May 14, 2018

Anita Engles is the Executive Director of the American Bookbinders Museum based in San Francisco, California. It's the only museum of its kind in North America celebrating and exploring the culture and tools of bookbinders and bookbinding from its earliest forms through the changes and innovations of the industrial revolution. In addition to the craft and artistry of binding, it focuses on the stories of the men, women, and children who worked in binderies.

We sat down in the bookstore at the museum after I had gotten a great tour of the place from docent Madeleine Robins. We talk, among other things, about the process and human experience of bookbinding, the book as IT, the industrial revolution, the tools and unique equipment housed at the museum, funding, the special collection of publisher's bindings, designers, temporary exhibits, founder Tim James, preserving and telling the story of the craft of bookbinding, keeping history alive, artist books, the book arts, and places the literary tourist should visit when in San Francisco.