Hand-Binding 'A Christmas Carol' - Part 1 of 3 - Printing, Sewing & Edge Decoration with REAL GOLD

Hello Everyone!
Every Christmas I make a point of making a gift for a friend or loved one, and this year is no exception. Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' is my wife's favourite Christmas story, and so this year I've decided to make a special copy just for her. And the good news for you is that you'll get to share in the creation of this book in three virtually back-to-back installments, which I'll be premiering over the next few days before Christmas. So grab yourself a bowl of hot punch, sit back, and enjoy!
I've chosen to bind this book in a style that would be familiar to Dickens himself. The book is sewn on cords that are 'sunk', being sawn into the text block rather than pierced. This was a faster binding method that came into vogue in the 1800's as demand for books increased.
A shoutout to Reddit user u/ellipticcurve, who typeset and imposed (and freely shared) the 1915 edition of Dickens' classic book, featuring illustrations by Arthur Rackham. Not having time to format the book myself, their meticulous work was exactly what I needed to get this project off the ground. If you're a Redditor, head on over to r/bookbinding and give them an upvote!
I've chosen to give the book some extra ornamentation with both paint and 24 karat sprinkled gold leaf. Many thanks to Glenn Malkin of @bookbindingtips for his invaluable video on this technique. Thank you for sharing your knowledge Glenn!
In the next two installments I'll cover the book fully in calf leather, weave silk endbands, and make an attempt at genuine gold tooling, and all on a deadline to boot, so wish me luck!
Cheers!
Dennis
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[@hyrumdobosz8939]

I love watching you work. Watching the creation of something beautiful is always therapeutic. "Creators have a fundamental advantage over destroyers. Destroyers will eventually run out of things to destroy. Creators will never run out of things to create."

[@sjgrover]

Very nice! I bound copies of A Christmas Carol in 2009 for family gifts (nowhere near as nice as yours are!). I don't know if anybody else in my family still has theirs, but I read mine every year.

[@jacksongreen1319]

I really hope they still have theirs. I know I'd keep something like that forever.

[@Gergenhimer]

I SAW HIS FACE---THAT OF A JOLLY OLD ELF

[@PendragonDaGreat]

That crackle as you broke the glue and gilding between the pages was something else.

[@valentinerose]

Deadlines are crazy. Even just binding for someone else is so much harder than when it’s just for yourself! I bound the first copy of my mom’s book (I was inspired by your medieval binding series), and it turned out pretty well, I got the majority of it done relatively quickly. I started to bind copies of the same book for a friend-admittedly, in a different style-and so many things have gone wrong. 🤪Practice makes perfect, I guess! This is beautiful already! I’m sure your wife will love it, and I can’t wait until part two!😄

[@Kwstr42]

oh this has me excited. i love this story. i have a 1916 copy of a short story book with this story in it i would read each year. but this year i get to read a more original version of the book. i went to an estate sale for a lady who had a library and collected books back to the 1800s, and i found a 1922 facsimile of the original printing of this book, complete with a reproductuon of the title, preface and top half of first page of the original manuscript in Charles' own handwriting, and has all the original illistrations. given its a 3 day weekend, i feel a sunday night sit down with hot cocoa and a faux fireplace is in order for this one i get a kick out of the fact my copy is 101 years old and is a tribute to the original printing complete with forewords by people who are long gone and it reads like they feel its just as much a classic as we feel it is today, 180 years after it was originally written

[@_WOLAND_]

Wow! Never would've expected that gold leaf on the concave head and tail edges. You always manage to impress me. Thanks for the early Christmas gift!

[@mags8014]

Absolutely riveting! Painting and burnishing the gold edges was wonderful to watch. You always make everything look far easier than I am sure it is, and the finished product is always a work of art. Looking forward to the next part! Thank you.

[@KatelynSweigart]

I am absolutely JEALOUS of that plough/finishing press combo.

[@user-sf5vc7xc3w]

Это видео - наверное лучший подарок для подписчиков канала! Спасибо!

[@RealLatinGeek]

It's the fact you're as skilled a videographer as a bookbinder, to me, that elevates this. The (faux?) focus pull for the sewing timelapse- sublime.

[@lollyhamilton1710]

I have never bound a book, but every time I watch you work I wish I had. Maybe one day.

[@jaromir_kovar]

How I healed watching this... There are no words. Thank you for this gift. Happy and peaceful Christmas to you and your loved ones, Dennis

[@Beryllahawk]

Gorgeous!! A gift sure to be adored! It's always so nice to watch you work, thank you for the video - a Christmas gift for all of us!

[@Barbara-ty8dj]

Love your work. From one ‘leftie’ to another.

[@jcortese3300]

Good heavens! That was a joy to watch from start to finish! Absolutely amazing and beautiful!

[@myzanaplays]

Omg the cracking of those pages was asmr gold I was hoping you’d do that and if that’s a gift that person is very blessed to be given such a beautifully handcrafted item

[@Pizzpott]

Amazing work, absolutely amazing work. And incredibly beautiful too.

[@aixot_3073]

So wonderful ... can't wait for parts 2 and 3 ... 😊

[@michaelhinkson6038]

This was amazing! I'm very much looking forward to parts 2 and 3!

[@FourKeysBookArts]

Coming soon!

[@susanoswald325]

If I were starting my life over I would certainly endeavor to try to do what you do. I have an MFA in painting but I would parent my studio work with this art form. I am so inspired.

[@CanineWild]

Probably the most beautiful edge decoration I've seen, damn! Love watching you work. Not only are you masterful at bookbinding, but your videos themselves are beautifully made and so atmospheric.

[@cynthiacarter532]

This is so soothing to watch, ironically on an iPad! What a treasure for her. I would love to browse through hand bound books like this. Thank you for sharing.

[@user-rt9uk5ce6f]

Обожаю твои видео! Спасибо за доставленное удовольствие!

[@nightfan1983]

What a gorgeous piece of work (in progress) this is, I'm certain your wife will love it. Thank you for sharing the process (and the sources of your wisdom) with us. :)

[@angieallen7363]

A true artisan at work!!! Thank you for sharing this with us.

[@dlebreton7888]

The background music was very relaxing.

[@Chrisc-sn6uh]

Such a blessing to watch craftsmanship of high quality, happy Christmas all, christ is born. Peace be to all.

[@theweatherisaokay4964]

Really enjoyed watching you working and those tools😍!

[@caspenbee]

With so much care going into it, it seems sure this book will last over a century. And how special to think that maybe, if the internet lasts that long, someday someone will be able to see it being made a hundred years ago.

[@soclose2her]

I will never stop being amazed at his ability to consistently fold paper perfectly in half.

[@llfirin]

At some point Id love to see a video about the process of printing on paper in the correct way to order and space out the text (margins and all that) love your content!

[@purrdiggle1470]

I haven't fully figured out how to deal with headers and footers and page numbering, but as long as you don't want an odd-sized paper, MS Word has a function that will print a document so it can be folded into book signatures.

[@daveturnbull7221]

I'd forgotten all about Glen's video - need to go and re-watch that. This is looking to be one fine present Dennis 👍

[@garygenerous8982]

First, that is absolutely beautiful and was a joy to watch. Second, when I was a lot younger my dad bought me a bunch of old Tom Swift books from 1910-1925(ish) and I spent years being amazed at the construction and wondering how they were put together compared to more modern books which you have answered with your videos. Amazing work sir and I can’t wait for part two!

[@n_wallmann]

Beautiful! I can't wait to see the finished book.

[@goodbye3064]

Fantastic editing! Wow you continue to amaze and entertain us all

[@negotiableaffections]

Dennis, you demonstrate your '10,000 hours' in a sublime ballet that fascinates & inspires in equal measure. I just don't envy all the shapening of the cutting tools you must endure, especially with all your cherished cutting devices that can't just 'change out the blade'. Thankyou very much and seasons greeting to you.

[@vivsalittlebitcrafty4854]

Beautiful work. How lucky someone's going to be receiving such a personal gift from you. I do hope they always treasure it.

[@thisnicklldo]

Beautiful. What I know about bookbinding is just from your channel, so I would have bet good money that pasting, painting and gold-leafing the edges would have permanently stuck the pages together - and you just riffled them gently and they were totally free; so I lost my bet, who'd have thunk it.

[@microstrader]

Wow...that edge trimmer!

[@camer5371]

oooh the red going on was so satisfying i cannot lie

[@FourKeysBookArts]

I was really pleased with that shot too!😁

[@GymColter]

Beautiful!! What an amazing gift!!

[@steveireland1860]

Dennis , once again such exquisite work, meticulously done to your usual exemplary standard, can't wait to see the rest and the finished book, wishing you and yours a Very Merry Christmas, Steve

[@JackFright]

This is beautiful, Dennis, as always. Thank you. Looking forward to two and three.

[@Dysiode]

Well that's absolutely fabulous gilding

[@paulinemegson8519]

Beautiful, and very restful to watch. I particularly loved the treatment of the edges. Cant wait for the rest of these, thank you. It helped calm my Christmas emotional morass that I can sometimes get stuck in. Way too many big feelings, most of which no longer apply to me since I’m now alone. It’s nice to just watch someone working on something beautiful and not think too much for a few minutes.

[@LyraLyraPantsOnFyra]

Hi Dennis, would it be possible to get advice on how best to print the text? I've got an in-game book that my DM wrote that I'd like to bind and hand illustrate for him but I'm not sure how to prepare the text into signatures. As always loved the video! Thanks!

[@Lorddanielrushton371]

Oh, this is going to be a beautiful book.

[@WhiteBloggerBlackSpecs]

One of the great Christmas classics by Dickens

[@RomantiCynic]

A wonderfully meditative video to welcome the coming holiday. Thank you, Dennis, for a "crafty" tribute to Christmas! Very much looking forward to part 2!

[@eastoforion]

there is no escape from hand sanding in hobby... even in book binding it seems!

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

Better it is impossible Blessed hands and mind. They work together.

[@bordenfleetwood5773]

Lovely!

[@melmc3306]

As someone whose knowledge of bookbinding could fit on the back of a 2nd class postage stamp, this is truly witchcraft!! I am mesmerised 😯

[@dawndeluca]

Wow! A joy to watch.

[@Raiinsey]

Can't wait for the other parts!!

[@beakz]

Beautiful to watch.

[@SusanWebster-pz2vg]

Much good luck to you 🎄

[@justmango_]

Absolutely stunning work! Nothing like finishing a long day at work and winding down with your truly masterful, calming, and therapeutic craftsmanship. Thank you for sharing with us and looking forward to parts 2 and 3. Happy holidays to you, and happy new year!

[@robertocavagnoli8395]

Spettacolare..grazie!!

[@bibitch]

It's so gorgeous already! 🤩

[@sergiogonzalezserrano6762]

¡Qué maravilla!

[@benjaminnelson5162]

Absolutely love your work. It is very inspiring and I look forward to every video. I did reach out to you on Facebook, I believe someone is stealing your work and reposting it there as they removed all of your branding from the video and added music over it, but the video is undoubtedly yours.

[@FourKeysBookArts]

Thank you, I’m glad you’re enjoying my videos. Sadly the plagiarism is a known issue, but thank you for looking out for me!

[@benjaminnelson5162]

@@FourKeysBookArts I’m sorry to hear that. Thank you for the reply though.

[@deetrvl4life875]

Such a joy to watch! THANK YOU, over and over! Can't wait for Part II! Get Crackin'! (haha)

[@FourKeysBookArts]

Oh I made sure the book was finished before posting part 1, don’t worry. (I just need to get crackin’ on editing lol)

[@deetrvl4life875]

@@FourKeysBookArts ❤

[@cosmicpopcollection]

Really amazing, what paper did you use? Can't find any in canada 😢

[@sinflowerseed9432]

I've been really enjoying watching and learning from you! If I may ask, do you plan on covering the process of making the end papers in a future video? I'd love to hear verbalized concepts of what youre doing there sometime! 🥰

[@goodbye3064]

Oh but it's beautiful! 😢

[@robertojosenerymoraes277]

Maravilhoso!

[@jothewerewolf]

I did this just this week with the old digital only "Living Rulebook 6.0" for the board game Blood Bowl. Even made a carefully measured hand drawn custom front cover. didn't need to, the rules were perfectly accessible as a pdf, the print quality was questionable, binding is a bit shabby, materials were cheap and my tools are crooked and vaguely unreliable, and I'm not even sure I'll use it since it's an outdated version, but it came up for game night next week and the idea sprung to mind, and it's such a peaceful and satisfying thing to do, with the measuring and folding, cutting and stitching and so on. I'm so happy I found your videos on how to do this.

[@TealCheetah]

Being able to print out a book at home with a technology gizmo sure is something

[@rivards1]

I don't miss these ASMR-style videos at all. I'd much rather actively learn with your narration.

[@inkenhafner7187]

He's doing nothing here he hasn't done and explained in previous videos. Maybe you'll want to revisit those and take some notes.

[@lightbulbnirvana]

This post is so lovely. I find watching so calming and warming to the cockles of my heart! I was imagining how your work ennobles the written word while carrying out a tradition that is so easily overlooked, although this was not so once upon a time! Do you make other mono-prints of Gutenberg Project books? Just wondering.... Merry Christmas to you and your family Dennis! Good tidings from California! 🎀🎀🎄 🎀🎀

[@gaboredvi7917]

Your wokrs are so beautiful! I have recently learned a new method of painting the fore edge, I would like to share it with you. I use water base wood stain (or I don't know how to say exactly in English) The light colour for eg. yellow was painted by a sponge. And After the first colour dried, I painted the dark colour (for eg. red) with yarn, which I rolled up after dipping it in the paint. It takes a bit of practice to get the thread to be dyed, but once you get the hang of it, you can make beautiful patterns. I hope it was understandable, despite my terrible language skills.

[@orychowaw]

Very nice. And such a coincidence, I bound a set of "Nussknacker und Mäusekönig" as gift for christmas, including a few leather covered ones. The latter also have the edges painted red and sprnkled with gold. No sponging on a different shade of red though. In my case, I just mixed a little bit of EVA/PVA into the watercolor based paint, then sprinkled the gold onto that while still moist.

[@fellipemartins5574]

Parabéns pelo seu don, e em compartilhar. Me apaixonei completamente por essa arte, meus parabéns.

[@user-et1hi8es5s]

Υπέροχο

[@ernestobarrera2927]

Great job! Thank you for sharing it I am curious about the sequence "trimming fore-edge > rounding > backing > trimming tail & head" instead of "trimming fore-edge > rounding > trimming tail & head > backing". I guess this has something to do with the edge decoration requirements. Maybe backing after trimming tail and head would introduce some distort which should be avoided?

[@Sams911]

did I see correctly? are you printing the book on a regular home inkjet printer? Will that last a long time? I've always wondered besides old fashioned letterpress, what is the longest lasting media?

[@trashbandies4905]

Lovely as always- I miss the voiceover but i know it's a bunch of extra work

[@FourKeysBookArts]

You are entirely correct! I just didn’t have time to fit it in and get the videos (and the book!) done in time.

[@malikanis27495]

Very beautiful and relaxing but wishing next time without music just original sound, And in sewing part don't rush it You are a real artist Thank you, your fan from Jordan 🇯🇴

[@stephanieparker1250]

I was wondering if you could create some of the books found in the Elder Scrolls games? Especially the books in the Skyrim edition have text and beautiful bindings.

[@wj73]

Truly superb work! What is the best material to use for the cords?

[@ivansidorov840]

👏👏👏👏👏

[@changer1285]

What program do you use to print it out so that the pages are in the right order for folding it in signatures?

[@marykubasak]

As you were looking through the endpapers I was thinking “that one!” - I do have a question about the sewing around the recessed cords, it looks as though you come out through the signature before the cord and then go back in after the cord, doesn’t that risk enlarging the hole for each cord in the signature? It seems like if you came out after the cord, and then backstitched around the cord to go back through the signature, each signature hole would stay a smaller hole?

[@rembrantik]

At first: "Wow! And you can make a fungus on such a thin book!" and then: "WOW! The golden edge!"

[@xphoenixrising]

What a great round on so little swell! Man, I never realized how short A Christmas Carol was LOL You use a jewelers saw for cutting into the text block, correct? I was thinking of getting one for my quarto lumbeck binds to get some cords in there. And oh my GOD the edge decorations were GORGEOUS! I cannot wait to see how this all comes together!

[@joshwalker5605]

So jealous of the old litho stone ... where did you get it??

[@NorthlightsStudio]

Beautiful! As a new book binder I am so jealous of the tools! What is the name for the tool for burnishing? Thanks, looking forward to part 2!

[@FourKeysBookArts]

Thank you, I have been collecting them for quite a few years now. And the tool is called simply a burnisher, or more specifically an agate burnisher. Part 2 coming very soon!

[@maryverburgh3425]

Question, Is this a special printer that allows you to print the pages in a certain order to where if you stack several pages and fold it in half, hamburger style, like you did, they would still be in order? since you printed two pages per sheet, stacked it, then folded in half. I wish that makes sense.

[@ejwyatt77]

How do you set your printer to print text for book binding?

[@SWATDRUMMUH]

So how does a printer do double-sided print for signatures like that? I've been curious for trying to bind newer books of classics like you're doing.

[@FourKeysBookArts]

Mine only does single side so I need to flip them over.

[@Trooper266]

That paper looks lovely! Would you mind sharing the brand? Is the final book in A5 format?

[@cherylowilley6007]

Hello!

[@DungeonBricks]

that's an amazing work of art! I do wonder how come the wash doesn't go into the pages? Is it the pressure applied or is a specific was for paper? It's truly mind blowing seeing it come together.

[@paulinemegson8519]

The pages are in a press tightly enough that the colour remains on the edges.

[@SandraWambold]

Beautiful work with the gold and the colors of the book -- the marbled papers and the edges are great. I've added gold leaf sprinkles to embroidery fabric, but I haven't had the chance to see this kind of book edge gilding done before. It's nice to see a video of it.

[@boigeorge1149]

I just looked up that paper and almost had a heart attack at the cost.

[@samuelbarber6585]

Whats the function of burnishing endpapers? Is it an aesthetic?

[@danielhughes441]

Where might one buy this printing of “A Christmas Carol”? I looked on your website, but I could see store that sold books…only papers

[@markedis5902]

Where did you get your machines?

[@TheCozyReadingCorner]

Where do you buy your sewing frames.