Yasser Abdelzaher’s arms transfer with precision as he rigorously handles the fragile gold leaf typically used to embellish his work. “You can’t make a mistake,” he tells me, earlier than including the ending touches to a newly sure book.
As a third-generation bookbinder in Egypt, the 44-year-old has spent most of his life surrounded by books, rebinding and restoring preloved works to their former glory. Having taken over the workshop from his father in 1999, he now runs the Abdelzaher Atelier alongside his siblings, one of many last surviving examples of conventional bookbinding you’ll discover in the Egyptian capital. To today, folks from throughout the area nonetheless flip to Abdelzaher to restore the covers of previous books, from the Qur’an and literary works to scientific research.
“You see here, those green books?” Yasser says, motioning to a shelf stuffed with newly sure editions. “All for one customer, a Moroccan man. He used to be a pharmacist. Now he studies everything.”
Located down an unassuming alley near the well-known Khan el-Khalili market in Old Cairo, the story of this stone-arched store spans virtually 9 a long time. Opened by Yasser’s grandfather in 1936, the household of bookbinders have seen 1000’s of purchasers come by their doorways — every with their very own story.
Step inside the shop and also you’ll discover a definite stillness in stark distinction to the close by hubbub Cairo is best identified for. The cabinets of the slim store are lined with freshly sure leather-based notebooks in each conceivable color, whereas Yasser and his workforce are sometimes discovered working intently behind massive picket desks. Tucked away in one nook of Abdelzaher’s Atelier, a craftsman heats tiny brass kind over an open flame earlier than urgent it into guide covers. Metal lettering — each Latin and Arabic symbols — spills throughout the countertop, amid a cluster of vintage-looking instruments. This is the place books are given the ending touches, reminiscent of including an individual’s title or initials.
With a historical past that spans centuries, bookbinding has a selected legacy in the Middle East and North Africa, the place it’s tied to the position of studying and studying in Islamic tradition. “The Prophet Muhammad was commanded to ‘read’ by the angel Gabriel and this was the beginning of the Qur’an,” says Alison Ohta, director on the Royal Asiatic Society in London. “Manuscripts were copied in the libraries of mosques, madrasas, and for the libraries of sultans and members of the upper classes throughout the Islamic world. The arts of the book, which include calligraphy, bookbinding and illumination, are still considered to be very important in Islamic culture to today.” Alison provides that Islamic bookbinding practices have impressed the way in which books look in different cultures.