The Sunday News
Simba Jemwa, Sunday Life Correspondent
Blessing Phiri delicately flips the wafer-thin pages of an old family Bible. The vintage tome came to him split in half and missing a cover.
With a pot of traditional book glue made of wheat starch, a scrap of fine leather and a few gold-embossing tools, Phiri brought the old book back to life.
“It’s a simple-looking thing but it has a very complex structure,” the bookbinder says of old books like this family Bible he is restoring for a client.
“The further back in time you go, the better the quality of the book.”
For 10 years, Phiri has restored clients’ beloved old books using traditional restoration and bookbinding methods that go back centuries at his workshop, The Ultimate Book Binders and Foil Print where he is a co-owner with Brian Nel.
His workspace is full of curious tools like bits of old type, a vintage book press and a refurbished hot foil machine along with a new one from modern technology. Phiri has restored vintage sets of history books and tattered childhood classics. He has rebound old family recipe books and heirloom Bibles.
Sometimes Phiri also makes books from scratch, but he prefers restoration work.
“It’s that connection with history that I love. There is just something about bringing an old book back to its former glory.”
The self-professed book nerd and librarian by trade was drawn to the craft when he worked for a bookbinder at a company in the city. His knowledge of restoring vintage book leathers and repairing damaged spines fascinated Phiri.
He learned this rare art through courses taught by skilled bookbinders —craftspeople who are few and far between. There once was a time when hand-bookbinding companies were massive operations, each person working on just one part of a book. Nowadays it is a profession done alone, Phiri says.
He uses leather dyes to bring colour back to faded book covers. Even the book glue he uses, made of water and wheat starch, is a recipe that goes back hundreds of years.
Phiri repairs many damaged spines, including some that require sewing a book back together. He touches up the detailed designs or text on book spines and covers with traditional hand tools and rolls of fine gold leaf. If the book is not very fragile, he uses the hot foil machine.
“It’s labour-intensive work. You wouldn’t think so, but it can be hard on your body as well,” he says, pointing out that a lot of the work requires standing very still for long periods of time.
Sometimes Phiri finds hidden gems inside book spines or tucked under the covers of an old book. He has found scraps of sheet music, pieces of old maps and bits of newspaper used as layers inside the covers of antique books.
“You can really see the ingenuity of the old bookbinders,” Phiri says. In the 19th century, bookbinders often used whatever materials they could find to restore books.
In the same tradition, Phiri leaves little traces of himself in his work as well. He will write his name and the date tucked away inside the spine of a book he has restored.
“The only person who will ever see it is another bookbinder.”
Phiri thinks that as long as people continue to cherish books, there will always be a need for bookbinders like himself, even if fewer people are picking up the craft.
“Being able to flip through a book means more to people than touching an e-book screen,” he says.
“An e-book will never have the satisfying weight of a book. You can’t put an e-book on a bookshelf.”
Phiri and his business partner run a thriving business with clients that include students from National University of Science and Technology (Nust), Lupane State University (LSU), Midlands State University (MSU) and many other tertiary institutions.
Their company has transformed itself into a modern-day bookbindery and foil print shop. It has diversified to include many other related products such as diaries, calendars and corporate wear, among others.
“Our business isn’t just about restoration but also brand-new books like college thesis and dissertations.
Our quality is among the best in the city and we are acknowledged by most Universities as one of the companies they prefer their students to use,” said Phiri’s partner, Nel.
“We now have product lines for diaries, calendars, corporate wear and many other related products,” Nel said. — @RealSimbaJemwa
