revealing one book at a time. In the same tradition are the two- or three- volume dos-à-dos or back-to-back bindings, often found within embroidered covers, that were particularly popular in England in the second quarter of the seventeenth century. Other formats of tease bindings include the circular or heart-shaped. These bindings are structurally weak, and many examples must have fallen to pieces very quickly" (Wormsley 34).
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"Known generically in German as 'Vexierbücher' (puzzle books or tease books; the French term is 'reliure à surprise'), volumes like the present one are usually found on religious books; perhaps they were handed around for quiet amusement during long sermons. They are known from the mid-sixteenth century onwards. This example is a 'Sechsfächerband,' a six-fold binding that can be opened in one of six different directions, revealing one book at a time. In the same tradition are the two- or three- volume dos-à-dos or back-to-back bindings, often found within embroidered covers, that were particularly popular in England in the second quarter of the seventeenth century. Other formats of tease bindings include the circular or heart-shaped. These bindings are structurally weak, and many examples must have fallen to pieces very quickly" (Wormsley 34).