The Making of Raised Bands on Bibles

In this video we demonstrate the process I use from start to finish to create raised bands on the spines of leather Bibles.

The Apostolic Fathers

The two volume set above is from my own library. They were given to me by a bookstore owner 25 years ago in the condition you see here.

In the summer of 2010 I produced a really nice binding for them, with marbled papers for endsheets and leather in a half binding. I used red bonded leather for the board panels. They aren't books that I use much but I wanted to do this project to finally put a binding on these books and to attempt a fine binding for the first time in more than 20 years. I'm pleased with the results.

Binding projects from the past

I will start this gallery of my bookbinding work by looking back on some books that I rebound more than 20 years ago. These are a few of the books from my own library that I rebound using traditional bookbinding techniques. The first was a flexible leather bound book. Books covered in cloth and paper are next. The last two are a bit more special.

This half binding is my father's commentary on the book of Revelation. It was bound from the ground up. The signatures of the book arrived printed but unfolded. I had to fold them, sew them all together on tapes, trim the book, and I hand sewed the headbands. I used the same marbled papers for both the endsheets and cover material. A black cowhide (I believe it was) was used for the spine and corners.

This is another copy of my father's commentary prepared for my mother. The same black leather was used for the spine and corners. A nice red bonded leather was used for the field of the cover with complimentary marbled papers as endsheets.