Styleforum › Forums › Lifestyle › Entertainment and Culture › Custom Bookbinding
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Custom Bookbinding

post #1 of 10
5/13/05 at 1:37pm
Thread Starter 
Has anyone here used a custom bookbinder before?
Reply
Reply

Featured Stories on Styleforum

Join the discussions now - Join Styleforum
Belvest at Pitti Uomo 83
Marketplace: Streetwear & Denim (and designer) for sale.
post #2 of 10
5/13/05 at 6:35pm
sorry, are you looking to rebind an old book, or "publish" a personal book?
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 10
5/13/05 at 6:57pm
Thread Starter 
Maybe either/or. Not sure. I'm reading a book on bookbinding right now and was curious if anyone had experience with contemporary practitioners of the art.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 10
5/13/05 at 11:46pm
Yes, some time ago in France. I had them print a facsimile of Joris-Karl Huysmans' decadent novel, A Rebours in a maroon kidskin stamped in gold leaf with a sphyinx, and with an acid green moire silk lining. The paper was Spanish pulp.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 10
5/15/05 at 9:16am
Quote:
Maybe either/or. Not sure. I'm reading a book on bookbinding right now and was curious if anyone had experience with contemporary practitioners of the art.
well, I inherited a set of gibbon from the very early 19th century, something like a forth addition, that was in terrible shape, but that my grandfather had read and reread many times, not trating it like an antiqe but a set of books. I had them rebound, which took away a lot of their value, but allows me to read them, and leave them to my son. it cost me about $1500, and I chose a very simple leather cover and simple paper "lining" (or what ever the term is) in the covers. the guys workshop looked like a printing press froma colonial museum. I remember a short story by Hesse where a spoiled rich young man gets all his books rebound, as he buys them, so that his whole library mathes. that sounded really cool to me at the time.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 10
5/29/05 at 8:04am
Quote:
Quote:
(chorse123 @ May 13 2005,14:57) Maybe either/or. Not sure. I'm reading a book on bookbinding right now and was curious if anyone had experience with contemporary practitioners of the art.
well, I inherited a set of gibbon from the very early 19th century, something like a forth addition, that was in terrible shape, but that my grandfather had read and reread many times, not trating it like an antiqe but a set of books. I had them rebound, which took away a lot of their value, but allows me to read them, and leave them to my son. it cost me about $1500, and I chose a very simple leather cover and simple paper "lining" (or what ever the term is) in the covers. the guys workshop looked like a printing press froma colonial museum. I remember a short story by Hesse where a spoiled rich young man gets all his books rebound, as he buys them, so that his whole library mathes. that sounded really cool to me at the time.
Reading Gibbon several times? Impressive. I've never gone through the whole thing -- but have friends who've done so. I've known a few bookbinders -- it's an art or craft that's not really lost, I'd say. Maybe even on the upswing. (I'm speaking not of general library bindings, which I think are partly automated now). In my experience, I've noticed that it's either some reactionary conservative or hippy who's decided to take up bookbinding.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 10
6/9/05 at 1:58pm
chorse123, You might want to contact the North Bennett Street School here in Boston.  They are the only school that offers a comprehensive bookbinding program in the US.  They might be able to point you in the right direction or might be willing to do the job for you.   Here's the link: NBSS
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 10
6/13/05 at 11:27pm
Sort of. Back in my days of being a securities paralegal, I was responsible for getting closing documents from securities deals closings to a bookbinder we used in downtown DC. I'd hand them a pile of docs and a week or two later they would turn it into a very nice, leatherbound book with gold type on the outside saying it was something like the "Kidder Peabody (remember them?.) XYZ 1991-55" deal. I think they would charge about $200 or $300 or so per book. Anyone could use them, as long as you had some paper to be bound.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 10
6/18/05 at 1:40pm
I've had several things bound (really more recased). I've even done a little bit of bookbinding myself, but on a very basic level. I never worked with leather. I still have my bookbinding stuff in storage. And on Horace's assessment of those who pursue bookbinding, I would fall into the first group. I apprenticed in letterpress printing under a guy who was solidly in the second.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 10
6/18/05 at 1:59pm
Quote:
In my experience, I've noticed that it's either some reactionary conservative or hippy who's decided to take up bookbinding.
Or the child of a binder.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Entertainment and Culture

Featured Stories on Styleforum

Join the discussions now - Join Styleforum
Belvest at Pitti Uomo 83
Marketplace: Streetwear & Denim (and designer) for sale.
Styleforum › Forums › Lifestyle › Entertainment and Culture › Custom Bookbinding