This is super neat and it's interesting to hear about the component parts. Maybe I missed this, but why bookbinding at all?
So many reasons! Firstly, I just love books. I don't mean just reading and collecting them, as actual objects I find them so beautiful. I love the variety of sizes and colors, the way they look on a shelf and the way they feel in my hands, and when you're holding a well made book you just know. I love seeing how printing techniques change over time and how those techniques can add to or detract from the quality of the book. I love paper, I love colors, I love art, and I love reading, and books take all of those individual components and somehow make them bigger and brighter and special. I also love antiques, crafts, and folk art. Wood carvings, metal engravings, quilts, hand made furniture, on and on the list can go. I'm not very crafty though and some things take a lot of skill, know how, and often expensive tools to start. With books, the entry level cost is quite low and the initial learning curve starts out relatively low (but ramps up quickly the better you want to get and the more you want to learn and incorporate). While I wouldn't call my books "art," I would say I take a deliberate and artistic mindset when I'm making them. Coupled with the fact that there is learning and research and problem solving involved in figuring how to make a good, sturdy book that also looks nice, there's growth and satisfaction there. Lastly, I tried to get a job in bookbinding, but unfortunately everyone that is hiring for that kind of thing requires degrees in stuff such as library science or art conservation or, for everyday publishers and manufacturers, there really isn't demand for traditional, handmade books. So I figured one day, if I really wanna make books, I should just make them on my own, because if I love them so much, why the heck not?
Oh man, now I love books. That enthusiasm is infectious! Just reading through it, I was thinking about a big book we have that's the complete genealogy of our family going back to the 1600s. It's in fine shape now, but it's definitely something I would pay to have nicely and artistically bound, because I want it to last generations. My gut says, if you could find a clean way to put Ancestry reports in a book, you would have a real business.
Books are super easy to love. That we still have such a demand for physical books even with the internet and movies and games and all is a testament to how wonderful they are. :) There are still a ton of traditional binders out there that would be more than able to help you out with that. Of course a lot of them do book restorations too, so if you ever have an heirloom Bible or something that you want repaired, they can do that for you as well. I've thought a bit about binding stuff for other people. It's something I might definitely look into down the road. I don't think I'd be able to do something like an Ancestry Report, just because those are copyrighted, but I think if I ever come across a poet or an artist that wants to make maybe five or ten or twenty books, I could try and help them out. It would probably be a lot of fun and maybe a bit of a challenge.