The job: Bookbinders worked, by hand, to assemble multiple pages to form paper books. The process could involve stitching or gluing loose pages together, and then binding that to heavy carton for a hardcover book. The cover might also be covered in leather, and then imprinted with gold foil for the titles.
Killed by: Modern bookbinding machines. The industry moved to mass produce books on a large scale. Furthermore, with the introduction of e-readers and tablet computers, e-books are becoming more commonly used. Bookbinding by hand is rare today unless done by an artisan or independent self-publisher. In an interview from 2011, a bookbinder spoke to the website BoingBoing about the difficulties of modern bookbinding in the digital age.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
