I stumbled onto book conservation by accident: in 1992 I took a summer job in the library at Northwestern University, and by the middle of June I knew I'd found my niche. "If I were independently wealthy," I thought, "I would do this for free!"
At the time, I was in the middle of a graduate program in Book Arts, studying letterpress printing, bookbinding, papermaking and the history of the book. I put together internships for the following summer, and after I graduated, I worked in the libraries of the University of California, Berkeley and Yale University.
While at Yale I had the great good fortune to work occasionally with Sue Allen, an expert in 19th century publisher's cloth bindings. She passed her enthusiasm to me, along with a tiny portion of her immense knowledge, and these books have become the type I most love to repair.
I went into private practice in 1996. The majority of my clients are antiquarian booksellers and private collectors, but I also work from time to time for museums and libraries. If you would like some references, please inquire and I will gladly provide them.