A dear friend just gave me a lovely leather bookmark stamped with gold. It is one of the many handmade products produced by Holzer Book Bindery in Vermont. Marianna Holzer is a third generation book binder. I love my Kindle e-book reader, and have very happily published my book in as an e-book as well as a paperback. Yet, embossed leather books with the unique, musty paper smell still call to me. There is something deeply satisfying about reading from a thick paged book. The weight of the book in my hands, the way the cover warms where I’ve touched it, the hush of a page turned, the grace of the type, all these things and more make reading a well-bound book a decadent pleasure in the age of electronics.
My Kindle is already out dated. In another year it will be ground up as e-waste, the small bits of gold leached out, and the plastic recycled. But a book, a real, well made book, will last hundreds of years and never require a battery or back-version. Thank goodness there are artisans like Marianna Holzer who still know how to use glue and leather, gold and thread, to preserve treasured books and to create new treasures to last generations.
Magnificently Ageless 