One man’s bookcase, another man’s treasure

A diverse individual, who has also spent years of his life dancing in a modern dance company, is now an assistant professor of English. He is an independent bookbinder who enjoys children’s books and preserving historical first editions. Sometimes it takes 100 hours to complete the rebinding and refurbishing of a book.

Mike Riley, assistant professor of English has had a fascination for the written word and for book art since he picked up the book “The Wizard of Oz,” by L. Frank Baum, as a boy.

“‘The Wizard of Oz’ was the first book I ever read by myself,” Riley said, “So it’s been my lifelong love. I just read everything I could get my hands on after that.”

He has been collecting, refurbishing and preserving books ever since and he likes to spend his free time at home rebinding his first edition finds so they make as much of a statement visually as they do literately.

Since Riley does all of the work himself and only has the aid of a few machines for his work, it can take about 100 hours to complete one book.

“When I have an old book,” Riley said, “I take it apart and clean up the pages. Then I put them back together and re-sew them on a chord.”

Once this chord is sewn through the book, Riley will cover the book and then add the leather on top of that.

Although the actual process itself is time consuming, the finishing of the book can be the most tedious because it ties everything together. Riley embosses all of his leather and pays tribute to the classic design styles on the covers when completing his books.

“You can try to make the outside somehow reflect the inside,” Riley said. “If (the book) I am doing is from the 19th century I try to make it look like it would have been bound in the 19th century.”

He has rebound between 40 and 50 leather books and hundreds of other hardbacks from a set of Viennese volumes from the 1760s for a friend, as well as a 1905 first edition of Edith Wharton’s “House of Mirth” for himself.

But before all others, children’s books, especially Oz books, are what Riley is attracted to most. It has taken Riley most of his life to complete his first edition collection of Oz books, which includes the 40 official books printed by the same publisher.

Dr. Riley’s printing press machine from the 1890’s that he uses to create new book covers for antique novels. His second printing press machine, he intends on using his expertise to rebuild it in the spring semester.

“A couple of them I didn’t find in the first edition until three or four years ago,” Riley said, “But I always had other copies so I could read them.”

Riley is drawn to Baum’s work because the author wove all of his past stories together and put them on a map, similar to J. R. R. Tolkien’s detailed chart of Middle Earth.

“(Baum) wrote about 100 books,” Riley said. “There was a lot of fantasy in his mind so he put all of his creations into one big fantasy world.”

Riley has created a fantasy world of his own in his home, surrounding himself with the books that he treasures most.

“There were two rooms in my old house for books,” Riley said. “Now I have bookcases built in my entrance hall, my living room, my dining room and an extra room just for the Oz collection.”

Within the Oz collection is the book that Riley wrote in 1997 called “Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum” where he delved into the development of Baum’s imagination.

Riley plans on sharing his library to the masses by printing some of Baum’s short stories on his printing press that he keeps in his home.

“I’m on professional leave next semester (from GCSU) and my big project is to get the printing press working again,” Riley said. “I’ve printed several books with the press that are now collectors items.”

Riley plans on printing a collection of Baum’s short stories, many of which are in Riley’s possession.

“I have all first editions of some of Baum’s short stories and it will be the first time they have been printed in a single format,” Riley said. “I know all of the main Baum collectors around the country and several of them have unpublished things and they said I could publish them as well.”

It seems that most people would put their childhood loves on a shelf and forget about them, but the overlying message of Baum’s work draws Riley back time and time again.

“There are so many nice things about (“The Wizard of Oz”),” Riley said. “All of those characters have what they are searching for and they just don’t know it. The Scarecrow is smart from the beginning, the Tin man is loving from the beginning, the Lion is actually courageous.”

Much like the Oz characters, Riley has been on this life journey immersing himself into these far away worlds searching for that one thing he has possessed from the very beginning, a wonderful imagination.

Posted by Joanna Sullivan on Nov 11 2010. Filed under Close Up. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.