The Complete Book of Bookbinding [Hardcover]

Josep Cambras (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2004

Students, teachers, fine arts professionals, crafts aficionados, art historians, restorers, and bibliophiles: the list of people who will appreciate the beauty of this extraordinary summary of bookbinding techniques is endless. Written by a professor of bookbinding at the Escola d’Arts i Oficis in Barcelona, it provides a precise, systematic, and fully illustrated approach to the craft. Everything is covered in marvelous detail: tools and materials, the parts of the book and the binding, and protective features. Handsome ideas for decorating the cover (stamping, gilding, engraving) abound, as do suggestions for restoration. Eight specific and extremely detailed projects for binding form the heart of the volume, which includes binding in fabric, making a jacket with flaps for graphic works, and constructing a leather-trimmed slipcase.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Lark Books; 1st edition (November 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157990646X
• ISBN-13: 978-1579906467
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,470 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Complete? It would be better if it was called "Advanced", April 4, 2006

By 

A. Magalhes "little hotel" (Brazil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Book of Bookbinding (Hardcover)

When I saw the title "Complete Book of bookbinding", I was hoping a huge book, with every detail about this craftwork. When the package arrived here at my house, I got surprised, not to say disapointed: it's a 160 pages book, trying to embrace EVERY aspect of bookbinding: history, materials, a few binding tecniques, restoration tips and how-to make boxes.

Of course, this great amount of subjects written on few pages is boarded on a superficial form. The history chapter is very short, and the contemporary paragraph is questionable, once that only Josep Cambra's style is pointed as an example.

"Tools and materials" and "Chemises and boxes" are the best part of this title, occupying the major part of the pages.

Some explanations are simply skipped. I felt difficult to reproduce the "One-piece drop-spine box" covered with fabric, once that little details weren't written, and the images weren't big enough to solve my problem.

I'm not going to lie: it's a good book for advanced bookbinders. But the author fails while trying to write about EVERY aspect of the craft. And the title is too strong for the few binding tecniques shown here.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Advanced Bookbinding Techniques, January 31, 2005

By 

a bookbinder (Mass.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Book of Bookbinding (Hardcover)

Many of the books currently available on bookbinding only offer a glimpse into the possibilities of fine binding -- this volume, recently published from a Spanish edition, not only offers traditional bookbinding techniques, in full and partial leather, vellum, and cloth, but also offers detailed guidelines for more de luxe treatments, such as leather and fabric doublures and edge decorations. If you are an advanced or advancing bookbinder, the images and techniques discussed in this volume will add greatly to your repertoire of skills.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of it's kind, November 1, 2010

By 

Clayton Gore "The Leaning Bookshelf" (TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Complete Book of Bookbinding (Hardcover)

The Complete Book of Bookbinding- Josep Cambras - is great for do-it-yourself or for pros that are looking for best practices. I use this book in bookbinding classes that I teach and the way the book is layed out and the way that it explains everything is first rate. This book is becoming harder and harder to find and is usually accompanied by a $100.00 dollar price tag for a new copy. In my opinion even the $100.00 price is worth it. This book is very detailed and informative.