One Year Later: Two Bibles Rebound by Mechling

The Bible Design and Binding Blog has featured a lot of rebinding work recently -- and there's more on the way. Maybe you're wondering how some of these editions hold up over time. After all, even the saddest genuine leather editions can look spiffy out of the box. It's when they're actually used that the faults begin to show. Matt Morales sent me some photos about a couple of Bibles he had rebound a year ago by Mechling, along with a write-up, and I'm passing them along because they illustrate the point that many people still miss about quality bindings. What matters isn't how they look today, but how they perform over time. Here's Matt --

Two years ago I sent an ESV Classic Reference edition and a 25-year-old NASB reference edition to Mechling to be rebound. The black ESV was my wife's, which after only a year of use had begun to fall apart. The 25-year-old burgundy NASB was a gift from my mother.

Both Bibles were rebound with the deluxe binding package with no frills attached, and both were done in the original color that they came with. The turnaround was two weeks and the Bibles arrived in great condition. Of note: I did have both Bibles re-sewn by Mechling to add strength.

One year later, both Bibles have grown considerably more flexible (notice the black ESV) and feel great -- with no signs of falling apart. The goatskin cover and sheepskin lining are both very supple. My only complaint is that the ribbons fray to easily ... which is why I sent stronger ones when rebinding the wide margin.

The cost was $159 a piece. All in all, it was money well spent.

Thanks, Matt, for sharing these. I'm impressed with the flexibility of the black ESV -- that bent-over-backward snapshot is positively yoga-like. You make an excellent point, too, about the way good bindings tend to improve with use (while bad ones just fall apart)!

Comments

[Jay Davis]

Great blogs here about Bible binding. I had one done at leatherbibles.com and think they did a great job. The turn around was not as fast as some posted here. I had a TNIV XL done in two tone style. Nice!

[Dave Swain]

Was the ESV reference originally glued? If so, I wonder how they sew the pages. I can see resewing an already sewn binding, but sewing a glued binding seems like it would be impossible given that the signatures are completely separated into individual pages when they cut off the end to glue them.

Dave

[Kenton Steryous]

Just came across this review...very interesting. Several years ago, I had two Bibles rebound by Mechling. I actually dropped by their place when traveling up that way, and I specifically asked them about lining the binding with leather instead of paper to give it that limpness that is so desired. I brought my signature series Nelson to show them, but at that time they said they weren't able to do that.

I went ahead and left the Bibles with them anyway, but I wasn't quite happy. The goatskin on the outside was, of course, nice and supple, but the binding itself was quite stiff because of the cardboard and paper that the goatskin was on.

You can imagine my surprise when I came across this review...I may just have to give them another shot, this time lining the Bible with leather.

Thanks,
Kenton

[matt]

Dave - I am not sure what they do when they sew the binding. Although I will ask next time I am in contact with them.

[Desiree']

I try to read my Bible everyday plus my husband and I are Bible students, so my Bible gets used plenty. I have my wide margin, french moroccan leather, cambridge KJV for a little over 2 years now. It doesn't seem like long enough for it to be falling apart. Previously I had the same Bible but in black for a year and it had started falling apart as well. Is this a problem with the Cambridge bindings? What would you recommend doing? I have thought about getting the same Bible only in Goatskin, would that hold up better? Would I be better off getting it rebound and what specifications should I make if I do go that route? Or should I just simply switch brands? I have looked into the Oxford Brevier Clarendon wide margin reference Bible. Do you know how dependable that is? I appreciate any suggestions you may have. Thank you.

[Miguel]

Matt, do the Bibles lay flat (or at least stay mostly open) when you are in Genesis and Revelation? Did they do so when you first got them, or have they loosened up over time to where they now stay open? (If so, do you remember how long it took before they would stay open when in Gen/Rev?) Thanks for sharing your projects with us!