Bookbinding Core Certificate Program

The San Francisco Center for the Book celebrates the craft and art of bookbinding. Our Bookbinding Core Certificate Program introduces students to four different binding models, leading them through the history and evolution of bookmaking.  It provides students a comprehensive foundation to delve into the practice of binding and qualifies them to rent studio time in our bindery. Core classes must be taken in order, 1 through 4.

Click here to learn more about the Bookbinding Core Certificate Program and how to receive a discount!

Bookbinding Core 3: Limp Paper Binding

In centuries past, books were sometimes sewn onto cords and then laced into soft covers before being bound for a specific collection or library. Often covered with calfskin, these limp vellum bindings became an important structure all their own. In this class students will bind a book using these bindings as a model but employing thick paper as the folded and laced wrapper. Students will learn to use a sewing frame and the skill of sewing headbands.

SFCB's Windgate Scholarship Fund is dedicated to providing need-based financial support to individuals interested in learning bookbinding, letterpress printing, and related book arts. Click here to apply.

Prerequisite:
Bookbinding Core 1 and 2

Materials to Bring:
None, all tools and materials are provided.

About the Instructor:
Madison Halaby Gordon (she/they) is a bookbinder and conservator-in-training living in Oakland, CA, currently working at Zukor Art Conservation and the Walt Disney Family Museum. She is fascinated by paper, and loves making and repairing practical, fun, accessible, and well-made structures for the use and enjoyment of everyday people. Madison is also trained in letterpress printing and has worked previously with the Key Printing & Binding (Oakland, CA) and Small Editions (Brooklyn, NY).

Learn basic bookbinding structures and stitches that every beginning book artist should know!

Students will learn five staple structures of the bookbinding world: pamphlet stitch, two versions of one-sheet wonders, accordion folding, and a Japanese stab binding. If you’ve been curious about book arts basics, this is a great starter class; in three hours, you’ll gain the know-how to start making books of your own.

Students also learn about local resources, bookbinding tools, and SFCB’s Bookbinding Core Program, as well as protocol for studio rental. 

SFCB's Windgate Scholarship Fund is dedicated to providing need-based financial support to individuals interested in learning bookbinding, letterpress printing, and related book arts. Click here to apply.

Prerequisite:
None

Materials to bring:
All tools and materials will be provided. 

About the Instructor:
Jane Knoll (they/them) was the San Francisco Center for the Book's 2025 Type Devil. After an undergraduate in writing and printmaking from Bennington College and a diploma in bookbinding from North Bennet Street School, Jane was awarded two fellowships at the Boston Athenæum's conservation lab and worked as Assistant Book Conservator at the Northeast Document Conservation Center. Currently preparing for a master's in book conservation, Jane studies the archaeology of the book, with special interests in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century structures, folk repairs, and personalized bindings, and has two publications on the American scaleboard binding.

Bookbinding Core Certificate Program

The San Francisco Center for the Book celebrates the craft and art of bookbinding. Our Bookbinding Core Certificate Program introduces students to four different binding models, leading them through the history and evolution of bookmaking.  It provides students a comprehensive foundation to delve into the practice of binding and qualifies them to rent studio time in our bindery. Core classes must be taken in order, 1 through 4.

Click here to learn more about the Bookbinding Core Certificate Program and how to receive a discount!

Bookbinding Core 4: Classic Rounded Back Cloth Binding

The final class in our Core Bookbinding series (taught in two sessions) uses skills learned in each previous class to create a beautiful and classic rounded back cloth binding. After sewing, the book will be rounded and backed before the boards are attached and covered. This binding style points to many historical structures that came before it, making it an ideal structure for anyone interested in learning to bind books with leather, or learning to repair books.  More terms, more tools, more techniques: such are the rewards of the skilled bookbinder!

SFCB's Windgate Scholarship Fund is dedicated to providing need-based financial support to individuals interested in learning bookbinding, letterpress printing, and related book arts. Click here to apply.

Prerequisite:
Bookbinding Core 1, 2 and 3

Materials to Bring:
None, all tools and materials are provided.

About the Instructor:
Erika Lindensmith (she/her) has been a book conservator for almost 30 years. She trained in library and archives conservation at the University of Texas and worked at institutions in Wales, Scotland and New York before settling in California. Her interests are historical book structures and repair. She is excited to share her love of making books.

In this class students will find solutions for common problems that are often found in standard hardcover books, including:

• how to mend tears within the text block
• how to patch and sharpen the worn corners on cover boards
• how to tip in a loose page
• how to bridge a gap between signatures without removing the covers
• a simple technique to reback a text block 
• how to repair worn and torn head caps

This class is an excellent chance to learn repair techniques that often plague our most frequently handled books. Students are welcome to bring their own books but there will also be a sample book available to each student, just to be sure the full range of repair needs are available.

SFCB's Windgate Scholarship Fund is dedicated to providing need-based financial support to individuals interested in learning bookbinding, letterpress printing, and related book arts. Click here to apply.

Prerequisite:
None

Materials to bring:
All tools and materials will be provided. Students are also welcome to bring any of their own favorite bookbinding tools.

About the Instructor:
Michelle Sarjeant (she/her) is a bookbinder, author, and museum professional. She earned her Masters of Arts in Museum Studies Archival Care from John F. Kennedy University in Berkeley, California, and her undergraduate degree from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. She apprenticed in bookbinding with Sandra Good and now does repair and restoration work in her binding studio in Marin. 

She co-authored Modern San Rafael 1940-2000 with Jocelyn Moss, Librarian for the Marin History Museum, A History of the San Francisco State Belt with railroad historian Bill Kaufman and wrote San Rafael Through Time: As Illustrated & Described in 1884.

She is currently writing a book on the California Missions while rebinding books and is the Membership Chair for the Hand Bookbinders of California’s board.

Bookbinding Core Certificate Program

The San Francisco Center for the Book celebrates the craft and art of bookbinding. Our Bookbinding Core Certificate Program introduces students to four different binding models, leading them through the history and evolution of bookmaking. It provides students a comprehensive foundation to delve into the practice of binding and qualifies them to rent studio time in our bindery. Core classes must be taken in order, 1 through 4.

Click here to learn more about the Bookbinding Core Certificate Program and how to receive a discount!

Bookbinding Core 1: Coptic Binding

This class introduces students to the craft with the Coptic stitch, one of the earliest structures in binding. Students will spend the morning making their own decorative pastepapers, then use them in the afternoon when binding their book.

In addition to coming away with a finished book made by hand, students will also be introduced to the tools and terms of bookbinding. Basic practices and equipment will be discussed as students familiarize themselves with both skills and safety measures needed for working in a bindery.

SFCB's Windgate Scholarship Fund is dedicated to providing need-based financial support to individuals interested in learning bookbinding, letterpress printing, and related book arts. Click here to apply.

Prerequisite:
None. Beginners are welcome. 

Materials to bring:
None. All tools and materials will be provided.

About the Instructor:
Jane Knoll (they/them) was the San Francisco Center for the Book's 2025 Type Devil. After an undergraduate in writing and printmaking from Bennington College and a diploma in bookbinding from North Bennet Street School, Jane was awarded two fellowships at the Boston Athenæum's conservation lab and worked as Assistant Book Conservator at the Northeast Document Conservation Center. Currently preparing for a master's in book conservation, Jane studies the archaeology of the book, with special interests in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century structures, folk repairs, and personalized bindings, and has two publications on the American scaleboard binding.

Learn basic bookbinding structures and stitches that every beginning book artist should know!

Students will learn five staple structures of the bookbinding world: pamphlet stitch, two versions of one-sheet wonders, accordion folding, and a Japanese stab binding. If you’ve been curious about book arts basics, this is a great starter class; in three hours, you’ll gain the know-how to start making books of your own.

Students also learn about local resources, bookbinding tools, and SFCB’s Bookbinding Core Program, as well as protocol for studio rental. 

SFCB's Windgate Scholarship Fund is dedicated to providing need-based financial support to individuals interested in learning bookbinding, letterpress printing, and related book arts. Click here to apply.

Prerequisite(s):
None

Materials to bring:
All tools and materials will be provided. Students are also welcome to bring any of their own favorite bookbinding tools.

About the Instructor:
Madison Halaby Gordon (she/they) is a bookbinder and conservator-in-training living in Oakland, CA, currently working at Zukor Art Conservation and the Walt Disney Family Museum. She is fascinated by paper, and loves making and repairing practical, fun, accessible, and well-made structures for the use and enjoyment of everyday people. Madison is also trained in letterpress printing and has worked previously with the Key Printing & Binding (Oakland, CA) and Small Editions (Brooklyn, NY).

Bookbinding Core Certificate Program

The San Francisco Center for the Book celebrates the craft and art of bookbinding. Our Bookbinding Core Certificate Program introduces students to four different binding models, leading them through the history and evolution of bookmaking.  It provides students a comprehensive foundation to delve into the practice of binding and qualifies them to rent studio time in our bindery. Core classes must be taken in order, 1 through 4.

Click here to learn more about the Bookbinding Core Certificate Program and how to receive a discount!

Bookbinding Core 1 :: Coptic Binding

To paraphrase Lewis Carroll, we begin at the beginning. This, the first of our Core Bookbinding series, introduces students to the craft with the Coptic stitch, one of the earliest structures in binding. Students will spend the morning making their own decorative pastepapers, then use them in the afternoon when binding their book.

In addition to coming away with a finished book made by hand, students will also be introduced to the tools and terms of bookbinding. Basic practices and equipment will be discussed as students familiarize themselves with both skills and safety measures needed for working in a bindery.

SFCB's Windgate Scholarship Fund is dedicated to providing need-based financial support to individuals interested in learning bookbinding, letterpress printing, and related book arts. Click here to apply.

Prerequisite:
None. Beginners are welcome. 

Materials to bring:
None. All tools and materials will be provided.

About the Instructor:
A life-long love of working with her hands led Megan (she/her) to study bookbinding at the North Bennet Street School in Boston. Upon graduation in 2015, she went to work in Santa Barbara as the Head Bookbinder for Heirloom Bindery, followed by an apprenticeship at the Arion Press in San Francisco. Now the Lead Bookbinder, she is responsible for running day-to-day production in the Arion bindery. An active member of the Guild of Bookworkers and board member of the Hand Bookbinders of California, she also creates her own work as Long Arrow Bindery. She still loves making books every day.

Bookbinding Core Certificate Program

The San Francisco Center for the Book celebrates the craft and art of bookbinding. Our Bookbinding Core Certificate Program introduces students to four different binding models, leading them through the history and evolution of bookmaking. It provides students a comprehensive foundation to delve into the practice of binding and qualifies them to rent studio time in our bindery. Core classes must be taken in order, 1 through 4.

The four structures are:

Bookbinding Core 1: Coptic Binding
Students will craft one of the earliest structures in binding. In addition to coming away with a finished book made by hand, students will also make their own decorative pastepapers to be used on their book. Basic practices and equipment will be discussed as students familiarize themselves with both skills and safety measures needed for working in a bindery.

Bookbinding Core 2: Flat-Back Case Binding
Students will create what most of us refer to as a hardbound book. In bookbinding terms, it is known as a case binding; where a sewn textblock is glued into a separate structure known as a case. 

Bookbinding Core 3: Limp Paper Binding
Students will bind a book using limp vellum bindings as a model but employing thick paper as the folded and laced wrapper. They will learn to use a sewing frame and the skill of sewing headbands.

Bookbinding Core 4 :: Classic Rounded Back Cloth Binding (two sessions)
This final class uses skills learned in each previous class to create a beautiful and classic rounded back cloth binding. After sewing, the book will be rounded and backed before the boards are attached and covered.

The Weeklong Intensive rate is discounted $100 off the individual workshop fees.

SFCB's Windgate Scholarship Fund is dedicated to providing need-based financial support to individuals interested in learning bookbinding, letterpress printing, and related book arts. Click here to apply.

Prerequisite:
None

Materials to Bring:
All tools and materials are provided.

About the Instructor:
Beth Redmond (she/her) was first introduced to making books in the photography program at San Jose State. She loves binding books for their perfect marriage of functionality and creativity.  After learning the basics of a well-made book at SFCB she went on to study fine binding at the American Academy of Bookbinding in Telluride, CO. She works primarily with leather to create bindings for public and private collections. Her work can be seen at https://bredmond.weebly.com.