Welcome to the bindery. Max Marbles has been located at Historic Mission Mill in Salem, Oregon since 1988. Our shop is located in the rag warehouse where once used wool garments were stripped of their buttons and zippers. To this day the rain washes from the earth old buttons thrown out these windows some distant time past. There are two windows, one that faces north to the mill building and the other to the west with the view of an apple tree and the mill creek. And there under the apple tree our year round mallards fat from cracked corn are shaded from the noon day sun.

        Looking back in the bindery you will notice the simplicity of our tools. You see our technology is no more advanced than that of one hundred years ago. No power tools, odiferous chemicals, but lots of specialized hand tools for the craft of bookbinding and conservation. We have a few work tables, a large paper cutter, a letter press, a stone top table and several book presses (all muscle powered). So, it's not unusual for a guest to ask if we do all our work here. I explain that in the old days the bookbinders worked with quite simple hand tools to produce lovely classic styles. And as we work on their books we, too use the same tools and indeed the same steps in restoring the old books.

       Here we operate on "book time", that's to say we let the book or project dictate the time schedule. Every book, no matter how similar, has its own reason for being at the bindery. For most its simply age, but it may also be hard use or even fire. Or a combination of factors may have led to the deterioration of the book. An important aspect of restoration is simply understanding what has transpired before. This assessment will aid us in restoring a book and advising its owner of how best to protect it for many generations to come. That is the real purpose, to preserve for some time a very precious object such as a book.