Bookbinding Practice — A Harry Potter Fanfiction
Written by @SnufflesThePig on Ao3
Hardcover; flexible spine
Casebound; French link stitch
Lettermark cream multipurpose copy paper
Dimensions: 5" x 8"
340 pages
17 signatures
Custom-made novel
66k words
Made with custom printed cardstock
Front with Dust Jacket
Open Text
Open End Sheets
Front without Dust Jacket
Open Standing
Front and Spine
The story behind this book is a funny one. It’s a fanfiction that I found while scrolling through ArchiveOfOurOwn—a crossover between Harry Potter (owned by J.K. Rowling) and the TV series Merlin (owned by the BBC). The author, username SnufflesThePig, is rewriting the seven Harry Potter books, but with the added bonus of Merlin and Arthur (now immortal) attending Hogwarts as well.
Synopsis:
Merlin’s been keeping a close eye on the Riddle boy. It’s the flirting with the Balance that sets Riddle apart, makes him Merlin’s business. Merlin’s never gone out of his way to involve himself. When Riddle drags a baby boy into his mess, though, it’s too far. It’s a little too close to that life-for-a-life business. A little too close to Queen Ygraine’s death. Arthur agrees.
They’re not the only ones watching. Albus Dumbledore has inserted himself and is already deconstructing the situation, putting measures into place and making plans. The boy is taken care of. Merlin and Arthur make some plans of their own.
Merlin and Arthur take note the night Harry Potter cheats death (the first time). When the boy turns 11, they decide it’s high time they went back to Hogwarts.
The Process:
When I was first starting out as an editor, I liked to practice my copyediting skills with fanfictions, but this time I reached out to the author directly and sent my editing suggestions back to them. It was a fun process, giving suggestions and receiving a revised manuscript in return, then copyediting.
When the manuscript was edited, I didn’t want to stop there. Making the book itself was also great practice for my bookbinding skills, and I wanted to have something physical to hold and reread as I wait for the next chapter of book 3 to come out (I know many readers out there share this desire). After asking for permission once again from the author, I got to work designing the book’s interior in InDesign. I prefer books that are 5 by 8 inches, and I even included the full colour artwork (also made by SnufflesThePig!) and the end-of-chapter funny bits.
This casebound copy is the second version—I made the first when I was just starting with bookbinding, so the stitches were quite loose, I didn’t glue the spine, and the cover wasn’t quite to my liking. With this one, I’ve been meaning to try out case binding books like how trade books are (no board along the spine, and with a dust jacket). I even custom-printed the end pages because I didn’t like any of my current decorative papers enough for this book.
Though the dust jacket is a bit short (my current biggest paper is only 8.5x14" and I need 13x19"), I’m quite pleased with this end result. I will continue practicing this new style of bookbinding, and I hope to work towards full colour dust jacket design and printing in the near future.