Interview with a Bookbinder

This is one of my side jobs and hobbies. I love bookbinding and restoration. Abebooks.com has interviewed a master bookbinder for their latest online issue of "The Avid Reader." ~ Here are just a couple of snippets, but you can read the whole interview here.

"Dave Allen is a surviving member of an endangered species - a professional bookbinder. Pick up your Yellow Pages - there won't be many listed. Bookbinding is a highly skilled craft requiring enormous patience, concentration and knowledge. It is also a profession kept alive by a few dedicated bibliophiles like Allen."

and another quote:

"By the time he’s finished with this edition, he will have ripped off the spine (it is barely attached), reattached it, oversewn where the pages have come loose while maintaining as much original thread as possible, repaired numerous rips and tears, and more. When he tells me what the book is valued at, how long he will spend with the book and what he charges, his services seem like a bargain."

True, so true...yet it is time well-spent!

Javamom