myrmepropagandistFeb 9, 2023

I love fine bindings. The craftsmanship of a good book. My problem is that the texts I love rarely are dressed in leather and hand marbled endpapers— There are a few — but many finely bound books aren’t the best books. I don’t want a copy of IDK “The Great Gatsby” or whatever.

So I love to find blank books— blank pages bound with such care and art that no sane person would throw that book away whatever the contents.

JenniferFeb 9, 2023
Show threadmyrmepropagandist

Hard disks die— magnetic tape succumbs to the radiation of space. A beautiful book can last centuries. It’s one of our most effective human technologies.

I will give such a journal as a gift and have often been told the book is simply too nice to write in. It’s too much pressure! I don’t care insist my friends get over it. Just write the date and start writing help me create some history.

Or don’t write in it and just enjoy all the potential of a lovely blank book.

Feb 9, 2023 at 12:46pmWeb
Show threadmyrmepropagandistFeb 9, 2023

If you have such blank books and were looking for a sign that the right time had come to write— this is that sign.

I’ve long since gotten over that need to be perfect and just fill one book after another. I draw (mostly ants) I do math then cross it out. I write fragments of stories.

Even so I have enough blank books that I may not fill them all before I die— but what better legacy than an intimidating blank book for the younger ones in my family. No pressure kids.

Show threadGabriel PettierFeb 9, 2023
@futurebird I've not researched that but there was a concern about modern book manufacturing not being nearly as long lasting as old time ones, as we mass produce them and clearly optimize for other things, like costs and esthetics, so books from the 15th century may outlive ones from the 20th, even with appropriate care. Ink disappearing, paper crumbling, etc.
Show threadmyrmepropagandistFeb 9, 2023

@tshirtman That’s why I go for handmade historically accurate blank books. There are a few book binders out there with the correct sort of obsessions and I have a lot of confidence in their craft.

Some of my notebooks from when I was a teen were moleskin brand and they are crumbling already. The handmade books are unchanged (but i couldn’t afford many handmade books when i was young, sadly)

Show threadmyrmepropagandistFeb 9, 2023
@tshirtman “Give a Teen a Casebound Tome Day”
— ought to be a thing.
Show threadFeralRobotsFeb 9, 2023

@tshirtman
I used to work in newspapers dept at a major university library, & you could see this in action in the archives: After some point mid-19th C, the number of printed newspapers in the archive plummeted. We'd put it to our student employees in training as a puzzle - they often thought* it was a crash in the publishing industry or something.

Reason: Shift from rag & other fiber sources to wood pulp.
_
*which...clever thinking! But wrong.

@futurebird

Show threadRDS (shawphd on Twitter)Feb 9, 2023
@FeralRobots @tshirtman @futurebird Yes. I used to work with ephemera and government docs from the 1870s-1930s, and a lot of the stuff in the middle is yellowed to illegibility and crumbles at a touch.
Show threadPamela EhnFeb 9, 2023
@FeralRobots @tshirtman @futurebird I love rag paper. Which you can only get in Europe now. Much of the music I wrote 30 years ago has crumbled into illegibility.
Show threadHein RagasFeb 9, 2023
@futurebird One of my hobbies is bookbinding, and we have accumulated quite the collection of gorgeous Japanese washi paper. We ended up never using them ("too precious!") which meant they were just sitting there in a large folder.
So I have taken to using A5 notepads as to-do lists, and making a very nice cover for them -- with washi. Now I get to use those papers and enjoy them, and once the notepad runs out, I make another.
Show threadRoss AndrewsFeb 9, 2023
@futurebird Years ago someone showed me how to handmake these, so I made a bunch. Used some, sold some, these are the leftovers. They're easily done with hand tools and some bits from a normal craft store. Look up "coptic stitch binding" and you can make your own! Not exactly "fine" bindings but they get the job done and they lay flat on a table.