OOKBINDING has traditionally been considered a suitable work for monks. All medieval monasteries had a book which contained the local customs and practices of the monastery. One such book the Customary of the Benedictine Abbey of Eynsham in Oxfordshire, which dates from the thirteenth century states that the work of binding libros ligare can be carried out during the whole day a mane usque ad Vesperas because it can be done without making a loud noise sine magno strepitu fieri potest and thus not disturb anyone. The responsibility for binding and restoring the monastery's books belonged to the Cantor who had to find everything necessary for that task omnia quae ad reparacionem librorum sunt necessaria
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After one thousand years the art of binding is still carried on in Benedictine monasteries throughout the world. It is still valued as a monastic craft precisely because it can be carried out noiselessly, without undue conversation and loud banging noises sine magno strepitu and thus contributing to the preservation of that silence which Saint Benedict insists upon in his Rule for monks as a necessary climate for prayer and recollection.

As the Quarr bindery grows in experience and expertise, it is hoped that specialised areas of binding might be developed.

Attention will be given to the restoration and conservation of ancient books: the bindery is well equipped to develop this aspect of its work. There are many highly skilled binders at work throughout the country, but our aim is not to be just another bindery or even to set up in competition with local binders. A monastic bindery should reflect something of the tradition which it has inherited from the monks of bygone centuries. The work of monks will always be carried out in an atmosphere marked by prayer and dedication. While this is not sufficient to ensure the professional quality of the work, it does provide a setting in which some of the finer aspects of the craft can be practised and which would not be possible in the competitive world in which we live. Since the monk binders have the support of their community and the rhythm of their life, they have the chance of developing the artistic and other elements which belong to the craft and which may not be possible for individuals and small binderies.

All who work in the Quarr Abbey Bindery have an appreciation of the potential and significance of this work. Monastic binderies did not invent the craft but they certainly had a significant influence upon its progress and development. It is hoped that Quarr Abbey Bindery will maintain this tradition and its Binders prove to be worthy successors of those countless unknown monks who throughout the centuries kept alive the skill which ensured that writings of ancient authors and exquisite works of illumination were preserved right down to our own time and which are now the valued possessions of many libraries and museums throughout the world.

The work of binding is not limited to the needs of the monastic library, work is accepted on a commercial basis. Minor repair and restoration work is also done.

Please contact:
The Bookbindery, Quarr Abbey, Ryde, Isle of Wight, PO33 4ES
    or fax 01983 884402

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GREGORIAN Chant is a musical repertory made up of chants used in the liturgical services of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant first appears distinctly in the Roman repertory of the fifth and sixth centuries. Its care and perhaps some of its composition was in the hands of a group of ministers in a specially dedicated service to the Roman basilicas, the schola cantorum. Gregorian chant also appears to have been an aural music, that is, transmitted by ear and committed to memory – like other music of the world at the time.

In the second half of the eighth century, the political rapprochement between the French kingdom of Pepin and Charlemagne, and the papacy, widened the Roman liturgy’s field of appreciation. The French crown decreed its adoption throughout the kingdom. It is at this time that the written records which have come down to us begin to appear first in France, then all over the Empire and beyond. Despite wide graphic differences, their uniformity of content clearly records a single reading of an unbroken tradition.

The texts (words and some musical notations), committed to writing in books, become an official reference text. The general allure of the Roman chant with its modal architecture was of great attraction to Gallican musicians. They dressed it, however, in a completely different way.

The term “Gregorian chant” was first used to describe this hybrid of Roman and Gallican chant.

At first, written records served as memory prompts with just the artistic directions for correct interpretation and performance. The musical tones were still taught by ear and transmitted from memory.

But with the gradual increase of pitch indications in the manuscripts came a corresponding decrease in the interpretive directions, and with it accordingly, a decrease in the role of memory. As a result, Gregorian chant fell into complete decadence by the end of the Middle Ages: the manuscripts offer little more than a “heavy and tiresome succession of square notes”.

When Prosper Guéranger, undertook the restoration of benedictine monastic life on the site of an old priory at Solesmes in 1833, after forty years of interruption due to the French Revolution: he seized upon the restoration of Gregorian chant with enthusiasm. He began by working on its execution, asking his monks to respect the primacy of the text in their singing: pronunciation, accentuation and phrasing, with an eye to guaranteeing its intelligibility, in the service of prayer. Dom Guéranger also placed the task of restoring the authentic melodies into the hands of one of his monks. Thus began the great work of restoration which continues to the present day.

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