For all who are wondering , this company still exists in Dublin, the name changed back in 1981 to Antiquarian Bookcrafts and moved to Marlay Park, we moved again in 2013 to Ballymount industrial estate in Dublin, my father is in the video, Cathal O' Grady, I have continued on my father and grandfathers profession at Antiquarian Bookcrafts where we still repair and restore books just like in the video.
So glad to hear that! I was trained up in the old methods of letterpress printing. It kills me to see how younger people do it these days. So much of the craft is lost! But here and there you'll find someone, usually older, using all the old brilliant techniques. Like those shown here. Anyway. Good wishes to you from Northern California.
My Dad is a trained Bookbinder but hasn't worked as such for many years, if you are ever looking for more staff with experience, even just for part time work, I think he genuinely misses the work.
I just learned that the librarian at 14:37 recently passed away in August 2021. Kudos to her lifelong dedication to preserving the heritage of mankind. Rest in peace.
My father was a master bookbinder for nearly 43 years. Sadly, he passed away almost 6 years ago. However, the continuity of the craft has been assured. My husband was my father’s apprentice. My husband is now the master bookbinder. I don’t know if the family business will survive this coronavirus. If it doesn’t, I know he will continue it as a hobby. This video brought back memories of helping in the bookbindery as I grew up. The pounding sounds and the smell of glues, machine oil, and leather is unforgettable. My main job was working with the ludlow machine and stamping. However, I had my hand before in every aspect of putting a book together. My interests diverged from bookbinding into healthcare (mainly from collating medical journals for years lol). I’m a registered nurse, now.
This is so intresting, sounds like wonderful childhood memories. Glad your husband learned the trait and continues the work. Would love to learn more and carry out this great tradition.
21:15 He's working on Photius's famous "Bibliotheca" aka, "the Myriobiblon" or "the Ten-Thousand Books". Photius was basically the first book reviewer. In that book are reviews of something like 300 different books he read in his lifetime. Most of them have been lost and are totally unknown today. It's a really important book from the 9th century.
Indeed, a Kindle doesn't quite cut it. It's hard to feel cozy or even nostalgic when reading something off of a lit screen. I like books, no batteries or electricity needed. I love to go into a book store and get hit in the nose by the smell of all that paper, ink and glue. LOL
@@SpiritBear12 I understand what you mean ✌️ I buy lots of books on Kindle, but the best ones, I buy "for real". I read good books several times. Just like I play good CDs more than once.
As a book collector, I do appreciate the art and craftsmanship behind precious old books. Sadly every day it is more difficult to find qualified craftsmen who can do the necessary repairs of old books or the binding of new ones. A beautiful art that is rapidly disappearing. Great video, but with a sad and melancholic aftertaste. Cheers
I'm trying my best to learn how to do bookbinding. I've found that my friend's mom does it, and she taught me the flat back binding method. Regardless of the fact that supplies can be rare and expensive and I can't find a class to teach me how to properly prepare traditional books, I'm still looking. The art isn't dead, not yet.
Fret not, there are still some of us who practice the art. And there are quite a few university programs dedicated to papermaking and book binding. And more than a few private institutions.
RU-vid has a fascinating collection of master craftsmen plying their trade. I would also recommend Baumgartner Restoration. He cleans and restores old paintings and it is amazing to watch him work and listen to what he is doing. Very "Bob Ross-eqsue". I would suggest The Conservation of The Assassination of Archimedes Narrated Version to start with.
I am speechless! What a beautiful craft! This is real valuable work, and cultural ware. These books are certainly a national treasure of Ireland, but also a treasure for all Europe!
I can watch this for hours! Thank you for posting! My mother and my niece went to Ireland for my mother's 70th birthday! She loved it! They spent a night in a castle, too! She died a few years ago at 91.
Wow. I love this. I am so impressed with this degree of beauty and excellence! And the lady who’s been there since age 14! Thank you for this showing these wonderful people to us. I am so grateful! Love and best wishes from Mississippi. ❤️
I find more and more I turn away from watching regular TV , to watching documentaries on RU-vid;I can find programs on more subjects than I can imagine each one packed with learning. Thank you
I was an apprentice at a bookbinding shop in the 80's but I couldn't find any steady job with it. But I have some books that I have made myself. And I'm of course not even close to these people :)
My grandmother and 3 great aunts were all bok binders, and used to rebind my mother's school books and copies for her every year. My grandmother met my grandfather, a printer, in the gap between the printing room and the binding room of their press in Dublin city centre- the name escapes me, and both of them have died, so unable to ask- but he went on to work with the National Print Museum, which I wish would have more about the binding side of the press!
Sadly,the company no longer exists.I looked it up after watching this.Though one can hope that this fine art is continuing in a different establishment.I hate to see these old and beautiful craft traditions dying out.
I have the same thoughts, I decided to take up book binding as a hobby on the side. But I hope to do it for my books to give my family special editions
I have learned to be an Offset-Printer from the year 1991- 1994 and a Book binder in the years from 1994 - 1996. I'm living near the City of Mainz in Germany. There is a Museum about Printing and the Inventor of the printing with moveable letters, Johannes Gutenberg. On some days there are Events for kids where they could see and learn about printing and book binding when old Masters show their works of art. Sadly in our digital time a lot of books are only in bits and bites to read. But also a lot of people love to have a physical book in their hands. And I also love to write my stories first on paper before I tip it into the PC. :)
Though I agree that the oldschool traditional way is dying out bookbinding itself won't so don't worry about it! I myself do it as a hobby and my goal is to create a real "Codex" grade book that even could rival this excellent Dublin book binding quality [I mainly do 2D art so I can fill it with that in a very good way] I already can do "standart" books in a bookshop quality. The only difference would be the cost and time to make it because as a layman I lack the awesome machinery and routine of those professionals which will be lost in time (or at least some machienes preserved in a museum).But if you look around for bookbinding tutorials you will see that there are many people out there still holding that awesome tradition up.
This brings back wonderful memories of my childhood as my father was a bookbinder. I can remember watching him sometimes as he worked. I still have a small container gold leaf that was his that he'd saved when not all the leaf was used in a project.
I have always dismissed the gold filigree and rich leather spines on the few eighteenth and early nineteenth century books I possess, valuing only the contribution of the text to my historical research. This documentary has made me examine the bookbinding for the first time, and begun to appreciate the craftsmanship that went into them, even if they don't match that of the Dublin and Paris traditions. Thank you for posting this and adding a value to my enjoyment of these books I never knew I needed.
I raise my glass to the art shown here and the artisans at work . This is an art now passed from the general world, but for the few who carry its torch you have my un-dieing respect, as do all those that maintain the crafts of our past to carry such art forward to the times when mankind will once again need its function and form.
I am a junk journal maker and paper crafter. Never did I have a clue of this process. I cannot believe how interesting this was for me, and how much I now appreciate and admire the entire process. Simply unbelievable craftsmanship. Thank you so much for sharing this with the world.
Magnificent. What a joy to behold the work of such highly skilled conservators! Thank you to everyone who had a part in producing this superb video record.
The skill, artistry, and knowledge these craftsmen, and craftswomen possess are almost irreplaceable and should be considered national treasuries. This is an art form that is almost gone from existence. The Victorian Era had the most detailed and beautiful forms in architecture, clothing, art, furniture, books, and music. Oh, how I wish we could recapture those qualities again.
Hands is a real great series of short films. I have been watching many recently and they are all wonderful and interesting. This one was particular fabulous. Tradition and skill within all trades should never best lost forever, and only hands do it better than anything else.
Thank you for posting this. This is satisfying in so many ways: historic preservation, art, expert craftsmanship, love of books and more. The librarian at 14:35 seems to me to be much more than a librarian( no disrespect to librarians, their work goes unsung), I would also call her her a curator, and I thank her for that. Also , the young woman at 0:52 , to have started this craft at fourteen and to stay with it is amazing. With young people like her I feel comfortable that after I am gone the world might just be ok.
I’ve always secretly wanted to be a printer or bookbinder. There’s something about the smell of ink, gold leaf, paper, wood, glue, and the textures of these things, the feel in one’s hands of a freshly bound book…! The few times I mentioned it to the vocational counselor at school, my comment was ignored entirely or dismissed with a light laugh. Even in the early 1970’s, there was no place in the modern world for a bookbinder. Besides, it was not only outmoded, but a manual trade, clearly beneath someone with a university education!
Oh what I have given for the opportunity of being a bookbinder or a jeweler, but alas my mother saw such endeavours beneath her son, so I was swiftly send to a university to later become a chemist. After decades of hating my work and years after my mother's passing I dare buying everything I needed to do bookbinding in my home, i have never sold anything I do, nor i intend to, but it gives me happiness,to finally do what I have always wanted to
It’s amazing to see this artful work. The old ways are fascinating to me. Even though I’m 2 generations removed from my ancestral homeland in Ireland, I’m very thankful to reconnect to the old ways….thank you from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
Ever since I was a child I have enjoyed the artistry of these type of lovely books. I have been known to purchase old books just because of their binding! Then I put them on display in my house so I can enjoy them. Thank you for this most informative and interesting video presentation. I am glad that the business continues to thrive in this day and age of computer technology.
It's amazing how these extremely intricate skills can be made to look easy to the point of appearing slightly slapdash in the hands of experts: and yet the end result is always a masterpiece.
There is a wonderful series of DVDs available from the filmmakers with old skills from boatbuilding to lacemaking and saddle making. Twenty hours in total. I'd heartily recommend them all ! They are produced by David and Sally Shaw-Smith and will be come one of your most treasured possessions if you can buy them
Thanks very much for uploading this fascinating programme. I really enjoyed it. The makers of older TV shows could still assume that viewers had intelligent interests and grown-up attention spans! My "pandemic project" was actually to learn some basic bookbinding skills. If nothing else, the experience taught me the real cost and value of handmade bindings. Our modern consumer culture expects things to be cheap and available instantly. If we're ever to attain a "sustainable" way of life, we'll have to get used to paying more and owning less-and therefore also choosing to own only those things that will really last.
Can't see if anyone else noticed this but the timing of the end of the music and the guillotine blade around the 7 minute mark is genius editing. Whoever did this, if it were done on purpose, was ahead of their time!
Now this is true craftsmanship and tradition! Such important and beautiful workmanship is priceless. I would love to visit Ireland and see this very shop. What a true honour this would. Warm regards from Canada. Just pure magic.
A friend bequeathed an important book to me. The book was a pile of ragged, stained paper, had a moth eaten leather cover, and was basically destroyed. I scanned the entire book into tiff file images, discoverd, and then added the missing text. A book binder in the city where I live restored to book. It now appears to be very old, a book that has been well preserved.
I'm so glad this bookbinders is still in business and John still there. So nice at the start they gave the exact address which is within the first page Google results. I remember working in old street London, on the way there through Mount Pleasant there was a very old looking binders. I mean the place looked like it hasn't been cleaned since the1920s/30s. I went in and the guy looked just as old and we talked, I offered to help him clean and restore and do general diy in turn for learning to bind. I was set to to two days a week Sunday and Monday, 5 hours each day. Each day I would take an hour doing what he needed, mainly cleaning and installing electrical features and rewiring. So 8 hours a week which I was really excited to do, especially from someone with so much experience. He was over 70 and had learned his craft from childhood. I arrive on Sunday at 11am to no answer, I knock and knock and he answers really angry and smelling badly of booze. He'd forgotten our talk and thought I was running a scam, he was shouting something about calling the police. Really wish he wasn't so unstable because the few times I passed by I really wanted to ask again
Thank you for uploading this... I visited John's business many times over the years. Was so sad to hear he passed away last year. He had some lovely old books in his home many rebound by himself. I'm so glad his business is still going.
If my Mother could't find me the first place she called was the library. I actually got lost in the first grade trying to go to the library by myself. As soon as I realized I could read I was hooked on the library.
Beautiful craft. I've tried my hand at bookbinding but this is at a level so far above anything I've ever accomplished, it leaves me humbled and amazed. Thanks for sharing.
Wow, that was fascinating. I never realized that books like the ones shown at about 14:45ish could be restored so well. It's too bad nothing like this documentary is made any more..
