Ludlow Bookbinders

Creating a Porter Press book is a very collaborative process. As well as our team at HQ, we also work with a hugely talented group of people who bring their expertise to bear on such diverse parts of the process as writing, editing, designing and printing.

We’d like to introduce some of these people over the coming months, to showcase their skills, and highlight exactly what goes into the production of one of our book titles.

As we have just taken delivery of the latest of our deluxe editions, it seemed appropriate to focus our first ‘Spotlight’ on Ludlow Bookbinders. Based in the beautiful Shropshire town of Ludlow, Paul Kidson and his team have over 30 years’ experience in finest traditions of English Craft book binding.

As a bit of background for those who aren’t familiar with our limited edition motoring books, we produce a deluxe version of a number of our book titles. These are hand bound, generally in soft calf-skin, although we do have one or two where smooth linen has been selected. For ‘Great Cars’ we liaise with the car’s owner to choose the colours, which are usually the car’s current (or sometimes most famous) livery.

The book is then bound by one of Paul’s team in the selected leather, and a hand crafted grey cloth slipcase is created. The page edges are gilded, and, as a finishing touch, each book carries an embossed reproduction of the chassis number on the front cover.

Limited to 100 copies per book, these really are things of great beauty, and fantastic for collectors.

We always try as much as possible to work with local companies and craftspeople, and in this instance we have been truly lucky – it’s not often you find the perfect match almost on your doorstep!

Thank you Paul, and all!