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THE SOLEIL BOOKBINDERY NEWS

The Soleil Bookbindery and Susan Soleil have appeared in many newspapers, on Internet Radio, Blogs, and on YouTube. Please feel free to read about Susan and her bindery in the articles that have been preserved here. Additional news that affects the business of bookbinding is also included here.

variety MAgazine

(July, 2006) — Your shoes are handmade; your winter scarf was purchased at a craft show or was made for you by your grandmother. So, who makes your books?

For more than thirty years, Susan Soleil has handcrafted books (along with marbled papers and custom foil stamps) out of her Rochester, N.Y. workshop in an 1890s firehouse. Her commissions include creating custom photo albums for the Clintons during their White House years and presentation books for Prince Philip of England and the Sultan of Brunei. Among her most popular requests: Turning the pages of old passport into vacation photo albums.

"Touching the book should be as satisfying as looking at it," says Soleil, who apprenticed with a master bookbinder in Florence. "A book is more than a simple container of information."

"It should be a sensory experience."

Toward that end, she utilizes premium materials from around the world; leather from Scotland, endpapers from France, even Native American-pressed tree bark.

Although she takes orders by e-mail, Soleil prefers to speak with customers to get a feel for whom she's creating. Since she makes all order herself and uses no mass-production machinery, she doesn't make regular visits to Los Angeles. However, she will travel for large custom orders.

"If people are too busy to come to Florence," she says, "Florence can come to them."

Democrat & Chronicle

(August 28, 2005) — There's a computer at The Soleil Bookbindery on Monroe Avenue but it would seem to have a better chance of being booted out than booted up. Susan Soleil, the shop's owner and master bookbinder, is in to older tools. "I use the best 14th century technology around."

Soleil, a native of Brighton, learned that technology in the early 70s, when she apprenticed to a bookbinder in Florence, Italy. At the time, she was a speech pathologist, but she was in

need of a change. "I was simply open to something new," she says. "I went

to Europe to become a craftsman."

"You've done so much for Francesca," Giuffrida-Ruggieri said. "What can I do for you?" “Teach me,” Soleil replied. And for three years, at no pay, she studied the art of bookbinding. "You first learn the proper approach to building a book," she told Soleil. "It really is building. A book has a primary need to be functionally strong and correct. And then come the aesthetics." When her apprenticeship was over, Soleil came back to Rochester.

Soleil had her store and workshop on the second floor of a former firehouse at 713 Monroe Ave. for 28 years. For years, she's been joined at her place by her cat, Gwen. "She andI have been through a lot together," Soleil says.

Soleil is no stranger to multi-tasking. She restores old books—family Bibles, or precious volumes—that have become worn with age. She puts together limited editions. She helps people create photo albums She makes leather-bound journals with blank pages, journals that she sews together by hand.

"(The hand) is the best machine ever created," Soleil says. She helps people create photo albums She makes leather-bound journals with blank pages, journals that she sews together by hand. "(The hand) is the best machine ever created," Soleil says.

Soleil is no stranger to multi-tasking. She restores old books—family Bibles, or precious volumes—that have become worn with age. She puts together limited editions. She helps people create photo albums She makes leather-bound journals with blank pages, journals that she sews together by hand.

"(The hand) is the best machine ever created," Soleil says. She helps people create photo albums She makes leather-bound journals with blank pages, journals that she sews together by hand. "(The hand) is the best machine ever created," Soleil says.

Over the years, Soleil has seen changes along Monroe Avenue, not all, she says, for the best. The avenue offered more products and services in the 1970s and 1980s, she says. "There was a village-like atmosphere," she adds. "It was like Key West in Rochester, with snow." She also misses Village Green Bookstore. The quirky, smart and distinctive store was at Rutger Street and Monroe before it closed in 1999.

Soleil regrets the fact that the controversial Monroe Theater building, home now to an adult book store, was never taken over by the city or by arts groups to be used as a center for the arts. "Turning it [the theater] into a video porn shop led to a destabilizing of the neighborhood," Soleil says.

When she talks about this, Soleil can sound weary, exasperated and angry. Most times, though, her tone is more enthusiastic.

Her business on Monroe Avenue has done well. Many of her customers have become her friends. And beyond that, predictions that the computer would make books unnecessary have not come true. If anything, Soleil finds that younger people, members of a generation that have grown up with computers, are gravitating toward books that they can hold in their hand.

"The physical presence is permanent. They understand that more and more," she says. "You can't reach into your computer and touch the image."

WEEKEND

THE CARRBORO COMMONS

(November 8, 2004) — While living in Florence, Italy, in the 1970s, Susan Soleil decided she wanted to learn a European craft and apprenticed with a bookbinder. In September 2008 she brought her hand-binding skills to Carrboro when she opened The Soleil Book Bindery at 304 Weaver St. In her second-floor studio, Soleil repairs books, does custom binding and creates journals and albums.

“You can’t fake true craftsmanship and quality,” she said. “When you want a book to have…quality craftsmanship and quality materials, you come here.”

Soleil moved to Carrboro about a year ago after wanting a change from the cold climate of of Rochester, N.Y., home to her and her bindery for 32 years.

In her studio sit big metal machines—for cutting, stamping and pressing—and several tables. Rolls of dark leather are mounted on the wall with rolls of cloth propped up on the wall beneath them. On a high shelf sit mementos from her life: urns containing ashes from her cats, 1950s cowboy toys from her childhood and souvenirs from Key West where she has close friends.

On one table, sit books with crumbling spines and worn covers, awaiting repair. Her most popular repair requests are family bibles and children’s books from the early 20th century. She charges between $40 and $200 based on the extent of the work needed.

“Anybody who brings a book to repair, that book is really special to them,” she said. “I never work on books that are going to be resold."

Gene Gurlitz, a retired movie production designer who lives in Pittsboro, brought a book from his childhood, “Lassie Come Home,” to Soleil for repair several months ago.

“It was a book that was given to me when I was 11 years old, and that was almost 65 years ago. It was a gift to me from an aunt,” he said. He wanted to give the book to his 13-year-old grandson, but it was in bad shape prior to the repair. “The book was unreadable because it was in shreds,” Gurlitz said.

Soleil repaired the binding, fixed the cover and trimmed the edges of the pages to make them square and sharp, he said. “She did quite a wonderful job,” he said, adding that his grandson enjoyed the book.

Soleil also does custom binding, turning the pages brought to her by customers into books. She does small orders from one copy to 200 copies and her pricing starts at $19. Soleil can take loose pages and glue or sew the pages together, cuts the binder board—a flexible cardboard-like material down to size—to create the book’s covers, makes a spine, attaches the pages to binder’s board, and covers the book with cloth or leather.

Bess Averre, a retried accounting teacher from Raleigh, wrote a book of stories about her sister and went to Soleil to get two copies made into books, one for her and one for her sister.

Soleil also does custom binding, turning the pages brought to her by customers into books. She does small orders from one copy to 200 copies and her pricing starts at $19. Soleil can take loose pages and glue or sew the pages together, cuts the binder board—a flexible cardboard-like material down to size—to create the book’s covers, makes a spine, attaches the pages to binder’s board, and covers the book with cloth or leather. Bess Averre, a retried accounting teacher from Raleigh, wrote a book of stories about her sister and went to Soleil to get two copies made into books, one for her and one for her sister.