New Method Book Bindery
CITY:
Jacksonville
COUNTY:
Morgan
DEDICATED BY:
Morgan County Historical Society and The Illinois State Historical Society
DEDICATION DATE:
October 1, 2010 at 5:00:00 AM
The marker is located in Jacksonville and is mounted on the north side of a building at 220 South Main Street.
New Method Book Bindery (Bound to Stay Bound Books since 1970) was established at 220 S. Main, Jacksonville, Illinois, in January 1920 by Lawrence D. Sibert and William Suhy. The bindery quickly became one of the nation’s leading library binders, redoing old books for public and school libraries all over the United States. Lawrence Sibert helped found the Library Binding Institute in 1935, a trade organization for library binders.
New Method later specialized in “pre-binding” books, using special materials and processes to make new children’s books more durable for use in school and public libraries. Millions of the books used in these libraries over many decades have been “Bound To Stay Bound Books,” earning Jacksonville, Illinois, the title of “Library Book Binding Capital of the World” in 1954.