Rubow bindings

Rubow bindings are an evolution of the Sandgren style binding. They resulted from a request by one of Henrik Park’s clients while he was running the famed Anker Kyster bindery in 1940. The client, Jørn Rubow, wondered if he couldn’t extend Sandgrens vellum on the spine across the whole board edge at the head and tail of the binding.

 

Interestingly, Park exposed the vellum (and Park seems to only have done them with vellum, leather seems to have become a “thing” in the 1950s) a millimeter, or less. Also, Park didn’t seem to be a fan of using paste papers, though he did use them. But the majority of his bindings use papers with printed decorations.  On books he published, though, he did seem to only use his paste papers.

 

Park liked these over the Sandgren binding because he thought they were quicker to make and made better use of paper.

 

These are perhaps the most difficult to make of the four Danish Paper Bindings. A modern Danish binder has described them as finicky. And that’s probably the right word.

 

More examples can be found here.