{"id":20477,"date":"2022-05-11T14:11:55","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T12:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hab.de\/verborgene-kostbarkeiten\/"},"modified":"2023-06-16T10:47:05","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T08:47:05","slug":"hidden-treasures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hab.de\/en\/hidden-treasures\/","title":{"rendered":"Hidden treasures"},"content":{"rendered":"
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11 May 2022<\/span><\/p>

The heavy bronze door at the entrance to the Augusteerhalle opens up to reveal towering bookshelves. The visitor\u2019s roaming gaze settles on the historical treasury of books, all of which are bound in pale parchment or leather \u2013 or so it seems. Yet this initial impression is deceptive. A far more valuable material was chosen as the cover for just a few well-hidden books: silk.<\/p>

Brightly coloured silk fabrics have long been extremely popular. Depending on how the yarn is processed, a loom can create a wide range of surfaces such as smooth and shiny Etles silk or the softer silk velvet. Its material qualities and costly production processes made silk an option for binding particularly high-quality books from the Middle Ages onwards. Dedicatory volumes, for example, were often bound with fine materials, both as a tribute to their distinguished recipients and as an extravagant eye-catching feature. Visual effects would be used to lend gifts a prestigious appearance; these could involve a splendid silk binding embossed with gold or silver, finely worked fittings, and in rare cases they were even adorned with detailed (metalwork) embroidery. In the case of the dedicatory volume<\/a> for King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (1442\u20131490) shown here, despite the damage to the red silk velvet cover, we can get some idea of the magnificent original effect of the binding \u2013 thanks to the remaining brocade fragments, which date back to an earlier clasp.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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\n\t\t\tCod. Guelf. 43 Aug. 2\u00b0 front cover<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\"Vorderdeckel\"\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/use>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\tCod. Guelf. 43 Aug. 2\u00b0 front cover<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\n\t\t\tCod. Guelf. 43 Aug. 2\u00b0 brocade fragments<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\"Zwei\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/use>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\tCod. Guelf. 43 Aug. 2\u00b0 brocade fragments<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The volume shown below, bound in blue Etles silk, is part of the collection of bindings at the Herzog August Bibliothek. Its elaborate decoration adheres to the notions of courtly prestige in the late 18th century. The monogram with the intertwining letters \u2018P\u2019 and \u2018C\u2019 on the front cover, in conjunction with the ducal crown hovering above it, identifies Philippine Charlotte of Prussia (1716\u20131801) as the recipient of this luxurious treasure. She was a sister of Frederick the Great who became Duchess of Braunschweig-L\u00fcneburg and Princess of Braunschweig-Wolfenb\u00fcttel when she married Herzog Karl I in 1733.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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