Repair volunteers

By Courtney Miranda

** Photos and videos coming soon! **

The Bookbinding Core series at the San Francisco Center for the Book is a structured, four-course sequence designed to build foundational and intermediate skills in traditional hand bookbinding. Completing all four workshops earns a Bookbinding Certificate, which qualifies participants to rent SFCB’s bindery studio and use specialized equipment without supervision.

Core 1: Coptic Binding

Core 1 introduces students to historical book structures through the ancient Coptic stitch, one of the earliest non-adhesive bindings. Students create decorative paste papers and use them to construct a hand-sewn book. The workshop covers fundamental bindery tools, terminology, and safety practices, providing an essential foundation for all subsequent classes.

Core 2: Flat-Back Case Binding

Building on the skills developed in Core 1, Core 2 teaches students how to create a traditional hardbound (case-bound) book, where a sewn textblock is attached to a constructed case. The workshop deepens students’ understanding of book mechanics while introducing new sewing, gluing, and casing-in techniques, along with expanded vocabulary and bindery workflows.

** The case binding is the most common type of binding that comes down for repair, as it is the most common way books have been bound post-industrial revolution (whether flat-backed or rounded), as it is the cheapest way to bind a book via machinery and cost of materials. **

Core 3: Limp Paper Binding

In Core 3, students explore historic binding models based on limp vellum structures, reinterpreted using thick paper as a folded, laced-in cover. The course introduces the use of a  sewing frame, sewing on cords, and creating hand-sewn headbands, giving students experience with more advanced structural techniques and historical bindery methods.

Core 4: Classic Rounded Back Cloth Binding

The capstone two-session workshop integrates skills from the entire Core sequence to produce a rounded-back cloth-bound book, a style foundational to both fine binding and conservation work. Students sew, round, and back their textblock, attach boards, and cover the book in cloth. The class emphasizes professional-level techniques, expanded tool use, and historical context, making it an excellent lead-in for future leather binding or book-repair training.