Repair & rebacking
Detached boards reattached, spines relined, corners rebuilt. We keep the original covering wherever there is enough of it left to keep.
Hand bookbinding & conservation
Books that were meant to be opened again.
We bind short runs by hand and repair the ones that have already had a long life — split spines, loose signatures, water-marked ledgers, a grandmother's recipe folder held together with tape.
Ask about a repair See what we doWhat comes across the bench
Most of our week is repair work. The rest is small editions for printers, artists and people who want one good copy of something.
Short-run binding
Editions of five to two hundred: sewn softcovers, quarter cloth, full cloth with a foiled spine. Sewn on tapes, not glued at the fold.
Boxes & enclosures
Clamshell boxes and four-flap wrappers cut to the book, for volumes too fragile to stand on a shelf unsupported.
How a job runs
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Look at it first
Bring the book in, or send photographs of the spine, the hinges and any loose pieces. We will tell you honestly if it does not need us.
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A written estimate
You get a fixed price and a date before anything is taken apart. Nothing is cut, trimmed or washed without your say-so.
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Bench time
Repairs run two to five weeks depending on how much drying and pressing is involved. Editions are quoted separately.
Materials
We work with unbleached linen thread, wheat starch paste, Japanese kozo tissue and book cloth woven in Lancashire. Adhesives are reversible; nothing goes on a book that cannot come off it again.
Paper
Mould-made and machine papers in cream and white, 80–300 gsm, matched to the block already in hand.
Cloth & leather
Buckram, book linen, and vegetable-tanned goatskin for spines that need to flex for another century.
Foiling
Hand-set brass type, blocked one line at a time. Matt gold, palladium, and a very dark brown that reads almost as blind.
Visiting the workshop
The bench is upstairs at the back of the yard. Ring the bell marked Bindery — the door downstairs is usually propped open in summer.
| Tuesday – Thursday | 10:00 – 17:00 |
|---|---|
| Friday | 10:00 – 14:00 |
| Saturday | By arrangement |
| Sunday & Monday | Closed |