Books as artefacts, as well as the texts that they contain, play a fundamental role in English freemasonry. The esteem in which they were held is shown in paintings. This detail comes from a portrait ...of freemason Dr Robert Crucefix (1797-1850) who is shown with significant items of regalia as well as the masonic bindings. Bound Bibles, masonic texts, minute books or accounts ledgers were often given lavish decoration and were frequently presented as gifts to brother freemasons and to the lodges themselves. Donors paid for the most costly leather they could afford (commonly grained goatskin or calf or cheaper leathers made to resemble them) and specified particular types of ornamentation, such as gold tooled masonic motifs or lettering with the donor's and recipient's masonic membership details.
The book-binding technique (BBT) has been developed to minimise extra detachment and mobilisation of the duodenum for totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (TLDG) with Billroth I reconstruction. ...Because of the cost-effectiveness and maximisation of the anastomotic lumen, we have modified the BBT in collaboration with the laparoscopic hand-sewing technique. Herein, we introduce a modified BBT (MBBT) and discuss its outcomes. The MBBT was performed using laparoscopic hand-sewing techniques with an absorbable barbed suture instead of using linear staples to close the defect of the anterior wall of the anastomosis site. The data of 163 patients with gastric cancer who underwent TLDG with Billroth I reconstruction performed with MBBT were retrospectively collected between April 2014 and December 2019. The mean anastomosis time was 25 min (interquartile range, 21 − 30). Postoperative complications of Clavien-Dindo grade II or greater occurred in 20 of the 163 patients (12.3%). Anastomotic leakage occurred in three patients (1.8%), whereas anastomotic stenosis occurred in one patient (0.6%). The cumulative incidence rate of anastomotic stenosis that required endoscopic dilation at 1 year was 1.2%. The MBBT method may be safe, practical, cost-effective and results in reduced staple use and anastomotic time.
To some researchers Consul Joseph Smith's (1682-1770) favoured binding style would comprise plain white/cream parchment covers and coloured spine pieces. There are many examples in the library of ...George III. This tells only part of the whole story, however, as more elaborate styles exist. As a bibliophile Smith would at least want his books to be neatly bound; as a book dealer he needed them to catch the eye of purchasers, many of whom were aristocratic, wealthy and of refined taste. To the latter, the elaborately tooled binding of a rare and elegant manuscript, for example, acted as a shop window, enticing potential buyers to look within. As Smith rarely left the bindings of the books and manuscripts he discovered untouched, rebinding was key. His business operations in Venice included publishing, writing, translating and the ownership of a bookshop. For these reasons, a well-run local Venetian binding workshop would be essential. It would be required to cope economically with large quantities of binding and rebinding in various styles using parchment and leather. Proficiency at different methods of 'finishing', for example tooling in gold, would be crucial, whether carried out in the same workshop or that of another specialist. Alas, the name of such a craftsman remains elusive, but the bindings themselves show that Smith had definite views as to how his books and manuscripts should be bound.
Review article Ganz, David
Early medieval Europe,
08/2023, Volume:
31, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The Codex in Context. The Craft of Bookmaking in Late Antiquity. By Georgios Boudalis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2018. 200 pp., 32 colour plates, 80 halftones, 45 line drawings. $30. ISBN ...9781941792124. Il libro nel mondo antico. Archeologia e storia (secoli Vll a. C—IV d. By Lucio Del Corso. Rome: Carocci editore. 2022. 324 pp. €29. ISBN 978 88 290 1331 9. Aux Racines du Livre. d'un Objet de l'Antiquité au Moyen By Filippo Ronconi. Paris: éditions EHFSS. 2021, 353 pp., 20 colour plates. €28.80. ISBN 978 2 7132 2902 2.
Our visual systems rapidly perceive and integrate information about object identities and locations. There is long-standing debate about if and how we achieve world-centered (spatiotopic) object ...representations across eye movements, with many studies reporting persistent retinotopic (eye-centered) effects even for higher level object-location binding. But these studies are generally conducted in fairly static experimental contexts. Might spatiotopic object-location binding only emerge in more dynamic saccade contexts? In the present study, we investigated this using the spatial congruency bias paradigm in healthy adults. In the static (single-saccade) context, we found purely retinotopic binding, as before. However, robust spatiotopic binding emerged in the dynamic saccade context (multiple frequent saccades and saccades during stimulus presentation). We further isolated specific factors that modulate retinotopic and spatiotopic binding. Our results provide strong evidence that dynamic saccade context can trigger more stable object-location binding in ecologically relevant spatiotopic coordinates, perhaps via a more flexible brain state that accommodates improved visual stability in the dynamic world.
Public Significance Statement
One of the most fundamental challenges for human behavior is how we integrate and stabilize perceptual information in our ever-changing sensory environments. In particular, we make multiple eye movements every second, constantly displacing and distorting our visual input. Yet despite receiving visual input in these disjointed, eye-centered (retinotopic) coordinates, we perceive the world as stable, based on objects' world-centered (spatiotopic) locations. Our study provides strong evidence for a previously unstudied cue-dynamic saccade context-in triggering more stable object-location binding, which offers a novel step forward in understanding how we form a stable perception of the dynamic world. More broadly, these findings suggest the importance of considering dynamic saccade context in visual perception and cognitive neuroscience studies.
Since the turn of the nineteenth century, Australian binders have produced books to serve local publishers, businesses, and individual consumers. Over the past two centuries, the printing and binding ...industry has grown in response to changes in technology and customer demand to suit the present day Australian context. A consumer can now choose products ranging from traditional fine-binding styles to online instant print-and-bind services. Increasingly, collections of bound materials reflect the diversity of available binding styles and products. This paper aims to aid collection care professionals in the care and understanding of contemporary book bindings in early twenty-first century Australia. In contrast to existing literature on fine bindings and mass market book production, this paper examines short run commercial bindings. Drawing from historical sources and professional experience working in local binderies, the context of these cost-effective bindings is described. An outline of the materials and methods found in a selection of popular styles, namely perfect, case, and wire bindings, is provided, with reference to sources from manufacturers and suppliers. Conservation issues associated with contemporary commercial bindings are detailed, highlighting problems related to non-archival adhesives, plastics, and physical structures. Recommendations are made on how to best care for these increasingly prevalent bindings.
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