I have had the pleasure of visiting the U.S. Government Printing Office on a number of occasions, and one of the most exciting things for me is always a visit with Peter K. James, whose title is head forwarder.  I still don't know what that means!  But I can testify to the quality of his work.  That's why I was glad to see a Washington Post story featuring the GPO and James. He's in the process of producing a leather-bound book of President Obama's 2009 presidential papers.  To do so, practically a whole goatskin, dyed blue with environmentally friendly vegetable dyes (tanneries in the U.S. are using less friendly chemical dyes) was flown in from London. Dyed with the pigment of eggplant skins!

In the role of preserving the documents of our democracy, the GPO and James are hanging on to age-old bookbinding tradition for a subset of its publications. James began as an apprentice in London at age 15.  He learned his craft at the London College of Printing and Graphic Arts.  He is a U.S. citizen, having lived in Washington for 30 years, and he has held this position at the GPO since 2000.

Despite its fancy blue leather cover, I was surprised to learn that the pages are not marbled.  That's where ink is placed in patterns on the outer edges of the pages--a skill I have seen James perform several times and which continues to absolutely amaze me.  How does he do that??? No gold lettering on the cover either.  But I bet it will be an absolutely stunning book.  If I could get my hands on one, I am sure I would put my Kindle down for a while!

Let's hope this tradition continues to hold up in a digital age, and that James keeps busy at the GPO plying his craft.  It would be a tragedy to lose his legendary skill.  Where else is it even practiced today?  I am sure it is, but you don't see the product of such work very often.  Likely because, as the article points out, this hand-bound tradition costs taxpayers $45,000 to $50,000 per volume.

If you are in Washington and have the time (maybe during the PublishXchange conference in March!), contact the GPO's PR office to see about scheduling a visit.  You will not regret it.