Tom Robbins passed away on my last birthday. I had begun reading his reviews when he worked for a great metropolitan newspaper and eventually read almost all of his novels and essays. It has been surprising to learn that many of my friends knew him personally though I never did. His writing and being had great influence on my thinking – for the better. To start, school assignments seemed to always be short term things where the assignment was given […]

Categories: My Work

In 2020, we released the short documentary showcasing my work. This video gives many their first look inside a finished book and it offers everyone a peek at my studio practice. It has been a pleasure to hear from so many who have enjoyed the video. I’ve also been pleased to hear that it introduced many to the world of the contemporary rare books and one-of-a-kind books — work which remains too little known as it resides in library special […]

Categories: My Work

This morning a guest post I’d written about my Five Essential Bookbinding Tools went up on Jeff Peachey’s blog. Just follow this link to “Timothy Ely’s Five Essential Bookbinding Tools”. Enjoy my list — which starts with Randall Hankins’ superb weights (Randy is a blog co-conspirator). If you aren’t familiar with Jeff, he makes outstanding knives and other tools for bookbinders. As an active bookbinder, he was dissatisfied with the tools available for his use. So he started making his own. […]

Categories: My Work