Bookbinders on campus: Hillsdale student and professor craft handbound books

Home Culture Bookbinders on campus: Hillsdale student and professor craft handbound books
Junior Maddy Johnson started bookbinding last summer, and she enjoys crafting her own notebooks and journals  Collegian | Breana Noble
Junior Maddy Johnson started bookbinding last summer, and she enjoys crafting her own notebooks and journals Collegian | Breana Noble

To create something both useful and beautiful is a “human” practice, according to Assistant Professor of English Kelly Franklin.

“Think of the swords in ‘Lord of the Rings,’” Franklin said. “They’re tools of war, but they’re always beautiful.”

Like swordmaking in Tolkien’s works, the art of bookbinding gives both functionality and beauty to text, according to Franklin. And today, as the world moves toward reading digitally, the fear of losing this art form has sparked a resurgence in its popularity and a “renaissance” in the art world.

This revitalization extends to Hillsdale College. Franklin, along with junior Maddy Johnson and Assistant to the Provost Mark Maier, who is teaching a class on the history of the book this semester, have all dabbled in the time-honored craft of bookbinding.

“With the digital book revolution that’s happening with Kindle and e-books, I think people for a while were like, ‘Are print books gone forever?’” Franklin said. “I think it’s actually the opposite. There’s a visceral reaction that we have against this stripping away of the physical thing. It’s also not beautiful. Try as they might, the Kindle is a gadget. It’s cool, but hold it up to a leather-bound book, and it’s kind of nothing.”

According to Maier, this reaction is nothing new for the 21st century.

“There’s usually this response where people are like, ‘No, no, we need to go back to the way things used to be and return to the handmade book,’” Maier said.

For instance, this phenomenon occurred following Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in the 15th century. Later, with the invention of the steam press in the 19th century and the paperback in the 20th, many again returned to traditional bookbinding by hand, according to Maier.

“The paperback comes on the scene, and everyone is like, ‘The world is ending. Culture is doomed. We’re going to go back and make beautiful books again,’” Maier said.

As for bookbinding itself, the trade is relatively inexpensive—Franklin said it might cost about $50 for tools and supplies—and the equipment is easy to find and versatile. Hollander’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan, specializes in bookbinding supplies.

Johnson discovered bookbinding last summer. She wanted a simple notebook to use, so she made an open-bound journal herself.

“I like to make things myself rather than buy them,” Johnson said. “I was at a bookstore looking at their notebooks and just took a good look at one of the bindings, and it was open bound. I liked that. I tried to picture how I could do it.”

Using online resources, Johnson learned how to fold several pieces of paper in half and put them into each other to create bundles called signatures. After poking holes in the binding, she sewed the signatures together using embroidery thread reinforced with beeswax.

In one of her books, she even made her own paper by blending shredded school notes and papers. While Johnson doesn’t formally bind her notebooks, she typically seals them with plastic adhesive for protection. Now that she understands the process, Johnson can complete a book with three or five signatures in about 45 minutes to an hour.

“I’m an example of how accessible it can be,” Johnson said.

Franklin also creates journals, but he puts them in a physical binding. This involves gluing the signatures together and using book board covered in paper or fabric to create the binding.

Assistant Professor of English Kelly Franklin makes a hobby of bookbinding Collegian | Breana Noble
Assistant Professor of English Kelly Franklin makes a hobby of bookbinding Collegian | Breana Noble

“When I found out there was a hobby that involved making books, one of the greatest loves of my life, that was a fitting hobby for me,” Franklin said.

He has also repaired the bindings of several worn-out books, such as a Spanish Bible given to him by his uncle.

“I’ll unbind a book and rebind it into a nicer, more durable binding,” he said.

As an academic, Franklin said he enjoys bookbinding because it allows him to work with his hands.

“So much of our work is done thinking. Making thing should be part of leisure, especially making something that’s beautiful or useful,” Franklin said.

Johnson agreed.

“It’s a really nice break from doing things with your mind to actually do something with your hands,” she said. “I had this growing sense that my generation doesn’t really know how to make things. We’re just always interacting with prefabricated things. It cuts off part of our humanity and our full grasp of the materials we use for everyday life.”

Maier experienced the importance of learning how things are made as a graduate student at the University of South Carolina when his class used a printing press.

“We got to operate the press and set the type,” he said. “We got to actually be a part of the production of an actual book. That was very illuminating for me. It changed the way I look at things.”

For that reason, Maier is working to convince Hillsdale College to purchase a printing press.

“We need to teach a class on how to make handmade paper and put it in binding. We need to make an art colony in Hillsdale and preserve techniques,” Maier said. “We’re going to get it eventually.”