Custom Leather Book
Bible Recovery
About the Project
Recovering a special heirloom is one of my favorite duties as a bookbinder. In some ways, I feel a certain responsibility to help bring life back to objects like this, if at all possible. This project was no exception.
Desiring to restore a book that meant the world to him, the client reached out with a vision in mind and I was happy to help in any way possible. I was not the least bit surprised to learn that the client was advised by some other binders to just “get a new book” and that rebinding this would “not be worth it”. I’ve heard many binders say things like this in the past and it is a bit disheartening.
Books hold a special place in our hearts, the value of which cannot be determined by most measures of cost or labor. To me, it did not matter what the book was made out of or if I felt it was “worth it” because it was worth it to the client. He loves this book and I could immediately feel that love radiating throughout the text-block. I’ve worked on many bibles in the past and rarely have a seen one with notes on almost every page (~2,500 pages or so)!
Design
I X O Y E
Methods
This was a fairly straightforward process and meant to reflect the simple beauty of the book itself. Using copperhead-brown leather and 36pt typeface for the gold stamping, the finished product is both smooth and elegant.
While the original text-block was in shambles, the client was a bit worried if we could do the work without damaging the book in the process. I assured him that we can make this work possible without incident.
The final product turned out wonderfully! The copperhead brown was a great choice to match the original brown and the structure of the book is a solid foundation for a long life ahead.
With thinner boards, each cover is a bit more flexible than my previous books. This was done to give a similar feeling to the original book and partnered well with the thin pages.
Interested?
Boston Harbor Bookbindery is experienced in designing custom, one-of-a-kind books for each client.
Whether you’d like to restore a family heirloom, re-bind a personal favorite, or print a book from scratch; we have just what you need to make your dreams a reality.