19th century Bookbinding Techniques
In 2019-2020, Bethany Procopio attended the bookbinding and repair workshop of the Lit & Phil Library in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where she learned basic 19th-century bookbinding and book conservation from the master bookbinder Tim Gradon. Techniques included:
folding, stacking and sewing signatures into a text block
pasting, hammering, and reinforcing the spine
constructing the cover with a variety of covering materials, like leather, cloth, and synthetic alternatives
gold tooling by hand and with a mechanical press
assembling the book
