Peter's rare bookbinding skills speak volumes

Only a certain kind of specialist would have the ability to do that, but Peter Doyle can make that claim after more than 40 years as a bookbinder.

He’s made a living out of restoring classic volumes as well as ensuring newer publications look their very best – and his rare talent continues to be in big demand.

The 63-year-old from Preston operates out of a unit at the Worden Park Craft Centre in Leyland and has been bookbinding since his teens.

While still a pupil at the former St Cuthbert Mayne school in Preston, he spotted an opening for an apprentice bookbinder at Preston Printers T Snape and Co.

He quickly took to the art, working alongside an experienced bookbinder who he eventually succeeded but a few years later moved on to Lancaster University, where such abilities were needed to ensure its academic publications were in top order – and Peter honed his skills further has he spent 16 years there.

"There was plenty of work there and there is still a lot of demand for bookbinding from universities, despite the advent of the internet,” said Peter.

"It was a really enjoyable time and there were plenty of books to look after and the more I did, the more I was asked to do jobs in my spare time by colleagues and other contacts.

"That other work built up sufficiently for me to leave the University to set out on my own.”

Peter took the unit at Leyland in 1991 and is still there, seeing to the needs of an extensive list of clients who include private libraries and collectors as well as universities and other educational establishments.

Restoration of old volumes, with new bindings to ensure their preservation, is a key part of the work and the oldest book Peter has worked on –so far - dated from 1508.

"It was a privilege to look after,” he said. “Of course it is fragile and it’s a careful process but I liked what I do to a joiner stripping back a window frame.

"You remove the old surface, strip it back and then build it up again to look as good as new. I have done that with plenty of vintage publications and it would be good one day to go back even further than the early 16th century.”

While many of the items Peter works on have a long history, so does much of the specialist equipment around his workshop, including a Victorian printing press.

In fact, apart from a modern letterpress and a power guillotine, much of Peter’s equipment originated in a bygone era.

"I often think if a bookbinder from Victorian times turned up one day, he would feel at home,” said Peter.

But despite his affection for books and the obvious care he takes over them professionally, ironically Peter’s isn’t a reader.

"I can see why people love books but novels and the like don’t interest me,” he said.

"Perhaps it is a good thing – if I did read, I could be too easily distracted.”