TrustNews Jun 22

The Winchester Bindery

Sue Chopping, Hampshire Archives Trust, on the recent visit.

 

On 6th April, Tim Wiltshire very kindly hosted a visit to his Bindery, at the rear of P&G Wells the bookshop in College Street, for the Hampshire Archives Trust and its associated organisations in Hampshire, as he is retiring at the end of May. Among those who were lucky enough to be able to attend were members of the City of Winchester Trust.

 

The workshop has been at these premises since 1729 but at various places within the building. Where it is now, is in an outbuilding which was previously the lawn at the rear of the shop and to get to the workshop one treads the original garden path!

 

Once inside it contains a wonderfully eclectic mixture of all the tools of his trade, mixed with mementos such as the original book page cutters from the 18th century. These are huge scissor like blades over three feet long, which now hang from the ceiling. There is also a narwhal horn, purchased by Tim's father - absolutely nothing to do with bookbinding but fascinating anyway!

 

Rolls of beautiful multi-coloured leather and cloth are stacked along one wall, along with reams of paper of all thicknesses and colours. At the rear, an enormous iron book press, again an original, is bolted to the floor, as its weight would easily result in the demise of the operator if it tipped. What a treasure, and who on earth could move it?

 

Tim talked to three groups of us about his working life, showing beautiful samples of his expertise and craft, including exquisite gilded tooling and how to judge and use vellum. And who knew there are names for the various areas on the spine of a bound book?

 

Tim also talked about the lack of apprentices coming into the craft and his hopes that this will not be a skill slowly lost by a lack of recognition of its importance in preserving our bibliographic heritage. Tim's retirement is well deserved but he and his iconic workroom will be very much missed by Winchester’s cultural diversity.