Move over Kindle, real books are not dead yet.
And one island artist has the authentic skills, tools and costume to prove it.
In this, the 21st century, Paul McClintock specializes in the craft of 18th century bookbinding in which he actually folds each page of a book, pierces holes in every one of the folds and hand stitches the pages together. From one Renaissance man to another, it is likely Thomas Jefferson would be far more impressed with Mr. McClintock than anything “Mr. Amazon.com” has done.
At his Common Hands Studio in Clinton, McClintock has created the period named “The Sign of the Crown and Book” where he creates pocket daybooks, journals, sketchbooks and ledgers. He provides these to museums and historical sites and to the personal collections of Living History interpreters, as well as offering them to customers through his website.
But that’s not all he makes.
McClintock also creates newly printed and bound editions of antique books, such as “The Beggar’s Opera” of 1728, or “The Gardener’s Pocketbook” by R.S. Gent of 1755 with its “many curious hints towards the improvements of trees, fruits and flowers,” or one’s very own newly bound replica of “The Sonnets of William Shakespeare,” circa 1609.
These “printed matter” books are available either in the standard form with new paper, or as “lovingly worn” books with antiqued paper, faux-foxing and distressed covers.
A recent project that replicated a very old cookbook of about 480 pages took the artist about a week to finish.
“I love old books and I have a decent collection of old, leather-bound editions,” McClintock said.
“I wanted to learn to bind out of my own interest so I sought out Bridget Fischer who taught a class in bookbinding on the island,” he said.
“It sparked my interest and I kept it up, learning more and more each day.”
Now he finds himself a busy bookbinder and stationer since he started the business in 2009.
Beyond creating new versions of antique books in his studio on Whidbey, McClintock often travels to historical events such as the Colonial American Experience at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. or to historically rich areas of colonial America. Those places include the Mount Vernon estate, George Washington’s home on the banks of the Potomac River in Alexandria, Va., where McClintock performs his craft alongside other living history artisans and re-enactors.
“It’s just like being in a time warp,” McClintock said of his life as a period bookbinder.
Living history has been a part of his life since childhood, he said.
“I grew up in a living history community in southern Missouri,” McClintock said.
“My father was a gunsmith of the 18th century period and my mother did beadwork, handwork or sewing and specialized in authentic hearth cooking.”
His early training served him well, and for a period of time he served as an interpreter at the historic Daniel Boone home in Defiance, Mo. where he led tours and demonstrations about the daily life of the Boone family.
“My work takes me to the historical East Coast and going to these museums you have to be on your toes; they inspect you.”
Such inspections include his peers whom, he said, would notice if his prescription glasses did not have the proper 18th century frames. They do.
McClintock said that he focuses on the period between the French and Indian War up to the American Revolutionary War — roughly the 1750s to 1790s.
When he is invited to demonstrate his craft at events it is required that he be historically correct in his attire and in the tools he uses in binding.
“I just love the period — the architecture, the clothing, the furniture,” he said.
“If you think about it, it was a new nation. A provincial bookbinder didn’t have new materials readily at hand. There were no paper mills yet, so the paper quality wasn’t that good and they were using lambskin rather than calfskin for the covers at that time. Seeing what they produced from what they had on hand was just really intriguing to me,” he added.
Beyond the events that he attends around the country, McClintock said that his bindery business has taken off and he keeps pretty busy with online orders for a variety of requests.
For an antiques show in Massachusetts, for example, the dealers needed period looking books to fit into their displays.
What he calls making books look “lovingly worn” requires him to “beat up” a book by staining its pages using cold coffee or rubbing its cover with fine sandpaper and a beeswax finish.
His customers love his work, judging by the feedback on his website:
“You know, I was just thinking the other day that I had not gotten word regarding the cookbook and what showed up on my doorstep today? It is absolutely awesome! The handwritten receipts you slipped inside just about did me in, I am speechless.”
For the handwritten receipts he uses hand made quills that he orders from another artisan and ink that is made from the hulls of walnuts.
“This makes a beautiful brown ink,” McClintock said.
Each package is wrapped with copied period newspaper and sealed with wax.
“I try my best to keep everything as period as possible,” he added.
McClintock is glad to have piqued the interest of his northwest neighbors and friends because, as he said, the rich American history that is ubiquitous on the Eastern seaboard is foreign to many people in this area.
“People don’t have any idea what goes into the making of a book. We have just a wonderful art community here and a lot of it is geared toward the now,” McClintock said.
He knows it would be appreciated here because even at an event for fifth-graders in California, although he was concerned, it turned out that they were absolutely enthralled by watching him bind a book as an 18th century artist.
He hopes to have a demonstration in this area soon and promised to get the word out as soon as it is planned.
“I would like people here to see this historical part of art,” he said.
Visit his website at www.fromcommonhands.com to find out more about McClintock’s work.
