File:BOOK FITTING (FindID 717633).jpg

A Medieval copper alloy book clasp of Howsam type A.1.1, with a hinged strap end and solid clasp terminal. The strap end section is formed from folded sheet metal and is broadly rectangular in plan, slightly widening towards the attachment end which is concave. At the attachment end there is a rivet hole in each corner of one of the plates. At the opposite end the plate is bent in half over the hinge back and the corners are recessed to fit the arms of the clasp terminal which go over the ends of the hinge bar. The strap end would once have moved freely on this hinge.

The solid cast terminal is D-shaped in plan with a circular hole running through the centre. It thins slightly towards the straight edge which is adjacent to the strap end and from the corners of the edge project two short arms which are transversely pieced to fit over the ends of the hinge. Projecting from the middle of the curve of the D there is a long thicker knop, rectangular in plan but in profile possibly shaped into a very crude animal head with two ridges on the top and a small indent for the mouth below. This knop has a circular hole through it in profile; thus set at a right angle to the hole though the main part of the terminal. There are slight traces of grooved linear decoration on the front plate. The surface has a smooth, green patina. A very similar item can be seen on the PAS database (SOM-4F6A0C) upon which this description is based.

Egan (1998:279) illustrates an almost indentical strap-and-pin mount, no.919 dating to the late 14th to 15th centuries. Survivals on books show that these late medieval clasps had corresponding pin mounts on the covers, each consisting of a rod which was fitted through the clasp's central hole. The transverse hole though the knop could orriginally have had cords attached to provide purchase during opening and closing.