RE‑BIND is a macro‑project within ME‑Scripta dedicated to the restoration and study of Coptic bookbindings from the site of This, today part of the collections of the Museo Egizio. These covers once belonged to Coptic codices dating to the 7th–8th century CE, acquired in the early 19th century by Bernardino Drovetti and forming one of the earliest ensembles of Christian books to enter a European collection.
Although many of the parchment leaves they originally enclosed are now dispersed or incomplete, the surviving bindings – leather covers, boards, sewing structures and decorative elements – preserve crucial evidence for the history of the Coptic codex.
1. Conservation and Documentation
RE‑BIND will survey all Coptic bindings and binding fragments from the This codices, stabilise them through tailored conservation treatments and produce detailed photographic and technical documentation. Particular attention will be paid to sewing patterns, leather decoration, spine constructions and traces of use, which are often at risk because of the age and fragility of the materials.
2. Historical and Codicological Research
By analysing structure, materials and ornament, the project will reconstruct how these 7th–8th‑century books were produced, repaired and reused. Comparison with bindings from other collections will help to identify regional styles and workshop traditions and, where possible, to reconnect covers with dispersed or unprovenanced leaves belonging to the same codices.
3. Integration into the Wider History of Written Culture
RE‑BIND links the physical form of the This codices to the texts studied in the Coptic literary and documentary projects of ME‑Scripta. It asks how binding techniques relate to monastic life, liturgy and reading practices, and how the Coptic codex influenced later Christian book traditions around the Mediterranean.
Through this combination of conservation, codicological analysis and historical interpretation, RE‑BIND will transform the 7th–8th‑century Coptic bindings from This into a key reference point for understanding the material culture of Christian Egypt and the early history of the book.
