chemises (Q243): Difference between revisions

Secondary covers fitted over a primary cover and often held in place without adhesive by sewn pockets which fit over the fore-edges of the boards. Such covers were often subsequently fixed in place by bosses or other furniture nailed through them into the boards. Chemises were usually made larger than the book they covered, allowing them to overlap and protect the edges of the book, sometimes with edges which met across the closed edges of the book, sometimes with wide overlaps on the fore-edge and deep extensions, or skirts, at the tail edge. The protective function of chemises made from plain alum-tawed skin (a typical Romanesque type, but found throughout the middle-ages) was often subsumed into decoration by the use of exotic and expensive silk textiles, worked with metal threads in silver and gold and with elaborate tassels on the corners, intended to show the wealth and taste of the owner. It is this latter type which is most often known as a chemise. The characteristic knotted cover of the girdle-book was sometimes formed by a secondary cover or chemise, often of leather, the skirt of which was gathered together in an elaborate knot or decorated ring which allowed it to hang from a belt, or girdle (Szirmai, p.236-7). The loose textile secondary covers found on nineteenth- and twentieth-century account books were known as "covers" (Monk & Lawrence, p.122).