Field Trip to American Bookbinders Museum

San Francisco History Center and Book Arts & Special Collections staff visited the American Bookbinders Museum last week. We saw many artifacts including bookbinding manuals, beating hammers, photographs of bookbinders, endpapers, and the American guillotine in action.

We all have a new appreciation for the many 19th century & 20th century ledgers and account books that are here in the San Francisco History Center Archives. We learned about the account book binding process and the immense amount of time involved in making each ledger.

For 19th century bookbinding manuals and the history of bookbinding, please use the Grabhorn Collection in Book Arts & Special Collections. Click here for a list of books on the subject of bookbinding.