The ingenious All-in-One Box can be made at home with just a few hand tools, eliminating the need for a press (as when making traditional clamshells).
It has several special features that to recommend it to the discerning box-maker, including reinforced double walls, which are further strengthened with a lining of jaconet, and an ingenious method of covering using one piece of bookcloth, with very neat cuts and turned-ins that give it a streamlined look.
This class will focus on the fundamentals of boxmaking, from measuring the book accurately to cutting the parts to fit the book exactly.
Materials to Bring
A book to fit your box to. Octavo or quarto work best (6 x 9" - 9.5 x 12" or so)
All tools and materials will be provided, but students with their own bookbinding tools should bring them to class.
About the Instructor
Dominic Riley (he/him) is an internationally renowned bookbinder, artist, lecturer and teacher. He has his bindery in England, from where he travels across the UK teaching and lecturing. He spends part of the year teaching in San Francisco and across the USA. His work is mostly restoration and Design Binding, for which he has won many prizes in the Designer Bookbinders competition. He was elected a Fellow of DB in 2008 and is Patron of the New Zealand Association of Book Crafts. His bindings are in collections worldwide, including the British Library, the Grolier Club in New York and the San Francisco Public Library. In 2013 he won first prize, the Sir Paul Getty Award, in the International Bookbinding Competition. Dominic is a past President of the Society of Bookbinders. Dominic and Michael Burke are co-founders of Book Camp, an immersive residential bookbinding experience which aims to teach new generations of binders.
He has taught masterclasses in the USA, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, at the Centro del Bel Libro in Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Canada.
Past Student Reviews
“I LOVED that we got to make a box for our [own] books. I realize that some people struggled with this, but that was the #1 thing I actually wanted to learn.”
“I had a lot of fun learning to make a new box structure. I always appreciate how materials are provided in SFCB workshops, and Dominic also provided some variety in the materials we could choose.”
Location
San Francisco Center for the Book
375 Rhode Island Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Registration Policies
Please read over the SFCB Registration Policies before signing up for a class. Registration will close approximately three days prior to the start date of the workshop to allow the instructor time to prep materials for class. We recommend you not wait to register, as workshops that don't meet our minimum enrollment will be canceled, sometimes as much as a week in advance.
Workshop fee
(includes materials fee):
$375
Recommended Prerequisite: Some basic bookbinding or boxmaking knowledge: cutting boards, working with glue, measuring, etc. This is not an appropriate class for beginners.
Class dates:
Saturday & Sunday, August 16 & 17, 2025
9:30am-5:30pm
If this workshop is full, please click this link to add your name to the waitlist. If a seat becomes available, we will contact you.