I hereby dub this month “Coptic Month” on bathtubdreamer, because we had very nice lighting the other morning and a new camera, so I needed something to take pictures of. And here we are.

The Coptic binding is one of the first bindings I learned, when I took a few classes through the extension program at the Alberta College of Art + Design. This type of binding dates back to as early as 200 AD in early Egypt (Wikipedia). It’s also known as a chain stitch binding, because of the appearance of the stitches on the spine.

This particular version is called a two-needle Coptic, because it’s sewn with a needle on each end of the thread. There are actually two threads: one for the two left chains, and one for the two right chains. I prefer the two-needle version over the single-needle version because the single-needle version has sad looking not-quite-chains on the stitches closest to the edges. Both types (and many others) are described in the third volume of Keith Smith’s Non-Adhesive Binding series, Exposed Spine Sewings.

There are a number of ways to attach the boards to the sections; Keith Smith calls this the “Type 3 Board Attachment” and it’s the way I first learned to do it. Since the thread comes through the edge of the board, rather than wrapping around, it hinges better than other attachments that wrap around. But it requires thick bookboard (I used .098″ Davey board), and even then I managed to tear the board on one of the books. But not this one.

The finished book is 9-5/8″ high by 6-7/8″ wide, and there are 128 pages in 8 sections. The pages are Mohawk Superfine 100lb text weight in smooth soft white. The cover paper is Japanese Chiyogami paper, which is a mixture of kozo and sulphite. I buy most of my Chiyogami online from The Paper Place — this particular print is Chiyogami 280, and also comes in blue or red.