Pettingell Book Bindery

Klaus brings top-​notch, exacting European-​style craftsmanship to his trade! He made a beautifully bound book for me that needed to meet my fairly precise specifications. The finished product more than met my expectations with extra attention to special little details that delighted. Additionally, he opened my mind to new possibilities for future books… which he will hopefully be making for me far into the future!

I recently had a family heirloom bible from 1848 restored by Pettingell Book Bindery. The restoration is beautiful and restored exactly as I had hoped it would be! Previous to finding Pettingell I got 2 price estimates through email, one would have been almost twice Pettingell’s amount, the other half. I wasn’t confident the lesser estimate would restore the fallen off pieces of binding that I had been saving. Since I don’t live in Berkeley I wasn’t aware of Pettingell until my son started attending UC and I’m so glad I had put off having the work done so that I was able to discover and use Pettingell. The restoration is beautiful and sturdy I can now look through the book comfortably and share with other family members. I will post some before and after pictures in the photo section.

I have brought old books to Klaus and asked him to do his best with them, save them, make them presentable again, etc. He is wonderful. He takes his time, and does a beautiful job. He cares about the results, and as far as I’m concerned, is worth every penny. I would not go to anyone else!

Need a top notch bookbinder, or classy handmade writing pads? This place is amazing, and the care klaus takes in his work, inspiring.

Klaus is a wonderful guy that does fantastic work. I had a custom journal made and Klaus helped bind the pages together into a very nice hardcover book. I made a similar journal on the East Coast about 5 years ago and Klaus did just as nice of a job for even less money. Highly recommended!

if I’d apprenticed myself to some place like arion press or pettingell’s book bindery, maybe I wouldn’t have ended up at the wright institute, but my life took a left turn in my 20s until I found my «right livelihood» some years later in clinical psychology. or rather, the vocation had chosen me and all I had to do was get out of my own way, yield to the path I seemed to already be following. I came to pettingell’s to have copies of my doctoral dissertation bound, so I could give one to my dad, who had dutifully lived long enough to witness my graduation, and one for myself, to honor my completion of this arduous 10 year passage.
it’s clear (to me, anyway) that klaus pettingell, the owner, loves what he does: it’s evident in the works of art he has so lovingly produced. I sussed out his display cases, which resembled some of the fine binderies I’ve seen in rome and venice. as someone who has a lifelong appreciation for the different weights of rag paper, the importance of matching font and typeface to the literary content, as well as the look, smell, and feel of new (or old) books, I was confident I’d left my lifework in the right hands.
I’m relieved and grateful to know there are still fine, old school artisans such as klaus, who do the equivalent of illuminating individual manuscripts by hand, laboring under candlelight like a monk with a quill pen, gold leaf, and magnifying glass. I’m confident his painstaking efforts have already won my stubborn, luddite father’s approval, a positively heroic achievement (even for his daughter,) in this age of high def, cgi enhancement, desktop publishing, and instant gratification in which we find now ourselves. he completed it in a week, which was really not long, considering the attention to detail book binding requires.
he did a beautiful job, from the binding to the titles. my friends’ and family’s consensus is that some sort of solidity was achieved only after this rather obscure bit of scholarship was transformed into book form, however, complete with my name embossed on the outside in gold letters. he made what had been a distant possibility into a reality, and transformed my amateur, puny student effort into one that is sober and imbued with true gravitas.

Just wanted to add my words of praise for Klaus and the fine work of Pettingell Book Bindery. My wife and I created a custom-​made guest book for our wedding. Each page had a photo of the guest and they wrote on that page. Some people drifted way over to the left edge and scribbled there. This created a problem for the book binding. Klaus simply added a little paper to the left edge, clipped the right edge, and viola, we now have a truly unique memorial to a very special day with all of our family and friends.
It was a joy to work with Klaus from start to finish. Now, I have to think of some more projects to bring to him. I love the look and feel of books. I wonder if he takes any apprentices.

Pettingell turned my long-​cherished (and well used) 3-​volume technical reference into an heirloom quality set. Pettingell is truly old word master craftsmanship at its best.

These guys are amazing! I had an old, falling apart bible from my aunt who just past away, and they treated it as if it were their own aunt’s. I just told them I wanted it re-​bound, but they fixed all the ripped pages, took out the yellow crusty tape, and re-​glued the entire thing. It looks wonderful! They weren’t cheap (this re-​binding was about $ 75), but *t*o*t*a*l*l*y* worth it!!!

I don’t know how their prices compare to other binderies. I chose Pettingell because they are close by, they’re old-​school, they’re a small operation, and because my boyfriend has had pleasant experiences with them in the past when he purchased a custom-​bound blank journal. Sadly, I could only afford to get one copy of my MA thesis bound, and it’s not even for me to keep — this is the copy to be shelved in the department library, where nobody will ever touch it again. Knowing the sad fate that is to befall this beautifully bound baby, I’ve been reluctant to give it up… I’ll just admire it here for as long as I can, until our student affairs officer comes a-​knockin’…
Oh yeah, I also picked up a box of metal book darts when I put in the order for my thesis. So much classier than those cheap stickies that lift the ink right off the page!
Also, note that the job took a week. I was in no hurry — when you file your thesis, UCB sends it off to their own bindery so you don’t need to have it bound in advance. But this may be something to consider if you do, indeed, need to submit a bound copy.

A few of my friends have had their theses and dissertations bound here, and I use some of their small pocket notebooks for journaling.
The owner is a wonderful older gentleman who puts time and care into his work. Old world craftsmanship and artistry at a reasonable price. Whether you want to preserve the thesis you printed bleary-​eyed the night before your filing deadline, or repair that (nearly) 200 year old copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Klaus (Pettingell’s owner) is the man to do it.
If you’ve got a PowerPoint presentation and you want to coil/​wire bind 200 copies, walk down the block to kinkos. =P
As I mentioned, I use the handmade notebooks for journaling. They’re available in a variety of sizes and styles, and make great gifts. (I know I loved the first one I received!)
If you’re a bookbinding enthusiast, Pettingell’s also stocks supplies for your personal endeavors.