Bookbinder & Aspirant Publisher
Where handbound and digital meet...
I bind handbound leather books that I sometimes sell here. These are usually biblical and early Christian texts that I have typeset and published myself under the Paradosis Press imprint. If you don't see any here, that is because they have sold out. I don't take commissions, but usually put a batch of books up for sale and announce the details the day before. Please follow me on Instagram or Facebook to be notified of updates.
However, I am also starting to sell digital packages that will enable anyone with a printer and a bit of glue to bind their own book. These Bind-Your-Own-MiniBook packages are still in development and this website will hopefully be updated soon, with news of similar packages for my larger hand-sized books.
This is a hand-sized (A6) book that has been hand-stitched and case bound in veg-tanned calfskin that I have dyed and tooled myself. It has hand-stitched headbands, made printed marbled endpages that have been waxed with beeswax, one ribbon marker, speckled edges, and "ON THE INCARNATION" gold foiled on the spine.
The book contains the text of On the Incarnation by St Athanasius the Great, and the translation used is that of "A Religious of CSMV" (Sister Penelope Lawson), which is in the public domain and can be found here.
The book is digitally printed in archival-quality pigment ink on 120 gsm Munken Pure paper, and in a 9.5 point font. See the photos for further details.
Approximate size, metric: 159 x 116 x 14 mm.
Approximate size, imperial: 6.2 x 4.6 x 0.5 inches.
Total pages: 104 pages of text, plus 4 extra.
Please note that this book is being sold for a slightly reduced price because the spine title runs from the bottom to the top, rather than the conventional (for English books) top to bottom.
Please also note that there may be minor imperfections in the leather or tooling. While every attempt is made to minimise these, they are sometimes an inevitable part of the natural process.
The price includes international shipping with FedEx and currently takes five to eight days. Please note that FedEx requires a street address rather than a post office box, as well as your phone number. You will receive the tracking number once the order is shipped and you will be able to track it online. If you have any queries, please feel free to contact me.
Macrina Walker
I have loved books for as long as I can remember, but becoming a bookbinder was an unexpected development. I read, wrote, and edited texts in a previous life, and even dabbled in layout. But I never stopped to think about how a book is actually held together. That changed when I entered an enclosed monastery in the Netherlands and was assigned to work in its bookbindery. I was gradually initiated into the various facets of bookbinding and discovered, to my joy, that binding could be combined with various creative impulses to create works of real beauty.
I later left the monastery in order to become an Orthodox Christian. Returning to South Africa, I turned to bookbinding as a way of supporting myself.
More recently still, I have been returning to the world of typesetting and layout as I have begun to produce my own text blocks. In this way I hope that I will be able to share with others treasures that I have discovered along the way,