St Cuthbert Gospel
Book covers from the early 1800s
The use of how the book covers came to be was very different from now. Now the book cover serves a very important role as the eye catcher. -- But the original use for these book covers were different in the past.
Going back in time the book covers purpose was to be the protective shield and it was something that hold the pages together. When books were first invented they held a great value of which the sacred text and meaning was inside. This might sound odd as books now are easily found to read and keep. But during that time everything was handwritten and handmade without the help of a machine. Because of these book covers were made in order to protect the text.
The oldest book cover is the front cover of the St Cuthbert Gospel. As seen with the other book covers during the early 1800s the design of it only served as a mere purpose of decoration. The materials used to make this was out of gold and expensive leather.
The shift in the book cover design happened as the techniques and machinery developed during the great revolution. With the printer press that now makes front covers the prices went down.
From the leather front covers to paper people could include more design than just embossing the gold or making different patterns. From this the meaning of the book cover changes from something of protection
to another piece of artwork that hints and illustrate the text inside.
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