Iron-Bound Books: Fact or Fiction?

December 28, 2010 9:31 AM

Did "iron-bound books" ever exist? If they're a modern idea, has anyone gone ahead and made these? If they are completely non-existent, where did this notion originate?

Every fantasy novel on the face of the earth has, somewhere, a reference to "iron-bound books". Often these books are locked (typically with wizardly magics but we'll put those aside for now). On a lark this morning I decided to google around to see examples of these much-vaunted books.. except I couldn't find any. What I did find (after angling my search a bit) is reference to occasional silver or gold clasps, used to prevent the early vellum from swelling, and some modern examples using things like nickel or brass or copper for decoration.

So in the process I (barely) managed to uncover examples of metal-bound/locked books in general.. but still no evidence of iron-bound books. Is the iron-bound fantasy-invented, or are there historical examples?

posted by curious nu to Technology (18 answers total)

I don't know if it's the origin of the concept, but it's a key element of William Blake's gnostic creation myth, "The Book of Urizen," in which an immortal spirit attempts to eliminate chaos from the universe by etching universal laws in a great iron-bound book; by attempting to impose constraints upon the universe, he accidentally imprisons himself (and his creations) in a concrete, finite version of reality. The other immortal beings can do nothing about all this but look on in terror and revulsion.
posted by hermitosis at 9:47 AM on December 28, 2010 [7 favorites]

Maybe this site can help?

http://www.edenworkshops.com/book_clasps.html
posted by I-baLL at 10:11 AM on December 28, 2010

In WWI, naval code books had covers made of lead. That was so that if the ship was in trouble, and about to be boarded and captured, the code books could be tossed overboard and they'd sink.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:12 AM on December 28, 2010

In tons of folklore, iron is something that can restrain magic. I don't know if this has anything to do with your iron-bound books, but it seems likely.
posted by wayland at 10:14 AM on December 28, 2010 [4 favorites]

From my experience of bookbinding, having heavy iron straps built into the framework of a book would be likely to weaken the binding and cause wear over long periods. However, the weighty thump you would get when you opened it would be second to none.
posted by malusmoriendumest at 10:26 AM on December 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

Medieval English/Welsh/Irish/Scottish and European books routinely had metal corners and metal bosses on the binding; very large books sometimes had metal reinforcements on the spine (like the staves on barrels). Books that were to be shelved (rather than placed in presses) sometimes had a metal "shoe" along the bottom of the binding.
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:28 AM on December 28, 2010

malusmoriendumest, something you might be forgetting is that medieval books were flatbound, and the binding was stitched through each signature (and those stitches were thick and sturdy, seeing as they had to go through parchment and a strip of lightweight wood, generally poplar or ash, rather than today's paper and buckram).

Also, the leather used in medieval bindings was generally about as heavy as that in a modern motorcycle jacket. Thus, the metal corners and bosses (standard for protecting the book against damage), and shoes and clasps (not ubiquitous, but not unusual) didn't overwhelm the strength of those bindings as they would of a modern book.

Because the key point of medieval book-binding was to protect the laboriously hand-copied parchments inside, not to encourage ease of use, medieval books are sturdy objects. (Indeed, the various metal and metal-and-leather accoutrements like the corners and bosses and straps are called "furniture"!)
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:35 AM on December 28, 2010 [2 favorites]

Extant copies of the Statenbijbel, the first Dutch translation of the Bible published in 1637, have metal bindings. If you search Google Images for "statenbijbel" you'll see several examples.
posted by rjs at 10:48 AM on December 28, 2010

(After re-reading your question and having another look at the pictures I realise that the Statenbijbel may not be what you're looking for. Sorry.)
posted by rjs at 10:52 AM on December 28, 2010

rjs, I think those images are spot-on! That's absolutely what people mean when they say "iron-bound books" (though the metal used in those is probably bronze, it looks like). They don't mean that the entire binding is made of iron, but that iron is used to reinforce a binding--the reason for describing a fictional book as "iron-bound" is to emphasize its age and preciousness.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:08 AM on December 28, 2010

Best answer: Oh, to pick up a point of curious nu's that none of us have touched on--yes, there are references to actual specific books with bosses, corners, and clasps made out of iron rather than any other metal. If you Google for "book" + "iron clasps" - "Hawthorne" - "Lorimer" (because there's a reference to it in The Scarlet Letter and there's a novel by Lorimer called The Book with Iron Clasps) you'll get a bunch of references, including some from the 16th-century writer Vasari and some talking about still-extant medieval volumes in collections in the UK and Europe.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:14 AM on December 28, 2010

I found reference to some, and some pictures, although the pictures aren't of the iron ones. I only tried Yale's collection, since I have access to it, and here's what I've found: (I cut some info extraneous to the question asked.)

MS 43, probably N. Italy, 2nd half 15th c. Binding: s. xvi-xvii. Sewn on five tawed skin straps. Plain, wound endbands on cores laced into tunnels in the edges of heavy wooden boards. Covered with three separate pieces of dark brown leather [cowskin?] with leather straps extending across the spine and nailed to the boards over the sewing straps. Each board has four corner pieces, a central boss and a strip of metal, probably iron, nailed around the four edges. Strap and pin fastening....

Mellon MS 9, ?Prague, 1440: Probably original binding of brown calf...indications of five center and corner pieces on each cover, possibly of iron and certainly fastened with iron nails, now lost; indications of two missing clasps and catches at the fore-edges of the covers...

Mellon MS 5, Germany or Austria, about 1400: (oak, leather, reinforced by parchment as above...) On both covers single nailholes near the corners and two such holes in the center of each cover indicate the removal of brass cornerpieces and centerpieces; a single brass
catch with iron bar, fastened by three brass nails, is preserved in the upper cover, the clasp missing from the lower cover indicated only by a mark.

Images: (these should be accessible from outside, but if they aren't memail me.)
1528, Germany, probably brass latches.
1412, Germany, iron studs and chain (for keeping on a lectern?)
1679, English? silver.
1397, France, heavy brass.
posted by cobaltnine at 11:44 AM on December 28, 2010

In tons of folklore, iron is something that can restrain magic. I don't know if this has anything to do with your iron-bound books, but it seems likely.

This is my suspicion as well. Specifically, fairies are unable to touch iron.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 12:12 PM on December 28, 2010

Best answer: I can't find my copy to check, but Henry Petroski's book The Book on the Bookshelf talks about this a little, I'm pretty sure with explicit cites which might have details on the metals. Also the notion of books being chained to their shelves.
posted by hattifattener at 12:18 PM on December 28, 2010

Thanks, Sidhedevil! The bindings on the ones that I've handled (they're not that rare) were sort of dark brown and corroded and I assumed they were iron, but they may be bronze. I've tried to Google for more information, but all that gives me is mentions of iron of bronze in the bible.
posted by rjs at 12:56 PM on December 28, 2010

There was a medieval lawbook in Iceland called Járnsíða, i.e. Ironside, but I don't think it was ever ironbound. I'll ask around to find out what the reason for the name was.
posted by Kattullus at 5:31 PM on December 28, 2010

The British Library's Database of Bookbindings doesn't include any iron bindings, but does include one modern binding in brass and steel by the American binder Carolee Campbell.

There are also chained books, of course, which may be the origin of the fantasy-fiction trope of iron-bound books. And there are a few examples of modern metal-bound books, including Marinetti's Parole in Liberta (1932), consisting of tin pages bound in wire and ball-bearings, and Madonna's Sex (1992), bound in aluminium.

In the mid-nineteenth century the publishers Longman & Co. introduced a new style of binding described in one contemporary source as 'the Iron Binding, viz. covers in imitation of wrought iron'. In fact it was made of moulded papier-mâché; you can see some examples illustrated here.
posted by verstegan at 3:05 PM on December 29, 2010

Best answer: After asking around and checking some sources all I can establish is that Járnsíða has been called such since the 13th Century and it's widely assumed to be because one or more copies of the lawbook were bound in iron or had iron clasps, but those copies if they existed, didn't survive into modern times.
posted by Kattullus at 3:30 PM on December 29, 2010