The next time you think about what digital means to publishing, think of the bookbinders.

You can find this in Literary Diversions | Written by Melissa on November 24, 2009

San Francisco is fortunate enough to be the home of the new American Bookbinder’s Museum, which claims to be the only bookbinding museum in the country. Like the Great American Kazoo Factory it’s exactly the sort of obscure delight that gets this nerdy road-tripper’s heart pumping.

It seems that SanFran was once a bookbinding hotspot, before 1. a fire in 1906 burned down 30 bookbinding shops, and 2. the trade started being outsourced overseas in the 60s. Tim James, the museum’s founder, still handworks books for commercial clients, using machines that don’t even use electricity. In the age of the internet, that’s no small feat.

If, like me, you’re in no position to tour a tiny museum in California, TreeHugger has a slideshow with a brief history of the trade.