A. Loveridge - Bookbinder

I've been struggling over what class to take next semester when a "class-like" opportunity just dropped into my lap. As you may know, I have been a member of the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library for several years and currently serve as their Treasurer. You may also know that our major fund raiser is a "Book Den" where we sell donated books and books the library has retired. Well, some of these books would be a lot more appealing if they were in a little better condition. Of course a book that in pristine condition will only sell for $4 is not worth repairing but one that would bring in $25 to $50 might be worth it. So the other day our Board President Cherril was bemoaning the fact that the board member she had asked to learn book binding hadn't taken any initiative to do so. Hadn't even called the member of Friends who is a professional book binder to ask about learning. Seeing a golden opportunity I told Cherril that I was very interested and would love the chance. Within 3 days I had an appointment with Pat Bruno.

Pat Bruno is a professional book binder who has been in the business almost 25 years. At any one time he has at least a dozen books in progress. His specialty is 16th and 17th century books with sheepskin and goatskin bindings. He likes to take apart a distressed book to see what the binding is made of and then tries to match the repair to the original materials as much as possible.


My first assignment was actually a demonstration by Pat on an LDS Hymnal that I had brought along. The pages were falling out from the covers and back of the book so I figured we couldn't really hurt it. Pat liked the idea but recoiled at my statement that the hymnal was a "throwaway". "No book is a throwaway," he shot back.


Like many jobs such as painting or reupholstering, the first thing you have to do in book repair is the prep work. Pat carefully cut the covers ("boards" he called them) from the spine and the spine from the actual pages. He had me peel away the marbled paper inside the boards.


While I was peeling the boards he gave the book new front and back pages made from simple (but not cheap) drawing paper.

He then put the pages into a wooden press ...

and glued on the header ribbon ...

and mesh backing.

I couldn't believe that we were already 2 hours into the lesson. Since we now had to wait for the glue to dry thoroughly, I suggested this would be a good time to end this lesson. We talked some more however (he's a difficult man to say good-bye to) and agreed to continue these "lessons" every week on Wednesday afternoon. It's not my favorite day but it is his best and he is the teacher.