Release date is 2026-01-23

Carol Brown, Tim Miller and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

Bookbinding self taught by Ben Davidson is a practical do-it-yourself craft manual written in the late 1920s. It introduces beginners to hand bookbinding, focusing on simple, affordable methods and materials for making and repairing books.

The book opens with a step-by-step project for sewing-free linen holders for Little Blue Books, then lists essential tools such as a sewing bench, press, backing boards, brushes, and cloth. It explains how to stitch signatures onto cords, tie off sections, and add reinforced endpapers before gluing and lining the spine with cheesecloth and paper. Clear guidance follows on measuring and building covers: whole-cloth cases, and two-material bindings with buckram backs and corners paired with cloth or paper sides, including how to cut and fit corners neatly. Additional chapters show how to rebind worn books by removing old covers, cleaning the spine, repairing and restitching signatures, and how to make simple loose-leaf scrapbooks with punched boards and rings. A final section teaches basic lettering using a hand tool-press and printer’s ink, plus methods for light-on-dark titles with praeger or gold leaf and egg-white size, ending with cleaning tips and practical advice. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Girard: Haldeman-Julius Publications, 1927