Tour of a working 1890's Bookbindery in Troy, N.Y.

Tim James, owner of Renascent Bookbindery, invites you to tour our country’s only working nineteenth-century bookbindery.

Housed in a former fire department repair facility in historic downtown Troy, NY, the bindery is a hidden gem. During the tour, you’ll learn about the history of the book and the dramatic changes that took place during the Industrial Revolution that made books available to the middle-class.

Visitors will have an opportunity to print on an iron hand press, trim the edge of a book on a 14th-century-style cutting machine, apply gold to a leather cover, watch printer’s type being made by hand, and learn how books were created in both industrial and preindustrial fashion. While there, check out our collections of stamps, foils, cloths, dies, metal types, and rare vintage hand tools. Tours typically take about ninety minutes.