There are broadly three kinds of medieval book: first, books containing texts for reading and study (library books), secondly, books for use in a church or chapel for public or private devotion (liturgical books), and, thirdly, books containing records and business materials for reference and administration (archival books). Each kind of book had a different use, and this was often reflected in the manner in which each was made, used and housed, including the manner in which they were bound. However, the only kind of British books with medieval bindings that have been studied are library volumes, and few liturgical books with medieval bindings have survived at all. The number of archival books to have survived in medieval bindings is simply unknown, and very little has been written about those which have. Therefore almost everything below is concerned with library books that have survived with medieval bindings.

There are two kinds of medieval bindings: first, those whose quires were ‘sewn’ to ‘supports’ and enclosed in wooden boards covered with skin, usually manufactured by tawing (‘tawed skin’); secondly, those whose quires were either individually ‘stitched’ or sewn, and enclosed in a semi-stiff or limp covering, usually either of parchment or tawed skin. The purpose of both kinds of covering remained the same: a means of enclosing leaves of parchment made up into quires taking into account their hydroscopic nature, natural features and irregularities. In ‘stiff-board’ bindings the wooden boards acted like two platens, squeezing air from between the leaves when closed, to prevent them reacting to changes in the surrounding environment and to exclude dust.