A decorative picture of our copies of Jane Eyre, a literary classic published and handbound at The Braeburn Bindery.

Welcome to
The Braeburn Bindery

The Braeburn Bindery mascot, Pip the Braeburn Apple!

Keeping the ancient book arts alive one page at a time! The Braeburn Bindery is proud to bring you beloved handbound classic novels, plays, and children's stories in our classic Coptic and Rustic bookbinding styles. We also have journals, sketchbooks, and bookbinding classes available to inspire the next generation of storytellers!

Read on to discover our bookbinding styles and histories, our various book services (including wholesale opportunities and self-publishing custom works) and our full list of titles!

Our Rustic style of bookbinding, tied together through the text block and knotted at the front with a hemp cord.

Rustic Binding

Our most popular bookbinding style! Our Rustic books are handbound using possibly one of the very first method of binding in the world: a stab binding. Stab binding is the timeless technique of combining all of the sheets of a text block into a codex (a multi-page bound document, as opposed to loose singular pages or scrolls) by way of sewing or tying it all together.

This Rustic variation on the classic method is the design and invention of Mary MacArthur and Danny Lineham -- the founders of our predecessor, Those Great Little Books -- and we're proud to carry on their tradition.

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A picture of our Coptic bookbinding style, hand-sewn across the exposed spine of each signature or grouping of folded pages. The sewing emerges from each cover to form three X's.

Coptic Binding

Coptic binding, recognizable by the painstakingly intricate stitching woven through the covers and across the book's open spine, was invented by the Coptic priests of Ancient Egypt around the second century C.E., making it a two-thousand-year-old tradition. It's recognized by scholars to be the oldest known style of multi-signature (folded-page) bookbinding.

By the Middle Ages, Coptic bookbinding had become the most popular binding method in Europe -- reigning supreme until the age of the printing press demanded faster, mass-produceable methods of production. While technology has progressed, this time-honoured practice is still kept alive today by a handful of artists and artisans around the world.

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Wholesale Distribution

Are you a business owner looking to include a truly unique handmade product on your shelves for the holidays? Apply to become one of our retail distributors! We're proud to be hosted in stores across Western Canada and we're always looking to share our work with a wider audience.

Reach out to us at the link below with your contact information and an introduction to your business (store type, existing product categories, etc.) and we'll be happy to assist you!

Custom Printing & Self-Publishing

Are you the author of an unpublished work that you've always wanted to see in print... without committing to a gigantic run of books or giving up your intellectual property rights along the way?

We can help!

We offer custom formatting, copy-editing, illustration, cover-page design, and hand-binding services in-house for self-published authors, so that you can have bespoke, physical copies of your work. And your work remains your own -- because we care

about artists' rights.

Title List (so far!)

20,000 Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne
1984 by George Orwell
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
A Christmal Carol by Charles Dickens
Cinderella
The Doré Gallery of Bible Illustrations illustrated by Gustave Doré
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Red Riding Hood
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Peter Pan and Wendy by J. M. Barrie
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

If you have a classic title you'd like to see us add next, please feel free to reach out and suggest it to us -- we're always happy to take suggestions!