Megan Gibes made her first book in the third grade: a poetry book with a fabric cover that marked her first, but not last, all-nighter. The Michigan native went on to study bookbinding at North Bennet Street School in Boston and, in 2016, landed at Arion Press. Gibes’ domain—the book bindery—is essentially the last stop in our production process, after the type foundry and the press room. Here, she discusses her work as lead bookbinder and what makes Arion unique. 

Q I.

Why do you enjoy making editions, rather than one-off books?

I really like to get lost in the process. I just like to come in in the morning, put a podcast on, and fold paper or hand-sew a book or chop [cover] boards for eight hours. That’s a perfect day for me. I like to know what I’m doing and do it. I also love piles of things—moving something from one pile to another pile to another pile. I find such satisfaction in making a list of how I’m going to get a project finished and checking off everything on my to-do lists.

Q II.

Can you give an overview of your process? 

We get a giant stack of flat sheets of paper that have four pages printed on them. It’s called a press sheet; it’s the text. We get them off the press and once the ink dries, they’re folded by hand or machine, depending on the delicacy of the paper. Then we gather them into sections so that the pages are in order. We call it gathering, but you’re collating, making the book section by section. Then everything gets pressed; the folds get nice and fold-y. Then we sew the books by hand or machine. Now it’s a text block. We glue up the spine and trim the book to its final size. We put the headbands on and then we put lining on the spine to make the text block stronger. If the back of the book is rounded, we use a hammer to make it into a curve. Then it gets set aside while we make the cover. The final step is putting the cover on; it’s called casing in. 

Q III.

And that’s the most stressful step?  

Yes. Because everyone has done so much labor for this book, right? And then I brush out some glue on the endsheet, carefully place the cover over onto the textblock without being able to actually see, and trust my hands to guide it into the correct spot. Then I flip the book over and do it on the other side. If we do three titles a year, 300ish copies of each, that’s almost 1,000 books a year that I case in. And it still stresses me out. I’ve done eight years of that many books. It does not get easier, but you trust your hands and that they know how to do this step. 

Q IV.

Why do you work on books in batches?

We don’t have a ton of space in the bindery, so we can’t hold 300 books in one step. It’s better for us to hand the books off for fulfillment in batches—to get them into customer’s hands. Customers might wonder why they order a book and it takes two months. We literally are working on it, but it takes time for us to complete it. In the bindery, we might finish 25 copies of an average book a week. In traditional publishing, the release date is the day that the bookstore opens the box and all the books are in that box. With Arion, when the book gets in your hand, I made that last week. 

Q V.

Speaking of! Can you share your Patti Smith story?

We worked with Patti Smith, who’s a total hero of mine, on her memoir, Woolgathering. I went out to help work the publication party in New York and during the day of the party, my coworker was like, “Hey, Megan, can you swing over to Patti’s house and pick up the broadside?” And I was like, “Sure!” We did this beautiful broadside with her and she signed them all. She was sitting on her couch, with the book I had just made two days before on an ottoman in front of her. Once we finish a book, they go out into the world and I never see them again. To see it there, in my hero’s house, was really moving. Seeing my work out in the wild—it’s like being in a crowd of people and seeing someone you recognize. You get that weird jolt in your stomach. It’s a really cool feeling.

Arion Press is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information about the press and our historic production facility, please visit our website.

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