Bookbinding Project Idea

[Odo]

Pre-Covid, I worked at the main branch of the Philadelphia public library, and some of my colleagues were really knowledgable regarding bookbinding. They ran workshops for the public, and I thought it'd be a neat skill to learn. I was thinking about what I could bind, then I thought of Trek Lit.

I've always been a little bummed that Enterprise didn't get an anthology like the other pre-Disco shows. I think the show (along with TAS!) is underrated, and often gets the shaft when it comes to celebrating Trek. I thought, if I can find them for cheap, that I could get second copies of the Strange New Worlds anthologies, volumes five through ten, carefully remove the 17 Enterprise stories (that includes the story about Archer's Eugenics War ancestor), and bind them together into an Enterprise anthology, alongside The Sky's the Limit, Distant Shores, Prophecy and Change, Constellations, etc.

I'm wondering about how to do a paperback bind, what kind of glue to use, how I'd print the cover, what kind of paper I'd use for the cover, etc. I'm also thinking about what the cover might even be! Maybe there's a cool image of the NX Enterprise and a Vulcan ship that would make for a good cover. And then there's deciding on a title.

Anyway, this is all just an idea right now. But it might be a cool way to practice/learn bookbinding - and finally have an Enterprise anthology!

 

[Therin of Andor]

I've always been a little bummed that Enterprise didn't get an anthology like the other pre-Disco shows... I'm wondering about how to do a paperback bind, what kind of glue to use, how I'd print the cover, what kind of paper I'd use for the cover, etc. I'm also thinking about what the cover might even be! Maybe there's a cool image of the NX Enterprise and a Vulcan ship that would make for a good cover. And then there's deciding on a title!

If it's like some of the custom figures I have made, as soon as you are finished, a commercial version may get announced. Happened to me with 5" Captain Beverly Picard and Professor Data "All Good Things..." figures, "Trials and Tribble-ations" O'Brien, a "Batman '66" Batgirl Pop figure, 8" Harlequin, Two-Face, Eartha Kitt's Catwoman and G.O.O.N.s figures - and, just recently, 4" TV Joker, Penguin and Riddler figures.

 

[Stevil2001]

Surely an Enterprise anthology would have to be called Faith of the Heart.

 

[Jinn]

Surely an Enterprise anthology would have to be called Faith of the Heart.

I know it's highly unlikely to happen, but I'd love to see an Enterprise short story anthology next year for its twenty-year anniversary.

 

[JD]

Me too, it's the only Berman era Trek show not to get at least one anthology.

If it's like some of the custom figures I have made, as soon as you are finished, a commercial version may get announced. Happened to me with... 8" Harlequin,

Do you mean Harelquin or Harley Quinn? Those are different characters. I've seen tons of Harley figures, but I don't think I've ever seen any for the Harlequins.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

You worked in a library, and you are capable of even contemplating dismembering perfectly intact books in order to recombine their contents into a "Frankenbook"?

 

[Odo]

You worked in a library, and you are capable of even contemplating dismembering perfectly intact books in order to recombine their contents into a "Frankenbook"?

I don't mind taking apart a book, so long as it was done very carefully and respectfully, with a specific purpose in mind. However, what actually holds me back from doing this, is that I'd never take books apart and waste 80% of each of them - what would happen to the TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY sections if I did this? I would certainly not throw them away.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I will admit to being somewhat of a fanatic about the sanctity of books.

The opus to which I've alluded before, that I will not name in public, because it is undoubtedly the worst novel I have ever read, remains on my shelf to this day, because on the one hand, I would not inflict it upon my worst enemy, yet on the other hand, despite its being worth less than the paper it was printed on, it is, nonetheless, a book, and I cannot bring myself to even consider willfully destroying a book.

I will note that long after I read the wretched thing, I learned that it was self-published, and somehow made it into inventory at B&N.

If I could think of a way to free up the shelf space without destroying it, and without passing it off on some unsuspecting reader, I would.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Do you mean Harelquin or Harley Quinn? Those are different characters. I've seen tons of Harley figures, but I don't think I've ever seen any for the Harlequins.

Harlequin, aka Joker's Daughter, one of the Teen Titans. Also Catwoman's Daughter, Riddler's Daughter and Two-Face's Daughter, among others. After I made mine, FTC did their own - and all the variations.


FTC's Joker and Joker's Daughter, my custom Harlequin and Two-Face, and FTC's Harley Quinn by Ian McLean, on Flickr


Titans East and West - only Nightwing and Cyborg are commercial figures by Ian McLean, on Flickr

 

[Stevil2001]

I will admit to being somewhat of a fanatic about the sanctity of books.

The opus to which I've alluded before, that I will not name in public, because it is undoubtedly the worst novel I have ever read, remains on my shelf to this day, because on the one hand, I would not inflict it upon my worst enemy, yet on the other hand, despite its being worth less than the paper it was printed on, it is, nonetheless, a book, and I cannot bring myself to even consider willfully destroying a book.

I will note that long after I read the wretched thing, I learned that it was self-published, and somehow made it into inventory at B&N.

If I could think of a way to free up the shelf space without destroying it, and without passing it off on some unsuspecting reader, I would.

I used to have this "books are sacred objects" idea.

I got over it when I inherited an office bookshelf full of writing textbooks from the 1990s. For a month, I dumped five of them in the recycle bin every day.

 

[Odo]

Sorry to say, but the reality of big city public libraries is that every year we discard books. We don't like it, but it is something we do.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Sorry to say, but the reality of big city public libraries is that every year we discard books. We don't like it, but it is something we do.

About 20 years ago, pop-up stalls used to turn up in Australian shopping malls, selling what appeared to be brand new, plastic-covered, hardcover books - complete with borrowing pockets, spine labels and identifying rubber stamps on the title pages - all from various US public libraries. Most of them looked like they had never been borrowed, and the borrowers cards usually had no markings related to actual loans.

 

[Odo]

About 20 years ago, pop-up stalls used to turn up in Australian shopping malls, selling what appeared to be brand new, plastic-covered, hardcover books - complete with borrowing pockets, spine labels and identifying rubber stamps on the title pages - all from various US public libraries. Most of them looked like they had never been borrowed, and the borrowers cards usually had no markings related to actual loans.

Those are the lucky ones!

 

[TheAlmanac]

I've always been a little bummed that Enterprise didn't get an anthology like the other pre-Disco shows. I think the show (along with TAS!) is underrated, and often gets the shaft when it comes to celebrating Trek. I thought, if I can find them for cheap, that I could get second copies of the Strange New Worlds anthologies, volumes five through ten, carefully remove the 17 Enterprise stories (that includes the story about Archer's Eugenics War ancestor), and bind them together into an Enterprise anthology, alongside The Sky's the Limit, Distant Shores, Prophecy and Change, Constellations, etc.

As someone whose work would end up in this makeshift anthology, I fully support the idea!

It helps that many of my earliest TrekLit memories are associated with library binding--when I was too young to afford getting Star Trek novels on my own (and when I was searching out older works), it was the library-hardcover editions of early Pocket titles (along with the Star Trek Logs and plenty of nonfiction TOS-related books from the Seventies and Eighties) which I ended up reading.

Surely an Enterprise anthology would have to be called Faith of the Heart.

Given how much time has passed, It's Been a Long Road seems at least as fitting.

 

[JD]

I will admit to being somewhat of a fanatic about the sanctity of books.

The opus to which I've alluded before, that I will not name in public, because it is undoubtedly the worst novel I have ever read, remains on my shelf to this day, because on the one hand, I would not inflict it upon my worst enemy, yet on the other hand, despite its being worth less than the paper it was printed on, it is, nonetheless, a book, and I cannot bring myself to even consider willfully destroying a book.

I will note that long after I read the wretched thing, I learned that it was self-published, and somehow made it into inventory at B&N.

If I could think of a way to free up the shelf space without destroying it, and without passing it off on some unsuspecting reader, I would.

Is there anyway I could convince you to tell us what book this is? Please. You've been talking about this book since you first started coming on the boards, and it's driving me absolutely nuts not knowing what book it is.

 

[trampledamage]

Is there anyway I could convince you to tell us what book this is? Please. You've been talking about this book since you first started coming on the boards, and it's driving me absolutely nuts not knowing what book it is.

James's tastes are bound to be very different from mine, but Madame Bovary rates as the only book I've read that actually made me nearly vomit. I stopped reading at that point. Jude the Obscure is utterly hilarious in all the wrong ways.

 

[XCV330]

The first book of fiction I recall immediately throwing in the trash was on of the new Kevin J "Duraplasteel" Anderson Dune Novels. It was so horrible, that within 60 pages I couldn't find any good use for it, and I didn't want to cause suffering by giving it to anyone else.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

JD has given me an NDA, and I've given him all the gory details. I refuse to publicly mention it by title because I don't want to help the author unload any more copies. I will note that the only redeeming characteristic is that it demonstrates that a truly self-published novel, devoid of any known "vanity" subsidy-house imprint, can make it into B&N.

I've never read Madame Bovary. Glancing over the Wikipedia article, it strikes me as nothing I'd be interested in, but I can't imagine I'd react to it any differently than I did Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice, when I had to read them in high school. I've read enough Kevin J. Anderson (in the SW franchise), and enough from the Dune franchise, to know that I probably don't want to pick up anything Anderson wrote in the Dune franchise, but I still can't imagine his works could be even remotely as vile as The Novel Which Will Not Be Publicly Named.

 

[JWolf]

If you are not going to tell us what the book is then STOP MENTIONING IT!