About Us
Otter Bookbinding was established in 1993 by Marysa de Veer. Her workshop is located in Midhurst, West Sussex. The bindery is committed to keeping the tradition of craft bookbinding alive while also taking advantage of modern approaches to design, layout and print. We are a small, family business which enables us to offer a high level of personal service and attention.
"I just got back from a lovely long birthday weekend with my Dad. The book is so much more beautiful than I could imagine. Everything from the colour combination, the lovely red ribbon, gold embossing and the print quality on the beautiful textured paper - I love it! And as you can imagine my Dad was incredibly emotional and poured over it for hours. All the hard work that went into collecting the content couldn't have been represented in more of a beautiful physical object that we'll all treasure for ever so thank you, thank you, thank you!
The majority of our business comes from repeat customers and word of mouth - a testament to the quality of our work and the high priority that we put into meeting customer needs. The bindery has featured in local press and BBC Southern Counties radio as well as Tatler magazine and the BBC. Our clients include book dealers, students, private collectors, Lambeth Palace, The Royal Star and Garter Home, the former Chief Executive of the Bank of Abu Dhabi, Loseley House, Metropolitan Police, literary agents, and universities.
Noteworthy Media Mentions
Meet the Team
Marysa de Veer
Marysa is the inspiration and powerhouse behind Otter Bookbinding, and it is her enthusiasm and passion for the craft which is the driving force behind everything we do. She takes a hands on approach, bringing her flair for design and enthusiasm for her craft to all our clients' projects. She is particularly fascinated by those which involve innovative design elements and novel binding structures. She also specialises in the restoration of antiquarian books and has restored and/or conserved a number of early bindings for various institutions including Lambeth Palace Library and The Royal Star and Garter Home, Richmond.
Marysa trained at Guildford College with Maureen Duke and John Mitchell. Her time at college included a spell at Windsor Castle Bindery, and she was on hand during the great fire of 1992 where she formed part of the human chain that evacuated books from the Royal Library! She has won prizes and commendations for her work from both the Society of Designer Bookbinders and the Society of Bookbinders.
Marysa has taught at Godalming College Arts, Brooklands College Art Dept Monument High School in Woking and Historic Hampton Court Palace. In 2009 and 2010, Marysa attended monthly masterclasses at Atelier d'Arts Appliqués du Vesinet with Sün Evrard. She currently teaches at West Dean College and has students for monthly drop-in sessions, in the bindery at Midhurst, more on this here.
Anna-Marie Batchelor
Anna is an apprentice Bookbinder and Book Conservator. She is currently working on her MA in Heritage Conservation at the University of Lincoln while apprenticed under Marysa at Otter Bookbinding.
Anna has been interested in following a career in conservation since finishing her MPhys in Astrophysics at the University of Kent in 2014. She has since developed her wider understanding of book collecting and book conservation after undertaking an MA in the English Country House at the University of Leicester and a Graduate Diploma in Conservation specialising in Books at West Dean College.
“Working as a bookbinder and book conservator is a dream come true. Working with Marysa and Sara is like being with family, every day is fun and every day there is a new project to get stuck into.”
Sara Tupper
Sara is the step-daughter of Maureen Duke, the famous bookbinder and teacher. As such she has been around bookbinding and bookbinders from a young age—you could almost say it is in her blood! She is our multi-tasking wonder worker who can turn her hand to almost anything in the bindery, and make sure the job is done right and on time.
