Hit 50 years in the trade this month and it still feels like week one when I'm gluing up a spine

Ngl, when I added up all the books I've bound over five decades it came to over 12,000, which sounds like a lot but each one taught me something new about how paper and leather move together, so has anyone else lost count of their projects somewhere along the way?

3 comments

3 Comments

adamthompson20d ago

12,000 books and you still get that first-day feeling? That's the mark of a real craft.

jasonf1720d ago

Man, that really hits home. I've been at this for a while and there are still mornings where I'm half expecting the door to fall off or the first customer to just point and laugh, you know? It's weird how that nervous energy never really leaves, even when you know your stuff inside and out.

the_xena20d ago

It's not about the feeling of the first day though. The real craft is knowing that feeling never goes away even after thousands of books. That's what keeps you honest and stops you from phoning it in, you know? @adamthompson probably gets this better than most because he's stuck with it long enough to see the difference between a one hit wonder and someone who actually builds something. Most people burn out because they chase the feeling instead of the work. The real trick is realizing the feeling only comes when you decide to do the work all over again.