The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1900-12-28
AN ODD OCCUPATION.
''Book Surgeon" Is What One
Woman Calls Herself.
Profitable and Pleasant Employment
for Women Who Have to sup
port Themselves - In
valid volumes.

Who can devine what q 'sbook sur
geon" is? Miss Mabel Cook, of New
ork, has explained the meaning of
the term and says it is compare
cly UNEMPLOYED field of activity for
: supporting women and one which
n be made profitable. The work of
tie ''book surgeon consists of mend
ing and renovating books, and her
discovery of this as a profession was
the outcome of the knowledge that
certain private library needed re-
pairing. Miss Cook was spending the
winter in Paris, where the owner of
the library resided, and it was sug-
gested that if she were proficient in
this line of work she could easily OBJ
tain the order. Miss Cook, who is
lover of books, Immediately began to
fit herself for the place by studying
bookbinding with one of the most ex-
pert binders in Paris.
SIN order to repair books you must
know how to bind them" said Miss
Cook the other day. II devoted the
winter to the study of bookbinding
and gliding, or tooling, as it is called.
The lessons cost small sum and 1
found the work delightful. The man
from whom / took lessons lived in
what had at one time evidently been
sort of palace. His wife was an
expert binder and helped him. In
France they do not have the prejudice
against letting women learn trades
in shops. as in New York, where if
woman attempts to learn the trade
in regular bindery the men refuse
to work with her."
A specimen of Miss Cooks work.
manship which lay on the table was
book bound in white parchment, dec
Grated with finely executed design
of trailing grapevines, with clusters
of grapes. The design was originated
by Miss Cook, who stated that the
book entire, with it's rich binding,
had cost in materials just IA cents
"In the course of binding you take
up the book 60 times said Miss Cook,
'and in the finest kind Of binding
the book has to be in the press for
two weeks in all during the different
processes"
For three years Miss Cook has been
the binder for the old Astor library
on Lafayette place, where her work
room is situated, on the ground floor.
When the library books get torn or
in neen of repairs they are sent down
to Miss Cook, who repairs about three
books day. When the bindings are
old and valuable every effort is made
to preserve them. Some come down
with one board" or cover, off and
others with the strings which bind
the pages to the cover broken. The
books that are most often in need of
repairs are the genealogical books and
'peerages"
when book comes down I Judge
of the condition of the invalid and
give it the necessary treatment"
said Miss Cook. There is always
plenty of work to be done and it is
surprising to note how viciously some
people will treat the books. The
other day one of the finest and rarest
books of reference came down with
four pages cut clean out, close to the
binding. In order to get those four
pages out the person had pressed
hard with the knife and cut away
60 other pages, which, however, had
not been taken away. The loose
pages had to be bound in again, but
the four missing ones were never
seen. l received the appointment
here when I had completed MY
studies in Paris, SO 1 never applied
for the position to repair. the private
library which had been the cause of
my undertaking the worl.. There are
Few women who can do binding and
repairing, and if more would take the
work up I am sure Trey would be
Kept busy all the time at private
libraries, and find it remunerative,
too"