2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Historical research on the spread of western style bookbinding in Japan : establishing a platform for conservation western style books

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	16K12543
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Library and information science/Humanistic social informatics
Research Institution	The University of Tokyo
Principal Investigator	Moriwaki Yuki 東京大学, 大学院経済学研究科(経済学部), 特任助教 (90733460)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	床井啓太郎松山大学, 経済学部, 准教授 (20508650) 安形麻理慶應義塾大学, 文学部(三田), 教授 (70433729) 福田名津子一橋大学, 附属図書館, 助手 (30456305)
Project Period (FY)	2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
Keywords	製本技術史 / 洋式製本 / ステーショナリー・バインディング / 帳簿製本 / レタープレス・バインディング / 資料保存 / 西洋古典 / W. F.パターソン
Outline of Final Research Achievements	We focused on a physical survey of Western account books in the Meiji era and the Western rare books with traces of restoration in the 1950s by the bookbinders who acquired the Western technology in the Meiji era. At the same time, we amassed information by interviews from technical experts, conducted a philological survey and reexamined the history of Western bookbinding. As regards to account books, the technology derived from the West was transformed by repeated trial and error due to the rapid increase in demand and private-sector makers, and finally it has attained the styles peculiar to Japan. In addition, from the physical survey on the traces of the restoration in the Western rare books, it was confirmed that the technology and knowledge since the Meiji era were basically passed down. In terms of conservation of materials, it was revealed that there was already an idea in the 1950s which was the source of the existing idea of the "preserving original style".
Free Research Field	西洋書誌学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	本研究の学術的な意義は、史的研究と併せて聞き取り調査から得られた情報や現物資料の技術的痕跡をも検証材料とし、これまでの帳簿製本技術史の研究に新たな視座を提示し、今後の製本技術史に関わる諸研究のための基盤を構築し得た点にある。また現物資料から素材や製本構造等の製本技術の特徴を明らかにし、西洋から導入された製本技術が日本的なものとへ変容を遂げる過程を跡付けたことは、今後の日本における洋装本の補修や保存、すなわちコンサベーション技術の向上に寄与するものと考える。これは、研究成果を図書館実務の現場に還元するにとどまらず、文化資産としての図書の保護への寄与という社会的貢献につながる研究であると確信する。