Recycling with Rik

Bosch brothers follow their father's profession of bookbinding and his wisdom in all things

Rik Nelson   /  Correspondent

Willem Bosch pulls a family bible out of wooden traveling box.

Bookbinders Willem and Eppe Bosch agree their most memorable repair was a 1532 Martin Luther Bible. In its life it had crossed the Atlantic on sailing ships three times. Then it came by covered wagon to Montana; finally to Spokane. The family surname recorded in the Bible was the same as its current owner's.

The Bible, covered in goatskin, was in very good condition for its age. It had been oiled, but its spine was missing, and after 450 years, the glue had "given up the ghost," exposing and degrading the stitching. The Boschs hand-sewed the signatures back together. "No automated sewing," Willem Bosch says. "Like Dad used to say, 'Your best tools are your pair of hands.' "

The Bosch brothers are first-generation immigrants. As was their father. And their story is their father Willem's story, too.

Willem (Bill) Bosch was born in Holland in 1923. At age 14, his mother took him to the local bookbinder to become an apprentice. "Willem," the bookbinder said, "you're 14! You should have been here last year." But he took him on anyway. Willem's mother told him he'd have a job for life.

Imprisoned by the Germans during WWII, Willem escaped and as he fled, he made the decision to one day live in freedom. America. In 1967, he was finally able to do that and, in 1972, bought Arts & Crafts Book Manufacturing in Spokane. When he died in 1998, he had been a bookbinder all his life. Both of his sons had apprenticed under him and they run the business today.

"He taught us, 'Do the job right the first time,' " Willem says. "If we did work that wasn't up to his standards, he'd take the book, rip the cover off and say, 'Now I want you to do it the way I taught you.' "

Brother Eppe adds, "Dad told us, 'Be honest. Everything is word-of-mouth. We rely on satisfied customers to tell others. We advertise with quality work.' "

Work that comes to the Boschs is either new binding or repairs. New binding might be, for instance, a year's worth of HOME, hand-sewn and bound in handsome gold-embossed covers. The Boschs regularly bind medical journals and rare periodicals, such as the American Orchid Society bulletins from the '50s.

On the repair side, cookbooks and Bibles are brought in most often. The Boschs say "home repairs" are their worst adversary because "you never know what you're going to find – old glue, duct tape, strapping tape, old yellow tape." They replace old tape with more supple, archival quality tape from Germany and, as much as possible, replace old materials with acid-free ones that promote longevity.

Every repair the brothers make is informed by years of hands-on experience. But some repairs, like the Luther Bible, require more than the knowledge of materials and craft. They demand psychological preparation. "You wait for a very quiet day and get a gut feeling," Eppe says. "Some days your heart's not in it. But then one day a book will say, 'Now it's time.' "

The brothers are reuse/recycling-conscious and, for future repairs, save bits and pieces of paper from books already repaired. They also keep "parts books," collections of front and back pages from books found at estate and yard sales. If a repair requires mending or splicing, no doubt a match for paper type, age and coloration can be found in the parts book. Another practical lesson in thrift learned from their father.

The Bosch brothers have been bookbinders all their lives and, following in their father's footsteps, intend to end their work lives as bookbinders.

Let us here, then, for a moment, reflect upon American values. "Do the job right the first time," father Willem instructed his boys. "Be honest," he told them. Those were the values America reflected then to the rest of the world. Do they still?

"Do the job right the first time."

"Be honest."

Do we wish to "recycle" those values into the future? There's enough pith in those two phrases for a whole book.

So bind that shining slender volume in leather, boys. Emboss it in gold.

Arts & Crafts Book Manufacturing is at 618 E Second Ave.; 747-3818.