Bookbinders Workshop, Incorporated was founded with a simple purpose, to create a new and better option for acquiring the best materials for the restoration and conservation of rare books and paper.

We have become known as "BBWS", and while our quality and pricing is better than any other supplier, we are also vastly different from any other because we have been professional conservators for many, many years. So when you call us you can be assured that we know our materials and how to use them. We can instantly relate to your projects.

When BBWS invests in developing or acquiring a product for resale you can be certain that we have tested it, know it's history, and have had other professionals test it. Because you see, we're not out to just "sell you something". The supply arm of BBWS is just one small part of everything that we do. So we can afford to bring you the very best quality materials, at the very best price. No pressure, no drama. We make sure you get what you need!

Put our quality and pricing to the test! I know you'll love what you find. I personally guarantee it.

Welcome to BBWS!

Mike Chrisman
President & CEO

We are a very customer oriented, financially independent company that has experienced outstanding annual growth since the year of our founding in 2005. We are the fastest growing supply company of its kind in the world!

Bookbinders Workshop has become the leading name associated with quality bookbinding leather and book and paper conservation materials. We are committed to our ongoing regular investment in the development of new leathers and products.

BBWS-Franz Hoffmann Fine Leathers are, simply put, the finest leathers available. Why?... Because for over 85 years Franz Hoffmann-Stuttgart is the recognized specialist of the highest quality fine leathers for bookbinding, conservation, and all trades that employ fine leather. Because of up to 87 year old agreements with various German & other European tanneries, Hoffmann's have been able to develop & make the worlds most unique line of fine leathers.

It wasn't until 2007 when Bookbinders Workshop acquired the 'global distribution rights' for Franz Hoffmann-Stuttgart that "Hoffmann Leathers" really become well-known outside of Europe. Alhough many well-known bookbinders and restorers in the UK and North America used Hoffmann leather, they successfully kept Hoffmann as a 'trade secret'! Even Bernard Middleton was a big fan of Hoffmann's Historic-Style Marbled Smooth Goat! (Now also available in Calf!)

Franz Hoffmann-Stuttgart is not a mere 'reseller' of leathers. Far from it! Beginning in 1925 with Bookbinder Franz Hoffmann, and still today, Hoffmann's has been one of the worlds leading developers of fine leathers. With vision, ability, and armed with incredibly talented tanneries, BBWS-Hoffmann offers the largest fine leathers range worldwide! Stocking over 300 different leathers! There is no other fine leather company that can match Hoffmann's uniqueness and range.

Now that Franz Hoffmann-Stuttgart Fine Leathers is easily accessible worldwide, more and more binders, conservators and fine leather workers are enjoying the unique and precious leathers from this well established line. Here's a short list of some of our best selling articles....

BBWS Cathedral Book-Calf - Pure & Semi Aniline Karawan Goatskin

"Alum-Tawed Pig, Hair-Sheep, Goat & Calf"

"Bookbinder's Antique Rind/Bovine", made since 1930!, in a special
bookbinding formulation, and used by a great many European binders & conservators
when a beautiful old-style (old calf) look & feel is wanted.

Genuine German "Fair-Calf" (not a re-tan/re-dye from a third world country, like our competitors!), but
genuine Fair-Calf that will totally amaze you!!

Water-Buffalo - Exotic Leathers

Experience the Hoffmann Leather Difference!
Our Line Is Still Growing Each Year!

Michael Chrisman began studying and practicing bookbinding at age 16. His first study manual was "Rebinding and Repairing Books By Hand, by David Muir." After becoming a dedicated full-time bookbinder a few years later, and over the next 30 years, Mr. Chrisman's career has taken immeasurable flight into the deepest recesses of rare book restoration, rare book conservation, and period style binding. From conservation treatments on a Shakespeare "First Folio", Kelmscott Chaucers, Nuremberg Chronicles, and others, to highly specialized treatments of cherished "Family Bibles", every book is approached as the rarest in the world.

In 1999 and 2000 Mr. Chrisman was a rare book conservator for the Thomas Jefferson Conservation Project at The Conservation Division of The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. There, he performed historically correct treatments on numerous books from the personal library of this famed patriot and third President of the United States of America.

In June 2008, Mr. Chrisman's "Bookbinders Workshop Instructional Videos" received high acclaim in a lengthy review in the Guild of Bookworkers publication, saying, in small part, "[Mr. Chrisman's]...techniques are often innovative new pathways to book restoration, whose effectiveness have proven themselves over decades of use."

Though currently binding the "Lost Gutenberg Bibles", Mr. Chrisman accepts regular special commissions. He is also very glad to help refer you to a professional bookbinder in your area. Just send an email to: michael@bookbindersworkshop.com

Michael,
Dropping you a line to let you know I received my three 1825 Cadwallader Colden Erie Canal books that you restored for me. They are wonderful, and the conservation work you performed over the last two months on these almost 200 year old books is fantastic. From the restored leather and marbled covers, to the facsimile missing pages on period paper, to the re-sewn spines, to the numerous repaired torn pages, including over 47 plates of early maps and lithographs 'per book'. The reinforcing of these delicate maps and lithographs makes me feel confident that I can open and read these rare, early books with no fear of harming them. A far cry from the condition they were in when you received them.

If you wish, please feel free to use this letter on your website as a testimonial from a very happy customer.

Bob K.
Ohio
12-30-2009