The two-year, comprehensive Bookbinding program teaches students how to make, restore, and preserve books and other printed treasures.
During the first year, you’ll learn the history and development of this traditional craft, as well as develop a host of necessary skills. You'll make a variety of historical and modern binding structures, boxes, and other protective enclosures. The repair of cloth and paper bindings will supplement your understanding of the way books function and break down.
Toward the end of the first year and throughout the second year you will create and repair leather bindings. During your second year, you'll have the opportunity to choose additional projects that reflect your personal career goals in conservation, fine binding, or other areas of the field. Additional learning takes place outside of the classroom — through exhibits, conferences, and field trips to binderies, historic collections, private studios, and conservation labs.
On Tuesday, May 19, 2020, NBSS hosted an online conversation with bookbinder and NBSS alumna Erin Fletcher BB '12, discussing her process for creating a unique, embroidered design binding of La Prose du Transsiberien, on view at the School during the "Drop Dead Gorgeous" exhibition. Watch a recording of the full event here.
As part of a new series of video interviews with members of our community we talk with Rebekah Lord Gardiner BB '93, a Bookbinding graduate, member of the School's Board of Advisors, and co-owner of Shepard & Maudsleigh Studios. Learn how Rebekah's creating community online, and how, when things seem grey, she thinks about a particular children's book and moments of creative possibility.
Bookbinding alumna Rebekah Lord Gardiner BB '93 gave a virtual tour of her home studio in Weston, Massachusetts. A printmaker, bookbinder, and textile artist, and she shares the space with her son, who's a watch and object product photographer.
Making your own videos can be a challenging task. We asked Erin Fletcher BB '12, an NBSS Bookbinding grad and instructor in our Middle School Book Arts program, how she and fellow instructor Colin Urbina BB '11 record their fun kids videos. She explains it just takes some ingenuity and imagination to create affordable, professional how-to videos at home.
Learn how to make a fun 8-page folded book from a single sheet of 8.5x11" paper, with NBSS Bookbinding graduates Erin Fletcher and Colin Urbina. When finished, decorate the inside however you like!
April 1 is Edible Book Day, an event celebrated all around the world, where "edible books" are created, displayed, photographed, and then—best of all—consumed! Watch a great 30-minute video here, where NBSS instructors share how you can make your own book sandwich.
"As far as I know, the U.S. does not have any bookbinding programs like NBSS... a multiple year program, bench-oriented, and focused on craft."
Samuel Feinstein BB ’12
View More Bookbinding Alumni Profiles