Bike Ride + I Meet...THE BOOKBINDER!

A perfect day, weather-wise: about 75 F. Like a wonderful Spring day.

So we took a bike ride along the Danube Canal, ending up in the Prater, where we rode around awhile before heading back. We had a slight headwind on the return trip, but nothing the bikes and our legs couldn't handle. All in all we were out about three hours, with about two of those actually pedaling; probably went 12 or 15 miles.

Some of what we saw:

This great climbing wall is on one side of a building, along the Danube Canal.

Graffiti along the Danube Canal. Albert Hoffman, we salute you!

Urania. I love this building. We were lounging at a canal-side "beach" where they'd poured tons of sand.

The main path in the Prater. Closed to car traffic. Tons of cyclists, runners, rollerbladers, walkers.

People enjoying the sun in the Prater.

For my paisan Mod: the Al Pacino Pizzeria.

More graffiti, Danube Canal.

We got home about 4. I was pretty tired and my legs hurt a bit, but it was a refreshing weariness.

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There's a kind of public access station here called Okto. They show DEMOCRACY NOW! which we watch a couple of times a week. Last week I saw a promo for a profile of a bookbinder, on a show they call BUTTERBROT.

So when the show came on Tuesday night I watched it and I found the dude fascinating---a combination of an old school craftsman / hippie / artist. Today after our ride, I got the idea to go into town and find the guy's shop.

And that's what I did. The door was open and there he was, working at his table. I walked in and told him I saw him on Okto and we started talking. His English was quite good, so I didn't have to stumble around with my shitty German. 

His name is Thomas and his story is, he was "from the hippie times" and didn't want to work in a corporate job so he took up the craft of bookbinding. He still does it by hand (video link below, so you can see for yourself) and works his own hours. His shop is a funky little workspace filled with old papercutters and presses. "That paper cutter is 80 years old," he told me, pointing to the machine I'd seen him use on TV a few nights ago. "The old one was 120 years old but it was too huge to fit in the shop." 

Indeed, it's a small shop...I'd guess maybe 400 square feet, with a loft upstairs (watch the video and notice the cool funky ladder he built to access the loft!) Thomas is an artist in his own right, and toward the end of the video you'll see some things he made. 

We talked about craftsman in the age of the computer and mechanization. "The old-time bookbinders are all retiring," he said. "I'm fifty, so I'll get all their business when they go. The young ones learn the trade, but they operate huge machines to do the binding. Look at the difference," he said, grabbing a couple of books.

He showed me two hardbound books, one commercially manufactured and the other one, his work. If you lay the books down with the cover facing up, the spine to the left, you'll see a little channel---a kind of a hinge point---where the cover swings open. The difference in his books are the depth of the channel, and the precise width of it, and the amount of space from the edge of the spine. "This is the weak link of the book, the place where it eventually begins to fall apart," he said. "Mine will last many, many, decades and that's useful if you read the book often."

He said most of his customers are "rich people who have nice books, but they sit on the shelves in their libraries." I pointed at one of his books----it was about 8.5 X 11, about 300 pages, black covers with a blue spine and blue corner protectors. "How much would you charge to bind a book that size?"

"Ah, about 40 Euro," he said. "10 more if you want gold lettering on the spine."

I had an idea. "Where can I get good quality paper? Acid free, archival stuff." He grabbed the phone book and showed me a paper shop. "OK. I'm going to buy some paper and have you make me a book," I said.

It was like going back in time, stepping into this guy's shop. He stopped what he was doing and talked to me for about fifteen minutes, and showed me his art, and helped me find a place to buy paper. He was very friendly and seemed like a guy who really loved his work. 

The videos below are Parts 1, 2, and 3 of Thomas' profile on BUTTERBROT. It's in German but that doesn't matter, because most of what you see is Thomas actually binding a book. Watch how he does everything carefully, with years of practice guiding his hands and eyes. Part 3 shows some of the art he's created; all three run about 30 minutes, total.

How can you love books, and love writing, and not have a guy like this make you a blank book?