The Bookbinder in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg

In the bustling colonial town of Williamsburg, a vanished library once housed over three hundred volumes belonging to Governor Lord Botetourt. Though the original books were lost at sea, a modern recreation based on the 1770 inventory lets listeners explore the intellectual world of a man whose interests spanned history, law, literature, and politics. The narrative weaves together the stories these volumes tell about their owner with the tactile beauty of their eighteenth‑century leather bindings, inviting you to imagine the scent of calfskin and the gleam of gold leaf on a spined treasure.

Beyond the collection, the book delves into the craft of the era’s bookbinders—men like William Parks, John Stretch, and Thomas Brend—who practiced a centuries‑old hand‑binding tradition that barely changed since medieval monasteries. Their meticulous techniques, from blind tooling to the use of leather hinges, reveal a devotion to an art that prized skill over machines. Listeners will come away with a vivid sense of how books were made, protected, and cherished in a world on the cusp of modernity.