Ars Libri Designer Bookbinding and Book Restoration Studio

09/22/2026

For sale various large rolls of handmade paper. Mix of full sheets, half sheets and smaller pieces. Very good for paper craft, journals making, etc. $35 per roll.

09/22/2026

For sale large roll (around 200 sheets) of handmade paper. Very soft and pliable. Good for paper mache $35

09/14/2026

For sale four yellow kid skins, vegetable tanned, very soft and pliable, 1 mm thickness. Can be sewn by hand or on regular sewing machine. Very good for garments and leather bags. I also made bucket hats from this leather. All four $140

09/14/2026

More leather for sale. Italian vegetable tanned kid skins (young goats) very soft and pliable. Can be sewn by hand or by a regular sewing machine. Excellent for soft bags. Two whole pieces and three as you see on photos. $100

09/11/2026

Big Retirement Sale this Saturday! 🎉This coming Saturday, September 12, head down to Brock Street for the local business event! I will be there with all of my stock, and EVERYTHING MUST GO!If you want to get an early start on your Christmas shopping, this is the perfect time. Unbeatable Retirement Deals: Leather Belts: $25 – $50Leather, Journals: $40, Bracelets: $6 – $10...and many more unique items!I am officially retiring, so absolutely everything, including leather, is on sale. Please spread the word and tell your friends. See you this Saturday on Brock Street!

09/11/2026

Leather for sale! Very interesting pattern, large, half hide chrome tanned leather, made in Argentina. Very good for making bags and purses. $100. I also have a bit smaller piece for $80

09/09/2026

As many of you know, I have retired. Everything from my studio is now for sale.

Today, for sale as a single lot only: a focused professional library of 103 books on bookbinding, book restoration, the history of bookbinding, and the history of the book. This is a working collection assembled for study and practice, not a mixed remainder lot.

Subjects typically include:

Traditional and modern bookbinding techniques
Conservation and restoration of bindings and paper
The history of bookbinding styles, materials, and workshops
Book history, the history of reading and printing, and the physical book as an object
Leather work, leather tanning, leather braiding, etc.
Related references on tools, materials, and workshop practice

The collection is offered only as a complete set of 103 volumes. Individual titles will not be sold separately.

Ideal for:

A bookbinder, conservator, or restorer building or replacing a core library
A special collections or conservation studio
A researcher or collector who wants a ready-made subject library rather than years of piecemeal buying

I can also add a box of Xerox copies of various 19th-century and early 20th-century books on the subject of bookbinding.

The books are generally in very good condition.

Languages: English; two books in Polish
Formats: Hardcover and paperback
Price: $1,400 for the entire collection, or best serious offer.

As one example of the value of the collection, The Doves Bindery, printed by Oak Knoll in 1991, is currently listed by antiquarian bookstores for $400 CDN.

Shipping is at the buyer’s expense and risk.

Serious inquiries only. Please check the photos of the individual books.

There are two copies of Pierre Ouvrard, Master Bookbinder: one softcover and one hardcover. The softcover is signed by Ouvrard: “To you, Ksenia, with my respect.”

There is also a copy of Making and Keeping Creative Journals, featuring some of my designer bindings.

06/06/2026

For sale, iron cast XIX C bookbinding press. $600 CDA nonnegotiable. Can be seen and picked up at Runners' Choice Kingston 56 Brock Street. I will not ship it as it is very heavy.

Lots of you asked me about pieces of leather suitable for leather crafting. I left at Runners' Choice Kingston some pieces of leather and bags with small and bigger leather pieces. You can buy them there. Every week I will bring new leather till it lasts. The store is open from 10.00 till 5:00 daily and 12:00 to 4:00 on Sundays.

10/07/2023

Two Oxford panel bindings for a book collector, Italian vegetable tanned leather with blind tooling. I think they look rather handsome and elegant:)

04/23/2023

April 23 - World Book Day. Have you ever visited The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library in Toronto? It is a library in the University of Toronto, constituting the largest repository of publicly accessible rare books and manuscripts in Canada. The library is also home to the university archives which, in addition to institutional records, also contains the papers of many important Canadian literary figures including Margaret Atwood and Leonard Cohen.

We take you behind the scenes at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library in Toronto, Canada, which houses over 700,000 volumes - including Shakespeare’s first fo...