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Feature Neil Wilkie's ivorkshop carries on a tradition of binding books that stretches back a thousand years. Story and photos by Michael Boxall bindery · n t h e b e g i n n i n g w a s the w o r d , a n d t o preserve it m o n k s m a d e I books. To protect w h a t they h a d w r i t t e n from rain, mice, a n d other I hazards o f m o n a s t i c life they w r a p p e d it in leather. A s monasteries g r e w rich t h e m o n k s b e g a n t o decorate t h e leather in a manner befitting the lord of creation, w i t h g o l d , ivory, a n d precious stones. By t h e t w e l f t h century they w e r e using brass s t a m p s t o e m b o s s a n d impress designs. Then, as cities g r e w a n d merchants prospered, the m o n k s ' skills p a s s e d into the hands o f t h e first secular b o o k b i n d e r s . Thus b e g a n a tradition that thrived in Paris a n d M a i n z a n d t h e great university cities of Europe until it w a s a l m o s t killed off by i n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n . A l m o s t , but not quite. The b o o k b i n d e r ' s art a n d tools c a n still be f o u n d in u n e x p e c t e d places. O n a sidestreet a f e w steps a w a y f r o m t h e roar a n d r u m b l e of East Keith R o a d Neil B. W i l k i e runs C e n t e n n i a l B o o k b i n d i n g . There's a c o m p u t e r in t h e front office, but t h e awls, b o d kins, burnishers a n d shears in t h e cavernous w o r k r o o m c o u l d have been f o u n d in binderies t w o hundred years a g o . A quiet-spoken Scot, W i l k i e g r e w u p in Edinburgh a n d g o t into b o o k b i n d i n g in t h e late 1950s. The city h a d a long history of t h e craft, b o o s t e d by t h e m e d i c a l s c h o o l a n d its need for textbooks. Edinburgh w a s also f a m o u s for paper p r o d u c t i o n , using esparto grass i m p o r t e d f r o m A r g e n t i n a to make fine paper for ledgers a n d bank records. Wilkie, w h o w a n t e d t o bind his o w n collection of magazines, began visiting an o l d b o o k b i n d e r w h o w o r k e d o u t of Dickensian premises beside t h e castle. " H e ' d been a stretcher bearer in the First W o r l d War," W i l k i e says. " H e w a s just by himself in a little r o o m w i t h a single l a m p h a n g i n g from t h e ceiling. You c o u l d hardly see a n y t h i n g . He s h o w e d m e h o w books w e r e b o u n d a n d gave m e scraps of cloth that I could practice 10 March | April Wilkie bound prepares book. to stamp visible gold lettering on the cover craft. of a freshlyis usu- The art of ornamentation and embellishment ally the most part of the bookbinder's