Master bookbinder Ramon Townsend will discuss the important roles that Black Americans have played in the book trades since the colonial era. 

Learn about this fascinating history—from enslaved people who brought knowledge of Islamic African bookmaking techniques with them to the Americas, to African-American printers, writers, and craftspeople of the 19th century and beyond! Ramon will demonstrate historical bookmaking techniques, and explain what they can tell us about the relationship between Black people and the written word in early America.  

Ramon Townsend started his bookbinding journey in 1977, as an undergraduate at The College of William & Mary looking for a job. He was directed to Colonial Williamsburg and lucked into a job in the book bindery. He was taken under the wing of Master and Journeymen bookbinders, studying traditional bookbinding methods for several years. After leaving the bindery, for years Ramon made handbound diaries as gifts for friends and family, and repaired their books. In 2012 Ramon and his daughter (now a librarian here at the Free Library!) decided to turn his passion into a vocation. He now runs Colonial Bindery at History Sugartown, offering workshops and repairing historic books.