Coptic Endband

The appearance of the codex as we know for today can be traced back to the second century of Christianity. the first remaining binding structures seem to date only between the 3rd and 4th century AD; it is the Egyptian sand that kept the earliest physical evidence of the famous Gnostic manuscripts that found in 1945 and known as Nag Hammadi single-quire codex and also the sand preserved some other Coptic multi quire codices.

In the late Coptic codices, which date from the 7th to the 11th centuries according to (Szirmai, 1999), was written on parchment, some on papyrus and a few on paper, and covered with papyrus boards and in some cases in wooden, with attached endbands that has the weave going continuously from the board across text block and back to other board as a functional part. The beginning and end of the endband sewing are anchored at the head and tail of the boards close to the spine. However, no endband from this period has survived undamaged, but remnants propose that the endbands were an essential part of the late Coptic binding technique.

Here is a video tutorial step by step how to make Coptic Endband (Headband)

This late Coptic endband tie-downs into the codecs boards and the spine usually using a thick thread of linen or cotton that is used for sewing the signatures together. This type of structure appears several times by itself, without decoration or any other primary or secondary core.