Books & Clasps

 

"Leiden, Univerity Library, BPL MS 2579, 15th century (photo: Erik Kwakkel)" (smarthistory.org)

Books with clasps, such as this one, have been seen in many movies, TV shows, video games, anywhere; if not, then I guess its just me. But if you have seen them, I'm sure you've asked yourself why were clasps needed? To keep private things private, and keep your secrets safe. I would have thought the same thing, but clasps were created to keep pages from wrinkling. The books from medieval times used parchment paper. Oftentimes these parchment pages would get damaged, lost, or super wrinkly. To keep that from happening, clasps were invented; but not only for this reason, but also to help books keep their shape. 

During medieval times, many people would most likely be traveling, doing something dangerous, adventurous; or something along the lines that would destroy books. To keep books from being destroyed. Clasps were made, to keep the books from deforming, warping, or changing shape. As books were as valuable as our phones nowadays, people couldn't let go of books. Since libraries and their books were frequently used, something else needed to change.

So studs, or legs, were added to preserve pages and their leather covers from damage. Due to so many rotations going on, from shelf, to hand, to shelf, and so on. These books were getting beaten so badly; they decided to add legs and preserve the lives of these books a little longer. It's crazy to think that changing something so simple proved to be so useful. Although most medieval books did not survive with their clasps intact. It's cool to see how these books have survived so far into the future. 

Dr. Erik Kwakkel, "Clasps: hugging a medieval book," in Smarthistory, August 8, 2015, accessed September 27, 2020, https://smarthistory.org/clasps-hugging-a-medieval-book/. 

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