Recommended Reading

A list of some of the books I currently own and have read. They range from beginners to more historical research type books. 

If you have a book suggestion I would love to hear of it! Please leave a comment with at least the title of the book and author(s) name.

Making Handmade Books by Alisa Golden

100+ bindings ranging from traditional to contemporary. Good book for beginner to intermediate.

ISBN-10: 1600595871
ISBN-13: 978-1600595875

Making Books: A Guide to Creating Hand-Crafted Books by Simon Goode

This is a modern, stylish and practical guide to the traditional craft of bookbinding, written by the founders of the London Centre for Book Arts, a destination workshop space that attracts visitors from all over the world

A MUST have for beginner to intermediate bookbinders. I thumb through and read this book frequently.

ISBN-10: 1911216201
ISBN-13: 978-1911216209

Manual of Bookbinding by Arthur W. Johnson

Arthur Johnson, one of Britain's foremost designer-bookbinders, has written a manual of the craft whose clarity and comprehensiveness make it invaluable to the student and the professional. It covers equipment, tools, and materials; all stages of preparation (end papers, sewing, rounding and backing, edge-gilding, etc.); different binding styles; and the finer points of finishing.

Another MUST HAVE! This book is absolutely marvelous!

ISBN-10: 0500680116
ISBN-13: 978-0500680117

Hand Bookbinding: A Manual of Instruction by Aldren A. Watson

Expert guide to creating fine books by hand. Thorough, detailed instructions, with over 270 helpful illustrations, cover materials, tools and equipment, making a slipcase, rebinding an old book, and more. Also includes 8 specific projects: dust jacket; blank book, single signature; folio; manuscript binding; music binding, and 3 others.

This books was extremely helpful (and still is) when I first started out in bookbinding.

ISBN-10: 048629157X
ISBN-13: 978-0486291574

Oxford Bookbinding, 1500-1640 by David Pearson (resource book, not a tutorial)

This book is getting rare. You can normally get it anywhere from £50-£250. Not necessary unless you are doing research on this specific binding style.

ISBN-10: 0901420549
ISBN-13: 978-0901420541

Introducing Bookbinding by Ivor Robinson

This is a very good guide to bookbinding.  Ivor Robinson has a way of stating things simply but accurately.

ISBN-10: 071342401X
ISBN-13: 978-0713424010

The Craft of Bookbinding by Manly Banister

Profusely illustrated step-by-step guide enables you to rebind books, paperbacks, periodicals, more. Book sewing of all types (antique, flexible, lockstitch, whipstitch), plus how to make endpapers, attach headbands, case in, cover with cloth and other materials, add titling and decoration, much else. Updated list of suppliers. 254 illustrations and photographs.

I would say this is another very useful book for beginners and intermediate bookbinders.

ISBN-10: 0486278522
ISBN-13: 978-0486278520

Headbands : How to Work Them by Jane Greenfield & Jenny Hille

VERY RARE.  If you can find this for £20 then snatch it up, but otherwise look for the what I believe is a reprint under the title "Endbands From East to West How to Work Them" No need to spend £200+ for this book.

ISBN-10: 0938768514
ISBN-13: 978-0938768517

Endbands from East to West: How to Work Them by Jane Greenfield & Jenny Hille

Much more affordable (around £20 as of this posting) very good read for those interested in Endbands (a.k.a. Headbands)

ISBN-10: 1584563664
ISBN-13: 978-1584563662

Studying Early Printed Books, 1450-1800: A Practical Guide by Sarah Werner

A comprehensive resource to understanding the hand-press printing of early books Studying Early Printed Books, 1450 - 1800 offers a guide to the fascinating process of how books were printed in the first centuries of the press and shows how the mechanics of making books shapes how we read and understand them.

ISBN-10: 1119049962
ISBN-13: 978-1119049968

The Bookbinding Handbook: Simple Techniques and Step-by-Step Projects by Sue Doggett

Very nice beginners guide easy to follow instructions and diagrams. A range of projects from traditional to more contemporary designs.

ISBN-10: 1844483789
ISBN-13: 978-1844483785

English Blind Stamped Bindings (resource book, not a tutorial)

This book of the Sandar Lectures for 1949 confines itself to English blind-stamped bindings of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Oldham, an authority on his subject, here describes his methods of study, and accounts for many groups of bindings that may be attributed to particular craftsmen or binderies. Oldham's experience includes all important English collections, His book devises a method of ornament-classification and description and is illustrated by 61 plates. 

This book is for research, not on how to make them.

ISBN-10: 0521136644
ISBN-13: 978-0521136648

Introduction to Bookbinding by Lionel S. Darley

ISBN-10: 0571110827
ISBN-13: 978-0571110827

The Art of Bookbinding by Joseph Zaehnsdorf

ISBN-10: 0486457338
ISBN-13: 978-0486457338

Craft of Bookbinding: A Practical Handbook by Eric Burdett

ISBN-10: 0715366564
ISBN-13: 978-0715366561

Japanese Bookbinding: Instructions from a Master Crafstman by Kojiro Ikegami

ISBN-10: 0834801965
ISBN-13: 978-0834801967

The Practical Guide to Craft Bookbinding by Arthur W. Johnson

ISBN-10: 050027360X
ISBN-13: 978-0500273609

The Practical Guide to Book Repair and Conservation by Arthur W. Johnson

ISBN-10: 0500275181
ISBN-13: 978-0500275184