The near-complete loss of the front endpaper folio is softened by creating a lovely example of structure visible through damage: the white paper along the inner margin of the wooden board is evidence of an adhered boards structure, i.e. the boards were drummed onto the textblock and the book was covered with leather "in boards". This is evident in the way the leather turn-ins are folded over this torn paper stub. In a "case binding", a later style, the boards would be covered in leather off the book, then attached to the textblock as a final step... wherein the turn-ins would be underneath the adhering leaf.

We also see the end of a woven stuck-on endband peeking out through the bottom of the front joint, a very Germanic element.