reading Working by Studs Terkel (excellent book btw), & boy did piano tuners have a full day’s labor in 1972. With no detectable irony this guy says his average work day has at least 5 pianos and “a couple of harpsichords mixed in.” What a world!

headline is quite overstated. It breaks the AI summary at the top of the page, but one would have to simply glance down a lil bit

been many, many years since I last saw evidence of the magical Smut Fairies who hide dirty mags under bushes for lucky boys to discover. Even in the Digital Age, they still walk among us

Lil video of it in action

80s-90s mixtape notebooks are now on sale! I got a small shipment of blank cassette cases, so I can make more. $25 each. 144 pages, hard cover, decorative endpapers. Comes with clear plastic case Order on etsy.com/shop/3DeckerBooks

Great thing about this job is I’m lucky enough to meet interesting people I might not meet otherwise & get a peek into their lives. Hung out w some skaters today. Sweetest, most positive people I’ve talked to in a long time

Fits inside a plastic cassette case, which I had to modify with a Dremel. Not up on the Etsy store yet, as I haven’t calculated a price yet, and to make any more I’d have to buy blank cases. But lmk if you like it #notebook #journal #bookbinding #books #mixtape

Mixtape cassette notebook! I made this as a one-off, but I’ll make more if there’s demand. Still working out some kinks of this design but I think it largely works. The cover & endpapers are writable so you can decorate them with your own ‘80s-90s playlist. 144 blank white pages.

Spent an afternoon turning an old paper bag from the Nintendo store in New York into a sketchbook. Filled with 80 pages of newsprint paper from a pad a couple decades old, good for pencil, graphite, charcoal. Don’t think I’ll sell this. If my daughter doesn’t want it, I’ll give it away for free

My Pawtucket RI map-cover notebooks are now on sale at the Map Center in Pawtucket. Go drop by & check the place out — truly wonderful inside

Latest batch of antique map-cover notebooks came out of the press this morning: Pawtucket RI! Aerial view on the front & back, atlas pages for endpapers @mapcenter.com

Upgraded the design of my Fall River map-cover pocket journals with new endpapers featuring 1920 plans from one of the city’s old mills. This is how they’re added to a book

So with this particular style of binding, it’s possible to flip the covers almost inside-out, bc personally I like to reach as much of the center as I can. This is an experiment version I made in the same style (yep the cover is an old Uniqlo bag)

One-off item in the shop: Simple sketchbook made from an exhibit map from The Met art museum in New York City. $7. 3deckerbooks.etsy.com/listing/4492...

New in the shop: Martha’s Vineyard map-cover journals! Matching front & back covers of a 1915 map of the island, with endpapers featuring a ca. 1880 lithograph of the Oak Bluffs Cottage City: 3deckerbooks.etsy.com/listing/4491...

Two orders of Providence antique map-cover journals are finished & sitting in the book press, nearly ready to be shipped. Cover is a bird’s-eye view of the city, with map endpapers. #journal #providence #map #bookbinding #notebook

Sure. Excuse the screenshot bc I’m just on my phone at the moment, but like this area?

New in the shop: Providence aerial view journals & notebooks! Cover is an 1894 illustration of downtown Providence RI — endpapers are detail from a 1914 map of downtown & the East Side. A6 size (4.25x5.5” ish), 144 pages, cream paper. All handmade. $30. 3deckerbooks.etsy.com/listing/4485...

Sneak peek of a commission I’m doing, to be featured in the Etsy shop soon: Providence RI notebook/journal w 1915 antique map endpapers

happy Monday

In stock: six pocket-sized lined journals with antique 1924 Fall River MA map covers. $30 each. DM or email 3deckerbooks@gmail.com Specs: 4.5x5.5”ish, 144 pages, cream lined paper, cream ribbon, assorted endpaper covers. Wonderful gift for SouthCoast MA map lovers. Shipping: $5/free local delivery

Video of aforementioned…

Made this custom 1877 San Francisco map-cover journal for a friend on commission. A6-ish size (4.5x5.5”), 144 lined pages on 90gsm cream paper, with cream bookmark ribbon & gold endpapers. Used a K-118 binding style so the spine is super flexible. Came out looking very pretty. In the mail tomorrow!

my boots have been away at the cobbler all week & I’ve been cheating on them by looking at new boots on the Internet

Made a logo for my bookbinding projects under the name 3-Decker Books, for the house & the city I grew up in. Designed the logo myself, drew it by hand, transferred it to a lino block, & carved it. It inks and prints OK for a first try. No AI involved

Took 3rd place in Transportation Reporting at the New England Newspaper & Press Association Awards for my South Coast Rail first-day coverage. Portsmouth NH: very quaint, lots of banks, & downtown is small enough to fold up & put in your pocket

Hoping to make some progress on these today. Making three 144-page A6-size lined journals (4 x 5.25” more or less). Cream ribbon bookmarks, 2 with light blue endpaper and one with gold (bc I ran out of blue), endbands sewn with thread to match

Yrs truly riding in the locomotive of an MBTA Commuter Rail train being driven to Fall River by the COO of the T himself, getting a firsthand look at what it takes to operate the service. Story coming soon

99% done printing & binding my personal copy of Faulkner’s The Sound & the Fury with Part 1 typeset in color, using my own color key. Hardly perfect but OK for an amateur. Rounded the spine & added a recess in the cover for the title & author