Edward Kranz has always had artistic tendencies.
From his childhood in Erie, he drew, painted, and played guitar.
Kranz, now 53, is also a skilled craftsman. He worked for years for his father’s construction company, which recently helped Erie-based Amerail Systems undertake exterior renovations at hotels across the country.
He then worked for over a decade as a mechanic and analyst for the Boeing Company in Everett, Washington.
It might be fitting that this description make him look like a Renaissance man.
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Returning to Erie a few years ago, he started a new venture reminiscent of the spirit of the Renaissance, often described as the rebirth of science and culture between 1400 and 1600.
It was at the beginning of this period that Johannes Gutenberg invented the mechanical printing press with movable type. This invention made possible the publication and mass distribution of what was called the Gutenberg Bible.
Kranz is a bookbinder and owner of Kranz Books Bindery, which he operates from the first floor of his home on Trask Avenue.
After Boeing eliminated his position a few years ago, Kranz became interested in the art of bookbinding which had been his hobby for years.
It’s no longer a hobby.
He earns his living by restoring old books and producing new ones, mainly diaries and wedding albums.
It is impossible to confuse his two-story house with a factory. There’s nothing fast about the assembly process. Handcrafted wooden benches perched on steel legs occupy what might normally be the living room. Indirect light bathes the space in a warm glow.
His tools — including French hammers, heavy steel book presses, and one-of-a-kind paper folders made from pieces of bone — are a reminder that Kranz is about preserving history.
This desire to preserve the past is what launched Kranz.
A few years ago, he acquired a tattered set of “Letters From Hell,” a two-volume Christian novel published in 1866.
Kranz began restoring the book only to find it was in over his head. He decided to put it aside until he mastered his craft. He’s working on it again now.
From his main workspace, Kranz gently pulls out a Nuremberg Bible, printed in 1770, which he is working to restore, one page at a time.
He paid $200 for it, but expects it will eventually be worth $2,000 or more. The book, however, is a favorite project and Kranz said he would be happy to have it on his shelf.
Sometimes the story takes on a more personal form. Kranz said Family Bibles, published between the early 1900s and the 1950s, are among his most common projects. The value, he said, comes from the personal connection, often including a few handwritten family history pages in the back of many of these volumes.
Returning a book to the customer “feels really good,” he said. “One, I feel like I did a good job. Second, they now have some of their family history that they can carry on down the line. So, I kind of feel like I’m doing part of their family now.”
In another room off the kitchen, Kranz works not to preserve history, but to recreate it in a project that dates back to the earliest days of print.
Kranz is in the midst of his second two-volume recreation of Gutenberg’s Bible, which was printed in Latin in the mid-1450s.
Another set, which uses scanned pages from the original, was produced in his studio while working alongside veteran bookbinder Michael Chrisman of Ohio.
While these volumes, valued at $6,500, are expected to ship to a customer soon, Kranz hopes to sell the second set for around $8,500.
This one will feature a handmade binding made from a special type of pigskin that hasn’t been used for 500 years. Like the first set, the covers of these volumes are made of thin slabs of stained red oak that enclose hand-stitched pages.
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To start
An early love of books might have helped steer Kranz towards his current calling.
“I’ve always loved books,” he said. “I loved to read when I was younger.”
Later he read a need for information.
He well remembers his burnt-out Volkswagen Beetle and the “Idiot’s Guide” to repairs he found at the store. Within weeks, he had rebuilt the engine of the Beetle following the instructions in the book.
“The books had value for me,” he said. “I could learn things from them.”
Customers have different reasons for bringing their books in for restoration. For some, especially owners of old family Bibles, it’s about rebuilding that connection to their family’s past.
Often, he says, the value of a book has little to do with the actual price.
Kranz said one of his most significant restoration projects was repairing an inexpensive Bible his wife’s stepfather had received from Alcoholics Anonymous more than 30 years earlier.
The Bible, filled with notes and signatures of people he had met in meetings over the years, was in a sorry state. But it was also a cherished chronicle of the owner’s sobriety.
“AA Bibles are extremely inexpensive,” Kranz said. “They’re meant to be disposable, but this book contains tremendous personal value.”
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Kranz said he put between $400 and $500 of labor and materials into this well-used Bible.
“Of all the books I’ve written, this is the one I’m most proud of,” Kranz said.
Kranz, who used up much of his savings returning to Erie from Washington, is still conscious of his ability to make a living binding and mending books the old-fashioned way.
A whiteboard in one of the rooms in his shop gives a preview of what the next few months will look like, listing some of the projects he plans to work on. Upcoming work includes Bibles and volumes on the history of Erie County.
“I have a couple (projects) going on at some point,” he said.
Kranz will also work to replenish its supply of hand-bound newspapers which sell for around $85. He sells the journals, some bound with handmade paper, in an Etsy online store
But the financial limits are obvious.
“Even if I deliver a book a week, it’s between $150 and $500,” Kranz said. “What I hope is that I will go faster.”
In short, Kranz doesn’t get rich, but he loves what he does, preserving history and one old book at a time.
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“I’m able to apply my artistic skills. I’m able to apply crafting skills,” Kranz said. “The process really drives me. Every book I touch is different.”
Almost all of them can be upgraded if they don’t return to their original glory, he said.
“Unless the book is ashes,” he said, “there’s usually something that can be done.”
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Contact Kranz:
- Binding Kranz Books
- 3850 Trask Avenue, Erie
- 814-218-3872
- kranzbooks.com
- By appointment only
Contact Jim Martin at 814-870-1668 or jmartin@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNMartin.