Hands on

Traditional skills and where to learn them

Bookbinding

What is it?Bookbinding is the art of putting pages together and encasing them in a hardback cover. This cover or case-binding can be made of a variety of finishes, such as cloth, leather or printed paper. New books (such as journals and reports for libraries, corporate or academic institutions) are bound to create a special durable finish. Old books (such as Bibles, missals, antiquarian volumes) are often rebound as part of their restoration. Special conservation materials and techniques are used when repairing and restoring valuable old books or personal keepsakes.

How it is done?"You start by gathering the loose sheets and then you glue or stitch them together. This book block is forwarded [ie made ready for putting on the outside cover]," says Barbara Hubert, a book- binder based in Cork city.

The back board, front board and spine piece are chosen, cut to size and covered in the required material (eg leather, fabric or paper). The cover is left to dry overnight. Sometimes, gold lettering is embossed onto the cover before the book block is glued into it. Then the bound book is again left to dry overnight.

Conservation bookbinding is a much more specialised craft. “We save everything from the original book – the cover, boards, leather and even the threads – and we only use acid-free materials in a process that is completely reversible,” says Paul Curtis from Mucros Bookbinding, in Muckross House, Killarney, Co Kerry. Curtis says the basic equipment remains unchanged from that used by handbinders of the 18th-century classic Dublin bookbinding era.

How long does it take?You can make a bound book in three days, according to Barbara Hubert. "A lot of people expect a book to be bound quickly but it can't be done in the day if you want the book to go through the proper drying-out process," she says.

Where do I sign up?Although there was a long tradition of bookbinding in Ireland, where specific skills such as leather finishing, gold tooling and edge marbling were passed down through generations, opportunities to learn the craft now are rare.

Bookbinders are often asked to run bookbinding workshops. Barbara Hubert will run a day-long course on Japanese stitch sketchbook on July 2nd, in her book-bindery at Hatfield House, Tobin St, Cork (€90; hubertbookbinding.com; tel: 021-4277546).

Mucross Conservation Bookbindery takes paper conservation interns and runs occasional bookbinding workshops (bindery@ muckross-house.ie; tel: 064-6670151).

For details of bookbinders working in Ireland, search for bookbinding on the craftspeople section of the Crafts Council of Ireland website, ccoi.ie.