That arts and crafts fair bashing on perfect bindings was way off base

I went to that big bookbinder meetup in Portland last spring and a guy giving a demo trash talked perfect bound books for like 20 minutes straight. Said they fall apart and aren't real binding. I've been doing this 8 years and I bind a ton of journals with perfect binding using EVA glue and they hold up just fine. He quoted some 70 year old book from his mentor about how it's lazy work. I've heard from 12 different customers that their perfect bound notebooks I made are still tight after 3 years of daily use. Has anyone else dealt with old school purists acting like perfect binding is garbage?

2 comments

2 Comments

jade_johnson5d ago

My buddy's perfect bound zine collection is still going strong after 5 years.

keithbutler5d ago

That "still going strong after 5 years" thing is exactly my point lol. People act like if a book doesn't last 50 years it's garbage, but most of my customers are happy if their journal holds up for a couple years of normal use. I've got a perfect bound notebook I made in 2018 that's been through two moves and a camping trip where it got rained on a bit. Still tight, no pages falling out. The real trick is how you prep the spine and use the right glue. If you rush through it or use cheap materials then yeah it'll fail. But that's true of any binding method really. I think those old school types just hate change and want to feel superior about their hand-sewn coptic stitch bindings lol.