The International Bookbinder

The Book Block is a manual of industrial binding techniques, the first in the Making a Book collection, which focuses on manuals for graphic book production. With the aim of elevating knowledge about graphic production among designers — helping them to produce better books and communicate more effectively with all those involved in the process — The Book Block brings together the 17 most common industrial binding techniques in 6 categories, exploring each one in detail, describing them and showing what is possible to do in this day and age. Conceived from scratch to be bilingual, in Portuguese and English, the book seeks to systematize Portuguese terminology in the printing industry, while providing the same information in the lingua franca of today’s global market: English. In an international context, with customers, employees and producers sprinkled throughout the world, this book provides the perfect tool for an effective communication. Developed by experienced book designers and bookbinders — Itemzero and Maiadouro — this book is a summary of decades of know-how, now easily made available.

A concise edition of the highly acclaimed Oxford Companion to the Book, this book features the 51 articles from the Companion plus 3 brand new chapters in one affordable volume. The 54 chapters introduce readers to the fascinating world of book history. Including 21 thematic studies on topics such as writing systems, the ancient and the medieval book, and the economics of print, as well as 33 regional and national histories of 'the book', offering a truly global survey of the book around the world, the Oxford History of the Book is the most comprehensive work of its kind. The three new articles, specially commissioned for this spin-off, cover censorship, copyright and intellectual property, and book history in the Caribbean and Bermuda. All essays are illustrated throughout with reproductions, diagrams, and examples of various typographical features. Beautifully produced and hugely informative, this is a must-have for anyone with an interest in book history and the written word.