This highly ornate clasped cover was crafted around 1180 for the Gospels of Henry the Lion for the duke of Saxony and Bavaria.

Book of Kells, Gospel of Luke, genealogy of Christ page, 8th-century.

         With the codex format firmly in place, book binding developed into an art form. Like paintings of this era, the church, the wealthy and the royalty were the main patrons of the book arts. Bindings became more and more elaborate, incorporating precious metals and jewels into the wooden covers, to signify the wealth of the patron. Artists from various countries competed to produce the most beautiful results.³ These elaborate and expensive bindings were justified because of the importance placed on the book. Many of the these innovations are being reexamined and mimicked in today's climate of renewed interested in all areas of the book arts.
         As the outside of the book became more expressive, so did the inside. First initial letters were enlarged, then embellished. These large initial letters soon became an opportunity for creating miniature paintings and lavish decoration using color and gold leaf. These embellishments soon spread to the borders of the page. Wealthy noblemen frequently commissioned a "Book of Hours" containing prayers to be said a certain times of the day. These "Books of Hours" were well known for their rich illumination and illustration.⁴ In the 7th and 8th centuries the monasteries in Ireland were unequalled for their beautiful works, among them the Book of Kells,a codex of the four Gospels, is still referred to as "the most beautiful book in history."⁵
        In the book design of Ireland and Persia, there was careful attention paid to the relationships between the text, the margins, and the proportions of the book. Medieval books established traditions in their page design with the inner margins the smallest, the top larger and the bottom the largest so there would be room for the thumbs when holding the book. The Greeks went so far as to have a formula, varying in size, but always based on the proportion of 5 x 8. The basis for these proportions were that they did not want the book size to be a perfect rectangle (a square plus half a square) because that was not an interesting shape, so the proportions of 5 x 8 was chosen. These proportions were again examined by William Morris, whose influence in the art and craft of the book moved book design into a new area in the mid-late 1800s.

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