A reservoir of bookbinding knowledge…Thelma Ambrose-Boodie is a ‘Special Person’

Mar 09, 2014 News

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“Probably it’s the Almighty that keeps me going. When I wake up every day I feel good because I know I have things to do and I have challenges to overcome and I love overcoming challenges.”

By Keeran Danny

Napoleon Hill in his book “Think and Grow Rich” said, ‘whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve’. This famous quote cascaded through my mind as I interviewed this week’s ‘special person’ Thelma Jean Ambrose-Boodie, the longest serving bookbinder at the National Library.

Thelma’s positivity, love of books and hunger for challenges revealed why she has dedicated 45 years of her life, thus far, to being a bookbinder. In 1969, the Chief Librarian at that time, Stella Merriman, appointed Thelma and her sister as bookbinders. That was the beginning of Thelma’s purpose-driven life of restoring books.
“Probably it’s the Almighty that keeps me going…I wouldn’t tell you my age…When I wake up every day I feel good because I know I have things to do and I have challenges to overcome and I love overcoming challenges,” she said.
Years of restoring books and binding newspapers have allowed Thelma the tricks of the trade that could only be learnt through hard work and selfless dedication. Today, she is preparing to leave her love, bookbinding, which is a dying trade, to retire. For years, she has been tasked with passing on her knowledge to her co-workers.
Modestly, acknowledging that bookbinding could be challenging at times, Thelma says restoring a book gives one great pride and a sense of fulfillment. The most satisfying moment in this career path is looking at the pleased expressions on the faces of persons whose books you would have restored.
Bookbinding is an acquired skill learned through years of practice. In addition, one also needs to have the love and appreciation for books before the art is perfected.
At the beginning of her career, Thelma was trained the basic skill of binding by a Mrs. Leacock. She moved around to various departments to learn other aspects of the library to “fine tune” her skills. She recalled working in the library’s Rural Department where minor binding was needed such as patching. But, it is this light work, Thelma reflected, that allows a bookbinder to execute the larger tasks.
Always eager to enhance her skills, she ensured that she digested the lessons counterparts from Brazil and India came to Guyana to share. Along with other members of staff, she benefited from preservation and conservation training at the Brazilian Institute. However, most of the persons who would have benefited from the training are no longer with the library.
Smiling confidently, Thelma said that despite the condition of a book or the extent of a task, nothing could deter her. She recalled that many years ago, former General Manager of Guyana National Newspapers Limited, Ulric Captain, had tasked her with restoring newspapers over 100 years old. Over a four-month period (and it probably took her that long because she went on leave) Thelma restored the Argosy and Graphic newspapers which are now part of Guyana Chronicle’s extensive archive.
When Thelma entered the workforce, computers and other electronic gadgets were essentially non-existent in the workplace. The bindery was modestly equipped with a large guillotine, a main tool in the bookbinding process. Today, the guillotine that was there before Thelma became part of the library’s family, is still playing an integral role,

despite its rusty state and the energy needed to operate it.
In fact, several years ago, whilst operating the very guillotine she unfortunately sliced off a piece of her left index finger. Thelma recalled that it was the day before heading off on leave and there was lots of work to be completed. And, since no task is too big to be accomplished, she wrapped her wound with a band aid and piece of the material used for muzzling, and continued.
“At that time the cut wasn’t painful because I didn’t let anything stand in the way of my completing a task. I just kept changing the band aids as they filled with blood. This is the attitude. My attitude is let nothing stand in the way… make no excuses.”
Thelma’s specialty is stitching. It is oftentimes the main highlight of a bookbinder’s day. It involves no machine only a needle, thimble and thread. And, quite often, while sewing a bookbinder would fall prey to the occupational hazard of a needle breaking through the thimble and boring the finger. Thelma admits that even someone who has mastered this aspect of bookbinding will experience this discomfort at some time or the other.
“Restoring a book that looked like if it would have died a horrible death is the icing on the cake, Thelma said with a smile. Having been in the profession for over four decades, even bookworms don’t stand a chance escaping her and damaging a collection. Simple remedies such as placing the infected book inside an airtight plastic bag with black pepper under the sun would be good enough to kill the bookworms.
Currently, the bindery is tasked with restoring a 104-year-old Bible belonging to the St. Andrew’s Kirk. Cognizant that her departure from the library is imminent, Thelma says the bulk of the work is being done by the bindery supervisor, who needs to be equipped with all the requisite skills.

“The persons I am passing the trade onto are very cooperative and they are eager to learn. I think that people see bookbinding as something that just comes, but it takes time. There are some persons that may come in and start to do things and you get the feeling that person is a born binder. And there are others who wouldn’t learn easily, even though you may be teaching them one thing all the time. There are some of them you can’t leave with tasks and look away. You have to constantly be talking to them,” she said.
While Thelma is looking forward to retirement, she admits that she will miss this trade that is embedded in her.
“I will miss restoring books and stumbling upon important documents that have deep-rooted history either for the country or an individual. But, most of all I will miss the library which has been my home away from home. I love working at the library. Being here is a wonderful experience, especially when you put your heart to it.”
Reading a good book is Thelma’s hobby and being part of the library has allowed her to thoroughly enjoy that irresistible pastime.

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