At First and Fine we also offer books that have been rebound using high quality materials.

We work with a local bindery and the results are nothing short of breathtaking. For older titles from the 19th century we often choose a classic design such as seen here on the example of a Victor Hugo ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ English first edition from 1833.

On this book we used chestnut Harmatan finest leather. There are five raised bands to the spine with two black leather labels, stamped with the author and title in gold.

On the front and back boards there are hand tooled ‘blind’ single line frames. The silhouette of Notre-Dame cathedral has been stamped in gold to the middle of the front board.

The top edge of the book has been hand gilded, leaving the fore edge and tail edges deckled in the original condition. Plain endpapers matched to the paper colour of the book block. The book is housed in a cloth covered, suede lined slipcase. A beautiful traditional binding suitable for a book from the 19th century.

More modern titles sometimes receive a more innovative approach such as seen on the examples of our James Clavell’s ‘Shogun’ (1980); Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ (1932); or Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ (1957).

There are several reasons why rebinding a book is a good idea. First, the original binding might be damaged where restoration work does not make sense anymore. Rather than discarding the book we can breathe new life into it with sturdy materials so that generations of readers can enjoy the text further. Second, we all have our favourite books and sometimes we would like to hold and enjoy a luxurious production of our beloved novel or work of non-fiction. With our rebinds we can offer unique bespoke designs.

If you would like to have a particular book rebound by us please get in touch as there are several options. Please bear in mind that turnaround times can take weeks or month depending how busy our binders are and how complex the rebind would be.