NYS Writers Institute to host tour of historic Troy bookbindery
- NYS Writers Institute
- Jun 4
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 8
UPDATE: All spots are taken. If you'd like to schedule a tour of the Renascent Bookbindery, visit https://www.renascentbookbindery.com/visit
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We invite you to join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of Renascent Bookbindery in Troy, to take place from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23.
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the art and science pf bookbinding and discover the history of the book. Attendees will learn about the history of bookbinding and printing while seeing the tools in use and the craft at work.
During the tour, attendees can apply gold foil to book covers, trim books using a 14th-century-style bookbinder’s plow, watch printer's type being made, and print on an iron hand press. The tour also covers how the Industrial Revolution transformed bookbinding from a craft into an industry.
4 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 23
Space is limited - only 12 spots available -- UPDATE: All 12 are taken. We hope to do it again in the future.
Register using this Eventbrite link.
1277 5th Avenue
Troy, NY 12180
Attendees will meet at the location. The tour lasts approximately 90 minutes.
Renascent Bookbindery was founded by Tim James and is located in a historic building in Troy’s Little Italy neighborhood. Paul Grondahl wrote a Times Union feature story in 2023 about Tim and his love of 19th-century bookbinding:
"Tim James is a man born two centuries too late, an unrepentant print guy who refuses to go gently into that digital dawn.
In an age of artificial intelligence, ChatGPT and 3-D printing, James is on a quixotic quest to turn back time and create in this industrial city something it has not witnessed in a couple hundred years: a book bindery and print shop churning with 19th-century equipment." Read more.
