In today’s world of mass prodiction and digital information the art of publishing books with style and beauty seems to be a method of centuries past. While digital storage can insure that modern writings will not be lost to time, it lacks the sense of individuality that quality book binding presents to future generations. Fortunately there are still a handful of publishers that practice the almost lost art of leather bound book binding. Of these publishers, the most notable are the Easton Press ( currently the largest publisher of fine leather bound books ) based in Norwalk CT. The Easton Press publishes a wide range of books from signed first editions and classic books to many special interest books. Another well-known publisher of leather bound books is the Franklin Library. The Franklin Library was a division of the Franklin Mint, which like the Easton Press published many madern and classic titled leather bound books. Many of the most sought after book titlestoday are from the signed limited edition and signed first edition series. Unfortunately the Franklin Library published it’s last book in the year 2000. This only added to the decline in production of quality leather bound books for those who collected these volumes. Another two publishers of note are the Palladium Press and Gryphon Editions who both publish special interest leather bound book titles. Finally are the few books which due to there high popularity have had leather bound editions produced by mainstream publishers. While this is nice to see opposed to paperback copies, the motivation is primarily monetary and they still lack the the quality of Easton Press and franklin Library editions. Ironically it seems to be the internet (the world’s largest source of digital media and text) which is reviving the market for leather bound books. This is most likly a result of the exposure of modern leather bound books to a much larger audience. While it may be too late for the Franklin Library, it does seem to be impacting the growth of publishers such as the Easton Press and Gryphon Editions. In closing I can only hope that this growth continues and posibly spawns new leather bound publishing ventures.
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Bookmind
Modern Leather Bound Books 