A customer brought in a book he'd had since he was a kid, and the repair request hit me hard

Honestly, this happened just last Tuesday. A guy, maybe in his 60s, came into my shop with this beat-up copy of 'The Hobbit'. The spine was gone, pages were loose, and the cover was hanging on by a thread. He told me, 'My dad read this to me. I want to read it to my grandson, but it's falling apart in my hands.' He didn't just want it fixed; he wanted it to last another generation. We talked for like twenty minutes about using a strong linen thread and a new cloth spine that matched the old color. It wasn't about making it look brand new, but about keeping its story alive. That job stuck with me more than any fancy leather binding I've done. Has anyone else had a repair request that just felt bigger than the book itself?

3 comments

3 Comments

elizabeth_bailey262mo ago

I read about a library in Oregon that keeps a "memory book" log for these kinds of repairs.

elizabeth2202mo ago

Wow, I used to just fix books until @elizabeth_bailey26's post made me see the stories.

tyler_burns662mo ago

Ever get those jobs that just hit different? Sounds like you really got it right for him.