"The question is constantly asked, especially by women, if a living can be made by setting up as bookbinders. Cheap binding can most economically be done in large workshops, but probably the best bindings can be done more satisfactorily by binders working alone, or in very small workshops."
Douglas Cockerell. Bookbinding, and the Care of Books / A handbook for Amateurs, Bookbinders & Librarians, 1901
About Us
Watermark Bindery is a small bookbindery owned and operated by AJ Robles and Callie Winter. Lifelong booksellers turned bookbinders, the two of us are thrilled and honored to carry on a legacy of handmade books in the Northwest.
Founded in 1973, Watermark has been in the business of making beautiful, traditionally bound books for over fifty years. In that time, we have been operated by four bookbinder couples and our workshop has lived in four different places, but we have always been handmade and have always been local to our little corner of the Northwest.
Our workshop is currently located in Seattle at the Inscape Arts Building. The workshop is not regularly open to the public, but we do take part in the Inscape Open House twice a year if you want to visit and say hello!
About our books
We create unique and beautiful blank books that are as functional as they are beautiful. All of our books are made to order with stunning detail. We are pleased to work with beautiful and archival-safe materials from around the world and make our books with tools and equipment that have been in continuous use for decades.
We offer our case bound journals, guest books, photo albums and sketchbooks.
Each book block is hand sewn and quarter bound with cloth at the spine and a decorative paper on the cover. Every book spends at least one night in our antique cast iron book press before we inspect and sign it. This attention to quality and detail guarantees our customers they will receive a book that they will cherish for many, many years.
Read here for more on how we make our books.
We do our very best to offer impeccable customer service and we are proud to have loyal customers who have been buying books from us since Watermark Bindery started in 1973.
While we are mostly focused on making books and albums in our standard sizes, we can accommodate some custom work. Please contact us to get the conversation started.
As bookbinders, we have the opportunity to make the first creative statement. However, the book is only complete once pen, pencil, brush or your photos are taken to it.
AJ Robles & Callie Winter
P.S.
This video was created by Diane and Viktor, who were the bookbinders at Watermark for the decade and change before us—and our bookbinding mentors. It gives a very good overview of our bookbinding practice and is a lovely reminder of the workshop's last home on Marrowstone Island. We cherish our time spent on the island learning from Diane and Viktor.