Books are My Business: Barbara Hubert of Hubert Bookbindery, Cork

Barbara Hubert, Hubert Bookbindery, Hatfield House, Tobin Street, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

Barbara Hubert owns Hubert Bookbindery, which is located at Tobin St in Cork city.

How did you get into bookbinding?

By accident, really. I got an after-school job with a friend of my parents who happened to be a bookbinder in the small town I come from in Germany, Ingelheim. When I left school, I did an apprenticeship with him. Then I came to Ireland and worked for somebody else before setting up on my own then.

How did you end up coming to Ireland?

As teenagers, we were always interested in Ireland, in the music and the Celtic image that goes with it. We came on holiday in 1981 and again in 1982. Then when I was finished with my apprenticeship in Germany, I came over with a friend who was studying for six months at UCC. She went home and I stayed.

When did you set up the business?

I was in partnership with another German bookbinder who I happened to meet. We ran that for 10 years from 1995 to the end of 2005. She left to follow a different career and I have run it since then.

What services does the shop offer?

It is a hand bookbindery — we do everything by hand, in the traditional way. 

We do everything from repairs to commission binding, one-off bindings for customers, presentation boxes, photo albums. That is the craft part. The other side, we had to diversify a bit, we deliver our craft journals, albums, and notebooks to other shops around the country and we sell them online. 

We also do work for libraries, we bind notepapers and anything that needs binding or containing. We get a lot of private customers, I have two people working all times on repairs, it could be a family bible, wedding album, cookery books, grandparents’ school books.

It must be rewarding to give people back their memories… 

It is, and it is nice to see their appreciation as well. They come in saying ‘I have something broken, can you fix it, is it possible?’ and it usually is.

Barbara Hubert, Hubert Bookbindery, Hatfield House, Tobin Street, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

Have there been challenges staying in business?

Like any business, there have been challenges. I have been through one or two recessions, one big one and I came here in a recession. We are small, we are flexible, we can react pretty quickly. The latest challenge was that theses don’t have to be in hard copy any more, that took a big chunk away from the business but we try and make that up with other initiatives. I have a very good loyal team of people that I work with. We have two full-time and three part-time staff. One girl is with me since the start.

What do you like most about the job?

The diversity. I like the craft aspect of it, to take a simple piece of paper and transform it into something pleasing and beautiful. We are always looking for different materials, interesting colours, fabrics, and textures.

What do you like least about the job?

As the boss of the place, the business side. That takes up a lot of time. But it’s manageable because we are so small. That is only a small gripe. You hear that a lot from people who are interested in craft or working with their hands, it is a necessary evil.

Have you ever been asked to provide anything unusual?

One of our books was used to propose — we bound a chronicle of the relationship of a couple with the most romantic last page, which said: ‘Will you marry me?’ 

What do you like to read?

I veer between literary novels and crime, especially Scandi crime. I like Irish writers like Anne Enright and John Banville. I just finished his latest, The Singularities … I enjoy his use of the language, but it is not for everybody.

Catherine Ryan-Howard is a Cork crime writer I like.

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