Visited the printing museum in St. Louis and it changed my mind about digital binding

I always thought digital print on demand was the way forward for bookbinding. Then I went to the Museum of Printing in St. Louis last weekend and saw a guy hand-sewing a 200 year old ledger. He pointed at the glue on a digital book next to him and said that stuff cracks in ten years. I've been using that glue for the last three years. Anybody else run into old school methods that made you question your whole setup?

3 comments

3 Comments

elliotm571mo ago

The 200 year old ledger really got me, but the glue thing is what stopped me cold. I've been using that same PUR glue for paperback novels and now I'm wondering if they're all gonna fall apart on people's shelves. That's seriously making me rethink whether I should go back to smyth sewn binding for everything.

drew_hart41mo ago

Hold on, plenty of PUR books from the 90s are still holding up fine on my shelf.

michael_green441mo ago

Completely agree, that glue comment shook me too, I'm still wondering about all the stuff I already shipped out.