Temple Bookbinders

Imagine having been one of the family who once lived there, and being able to wander in and choose a book to sit down and read, handling its finely-crafted covers and opening its gold-edged pages.

To keep such books in perfect condition for future generations to appreciate requires dedicated skills, and in Oxford the largest business that can provide such specialist services is Temple Bookbinders of Oxford, in Stephen Road, Headington.

Ian Barnes founded the company in 1994. He and his staff of nine, who have more than 100 years of experience of this hand-crafted skill between them, undertake commissions for institutions including libraries, colleges and royal residences and also for private collectors, both in this country and farther afield.

The business has established a worldwide reputation in the antiquarian book trade for craftsmanship of the very highest order. Much of the work is carried out by hand.

While the restoration, preservation and rebinding of valuable antiquarian volumes and rare first editions are the main focus of their business, Mr Barnes, and his team of highly-skilled experts can also bind new books in antique and classical styles.

“We are regularly entrusted with the delicate task of repairing and refurbishing old and extremely valuable books, taking a single faded, dog-eared volume that is literally crumbling with age and restoring it to its former gold-lettered glory,” said Mr Barnes.

“At various other times, in the workshop the team may be occupied on the overhaul of an entire library, or creating a gold-eldged presentation box for a valuable item such as a signed first edition.”

Mr Barnes, 50, started his working life at 16, as an apprentice with a firm of bookbinders then in business in Oxford, spending one day a week at college in Reading. Sadly, just as he had completed his apprenticeship, a series of changes in the industry within Oxford resulted in his being unable to find a job in bookbinding, so from necessity he had to make a complete change.

He spent nine years at the then Austin Rover car plant where he became a training instructor, before the opportunity to return to bookbinding in Oxford opened up.

Knowing all too well the insecurity that employment can sometimes bring, he decided to set up his own business. This was firstly in his spare time, at home in a shed.

This was initially in Horspath Road, then as his ambition was becoming realised, to Outram Road, and via larger premises in Quarry Road to the present Stephen Road accommodation.

There the business has 3,500 square feet of space in premises that were formerly a photographic laboratory. Following renovation work, Temple Bookbinders moved there in the autumn of 2009. The premises now also accommodate Temple Rare Books, which was opened in September 2011.

“We already had people consulting us about putting a library of their own together, as well as about bookbinding, and so this seemed a natural progression,” said Mr Barnes.

“We can also buy in books, add to their value by restoring them, and put them on sale in the show. It is all working well, and we have had a really good past year in book sales — they have really exceeded our expectations.”

Mr Barnes’s wife, Pauline, plays an important part in the running of the business. A former nurse, she came in to help out for a while during a particularly busy time, then eventually became involved permanently — dealing with accounts, e-mails, general administration, welcoming clients, and answering telephone calls.

“I don’t know how we managed before,” said Mr Barnes. “Her contribution makes my life a lot easier.”

Among the team of workshop specialists the longest serving is Philip Simmonds, who has worked there for 17 years. “He is a diamond,” said Mr Barnes.

The bookshop has its own manager, and Conor Pattenden has taken on this role.

Recruiting qualified staff is difficult as in this country there are now no more than basic training-courses available, whereas in Germany, for example, students can take their study of bookbinding to a high level.

Restoration and conservation have many aspects, from the bindings of leather, goat-skin, vellum, linen, buckram — a stiffened coarser linen- to the end papers, the inside of the cover, which sometimes has a distinctive marbled effect, the block-edges which may be gold, silver or other colours, and the tooled lettering of the titles and other inscriptions.

“A very traditional form of bookbinding is laced-in boards,” said Mr Barnes. This involves sewing, with the use of fine cord. Another intricate process is the hand-worked headband, make of silk woven around a core.

For particularly valuable books, it is important that they are stored in an air-tight and light-tight case.‘Clam-shell’ cases are made to fit precisely and these too are created by skilled workmanship, using archival mill board of a density to ensure a protective durability.

Pictures, prints, maps, manuscripts and paper documents can all be protected in this way.

Clients are offered a wide choice of materials, including 170 different colours of late Victorian linen and book cloth. Among rare items which Temple Bookbinders have worked on are a book by the 16th-century astronomer Galileo, from the 18th century three volumes of Jane Austen’s works, and a signed first-edition of Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale.

Some commissions take Mr Barnes overseas, including Saudi Arabia where he has been helping a client put together his own library. The clientele is wide. “We cover all aspects of bookbindery, for the little lady down the he road who wants a Bible restored, or the rich and very affluent, from commissions for a single book to those for large collections,” he said.

“Yet there are still a lot of people who do not know that there is a bookbindery in Oxford, nor ever know that you can have books restored,”said Mr Barnes.

“We maintain our quality and our standards — it has stood us well. It is nice to do something that is going to last for 100 years or more.”