A Lesson In Patience

Finally, I was enabled to finish up to the fourth book this week. The long time it took gave me an opportunity to listen at length to sound doctrinal messages, and made the arduous task seemingly short, and tranquilly enjoyable. The family was extremely supportive as I made progress. Nothing much can be said about the process that would interest the visitor other than it has taught me patience and persistence. Each visible signature contains sixteen pages, four papers folded into eight leaves, and sewn by hand. The needle is threaded into six holes on each signature made with the use of a metal saw, and punctured again piece by piece with an awl to better receive the waxed thread. Starting from the bottom signature all the way to the title page. The sewing stage for one book this thick will take two and a half hours.

The next step would be to very lightly hammer the spine on its edges to create the curve, after which the thick cardboard end page is glued on each side, before creating the headbands: another process made by sewing two colored threads around a five cord core every five signatures to better seal the spine of the pages.

The book is wrapped in leather, and strapped down with strings on its ribs for a more pronounced feature. (I have no proper tools for this craft, and so as workaround I used cheap chopping boards, two chopsticks, some hooks and long screws that I had lying around, and swiped a few Jenga blocks from our stash.) The only things missing now are the titles. That, in and of itself, is a separate art form. And alas, an expensive one at that. I do not want to be forced to turn to professional printers, but it seems I have no other options.

Thomas Watson's A Body of Divinity. A rare gem in any serious student's library.

Traditional bookbinding is a process that is both painful and rewarding. Very much can be said with the true Christian's walk. My old personality is that of a clumsy and impulsive fool, and I simply cannot stand long waiting to achieve my selfish goals. I wanted things instantly then. But the realization is many things need a systematical structure, and requires following an established process to meet the desired end.

If there is one thing that comes to mind at the end of this note is that even Christians want everything they seek from God to be hurried, except their personal progress in holiness.