Evricii Cordi Simesusii Germani, Poetae Lepidissimi

[c1550]

Shoults Gb 1550 C

[Leipzig: Valentin Papst]

Recycling unwanted materials into books was a common practice by many bookbinders. In this instance, an unwanted thin vellum (treated untanned calfskin) sheet has been used to form the covers and spine of Euricius Cordus’s Evricii Cordi Simesusii Germani, Poetae Lepidissimi, possibly printed in Leipzig in 1550. The recycled waste can often be old legal documents, business records, or occasionally (and excitedly) a fragmentary survivor of some unknown text. Because of this, binding fragments are now a growth area of study in book history circles. The medieval script on this book remains unidentified.