Bookbinding History and Systems

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Bookbinding is a not only a common hobby, but also for some people a wonderfully fulfilling trade that is practiced by thousands. There are few exercises that can blend a feel of the scholarly with the skills of a good handyman in one good artistic pursuit. This is why even in an age of machines and mass production, bookbinding remains a popular pursuit.

There are many ways to get started with bookbinding. One of the best ways can be to go to garage sales or auctions where old damaged books are sold. Make sure none of them are valuable antiques. Then practice repairing the bindings.

Another way of getting into bookbinding is to ignore practicing repair work and to start a new project from scratch after buying the materials you would need. Many people will self publish and then hand bind their own books, like a family history. Another common example of bookbinding includes spiral or plastic coil bookbinding, which will help to put together reports and other similar publications.

The history of bookbinding starts all the way back in Egypt. Coptic bookbinding was practiced by the early Coptic Christians in Egypt as far back as before AD 200. The original method isn’t used often, but a modern form of this is still called Coptic bookbinding today and involves the sewing together of groups of pages into one large book.

Following Coptic bookbinding eventually was long stitch bookbinding, a method that is often still used by bookbinders today. Long stitch bookbinding isn’t an exact process as there are more than one method that fall under this general style. The most notable part of this style is that the stitching goes through a slotted cover, which minimizes (if not eliminates) the need for glue.

While it might not be what you think of when you normally think of bookbinding, spiral bookbinding might very well be the most used method in the world. This is the type of binding that takes place for spiral bound reports, school histories, or even local cookbooks. Also referred to sometimes as “plastic coil bookbinding.”

There are many types of bookbinding, and different people may find different methods preferable. Do a little research, give it a try, and you might find that bookbinding is just the hobby you’ve been looking for!

If you want to learn more about book binding, please have a look at this page covering a wide range of topics, including book binding instruction.