TOM MCEWAN
PRESERVING THE TRADITIONAL CRAFT OF BOOKBINDING
Gill Sherry
Standing proud in Main Street, West Kilbride is one of the few remaining professional bookbinders in the UK. It’s the ideal destination for Tom McEwan to practice his craft, not only because the North Ayrshire village is Scotland’s first accredited Craft Town, but also because Tom is Ayrshire born and bred.
Bookbinding is not the most obvious of career choices, though, so what led Tom down that particular path?
“I’m from Dalry. I was an art school graduate. I studied sculpture at the Glasgow School of Art and on graduation was offered an apprenticeship to be a diesinker.”
My raised eyebrows are enough for him to elaborate.
“It’s basically making metal moulds. They’re hand engraved so they’re actually chiselled out of metal using hammers and chisels.”
A lot of the work that he did as a diesinker was for bookbinders, so when the diesinking industry suffered with the introduction of digital technology, he looked at bookbinding as an alternative way of earning a living. In fact, he had already started to take evening classes at Glasgow College of Building and Printing.
“It just grew from there,” says Tom. “I’ve always been interested in books, and I’ve always been a collector of books and frequent visitor to libraries, so it was a natural progression.”
One would think, though, that in this ever-advancing world of technology, the craft of bookbinding must also be at risk.
“It’s not on the endangered list but it is monitored, just in case. There are certainly enough people still doing it.”
And, with Tom’s help, this will continue to be the case.
“Since 2018 I’ve been involved in a national initiative to reintroduce bookbinding into the art schools and colleges, so I’ve been doing some teaching up at Glasgow School of Art, Edinburgh College of Art, and City of Glasgow College.”
Tom also teaches City & Guilds courses at his studio. In fact, it’s the only place in Scotland where you can gain a City & Guilds certificate in bookbinding.
“I’m proud of the way the educational side of it has been developing. So far it has been successful and is beginning to make a difference.”
Thanks to Tom’s continued contributions, it certainly sounds very promising.
“For the last two years, staff from the art schools now come here… so I’m not just training the students, I’m training the staff. We’re trying to establish these skills with the staff so they’re able to pass that onto the students. And it means that when I go up to teach the students, I’m not teaching them introductory level, I’m taking them a stage further.”
It sounds like a solid, long-term plan and there is, in fact, tangible evidence that they are producing more bindings than before this initiative began.
According to Tom, it’s the graphic, illustration and photography students that are mostly benefiting. But the benefits of preserving this traditional craft don’t just apply to those learning it.
Tom shows me an example of his work. It’s a beautiful book, leather bound and gilt edged. It looks more like a work of art than a book, which is suppose is the general idea.
“The books that I work on tend to be good books to start with, probably made with handmade paper and letterpress printed. Chromo lithography has been used to print the title pages for this one.” He holds it up for me to see. “You really don’t get that quality of printing now.”
It’s unique books such as this one that Tom generally works on, the special one-offs rather than editions. But who buys them?
“They’re sold to collectors. They’re quite expensive. It takes me between four and six weeks to bind a book up to this standard. The material costs are quite high as well so they’re high value items.”
The gilt edge of this particular book is gold leaf, and the leather is fine goatskin.
“I really enjoy doing the craft side of it,” Tom informs me. “I don’t do the tanning of the leather, but I do apply the colour.”
So, he doesn’t just bind and rebind books, he re-designs them as well?
“There’s a high craft component to binding one of these, but you also need a strong design ability, so you’re combining the two things. I’d like to think it’s as much of an art as it is a craft. It’s the design side that interests me more than the actual physical activity of creating the binding.”
On the subject of physical activity, some of the equipment in Tom’s studio looks pretty difficult to handle.
“If a Victorian bookbinder was to walk in here, he would recognise most of the equipment. In fact, some of these are Victorian! They’re all still in use.”
He demonstrates how to use the backing press. But I’m more interested in the basic storage equipment lined up on the shelf. Seems Tom is partial to Mackies ice cream.
“They’re just the right size for holding these tools,” he says, when I ask about the empty tubs. “It’s a burden that I’ll quite happily bear.”
The same is apparently true of rhubarb and ginger jam, the empty jars from which are used for storing dye. The sight of them makes me smile, and it occurs to me that Tom has been smiling ever since I arrived. Fair to say, then, that he enjoys what he does?
“It’s enjoyable. I’m lucky that I look forward to coming to work. It’s fiddly, and can be very messy as well, but it’s still satisfying.”
He shows me another book he’s been working on. It’s absolutely tiny, barely the size of matchbox.
“These are interesting wee books. I’ve got a bit of a reputation for binding miniature books, so I get commissioned to do that quite frequently. This one belongs to a collector in Switzerland. It’s here to have a wee box made.
“And this one is just waiting to be rebound. Again, it’s a miniature. This one’s a Victorian binding. The book itself dates back to 1677. It’s a wonderful thing.”
He holds it out for me to take but I’m too scared to touch it. It’s looks well-thumbed and very delicate.
“The challenges in printing that would be high today,” says Tom, “never mind in 1677.”
There’s no doubt these books, however big or small, would look fabulous on the shelves of the collectors who treasure them. But what about the contents?
“Over the last two or three years I’ve been binding a lot of books about Robert Burns. And I think every second book that I make ends up in a private collection in America. I certainly sell a lot more to America than I do here in Scotland.”
Yes, they do love our national bard over in the US.
“Some of my bindings are at the National Library of Scotland,” he continues, “and I sold one to Edinburgh University Library last year. I’ve got bindings in the British Library. Occasionally some of the bigger libraries or museums will approach me looking for work.”
Tom is clearly a master of his craft, but like every manual skill, it takes time and dedication to learn.
“You need to be quite patient. It takes a long time to get to the level I’m at now. It could easily take eight to ten years of training and practice application, so not many people bind books at that level. In the UK, there’s maybe 20 to 30 binders, but probably only 15 to 20 of those are active.”
There are binders, however, that Tom has trained that have gone on to set up their own binderies. Hopefully, there’ll be plenty more.
Studio 1, 121 Main St, West Kilbride, KA23 9AR
Tel: 07851 416048
Email: tmcewan@ed-co.net
www.mcewan.co.uk
