Auto Mechanics With Fine Binding

So I’m taking this auto maintenance class, which is sort of silly because I have a sparkling engine, inside and out. But Nicole calls up from North Carolina and asks if Phil and Phillip are taking the class—she’s one of the more-than-once crowd, as are they. Yes, I say. Well, she says, Phil is a book restorer. You should talk.

So while other people roll around the filthy floor of a high school shop changing their oil, Phil and I go into the intricacies of hand-tooled leather, the Bay Area book arts scene in the 60s, and the lamentable lack of a letterpress in Davis. This was the last place I’d expect to have a conversation like this; it beats talking about the Red Sox and their performance tonight…