Rusty Benson
AFA Journal associate editor
May 2015 – “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever,” says the Old Testament (Isaiah 40:8). Jesus promises the same in Matthew 24:35: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”
Christians understand these verses to mean that God’s truth endures into eternity, recorded for the ages in the Holy Bible.
God’s promise is literal, but obviously it does not extend to each physical copy of the Word that we hold in our hands. Like all created things in a fallen world, leather cracks, pages yellow and tear, and glue deteriorates.
Still, these well-worn treasures are often cherished family keepsakes that link generations of believers through the centuries and serve as tangible reminders of the eternal truths they contain. Preserving these volumes for as many generations as possible is the trade of a family-owned business in the heart of the Mississippi Delta.
Norris Bookbinding Company in Greenwood, Mississippi, began rebinding and restoring books in 1947. In the beginning, Bible restoration accounted for only a small portion of their work, with most of the company’s business coming from libraries, the courts, and commercial businesses.
However, over the decades, particularly since the advent of digital record keeping and the electronic archiving of publications, Bible restoration has become 95% of their work.
Brothers Charles and Johnny Sproles began their careers at Norris Bookbinding as teenagers in the mid-1950s. Along the way, Charles, 79, and Johnny, 76, became partners in the business, and eventually owners.
Today, along with 10 employees including six family members, Norris Bookbinding restores 600-1,000 Bibles a month. Customers have come from all 50 states and, so far, about 30 countries.
For the Sproles brothers, Norris Bookbinding is their family, their livelihood, their call, and their contribution to spreading the gospel of Christ.
Photo: Half the employees at Norris Bookbinding are Sproles family members: (l to r) Gib Sproles, Sandra Sproles, Charles Sproles, Stephanie Jackson, Nila Gardner, and Johnny Sproles.
Torn to restored
Located about 130 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee, in the flood plain of the Mississippi River, Greenwood predates the American Civil War. It’s an old Southern town known for cotton, catfish, and the blues, but Norris Bookbinding Company attracts its own share of notoriety in print and on the Internet as the world’s largest Bible restoration company.
The company is housed in a humble, nondescript metal and concrete block building in a light industrial section on the east side of the county seat of Leflore County. The office and plant areas appear to have changed little in half a century. Only one computer is visible, mainly used to update the company’s Facebook page.
Jars of white glue, brushes, rulers, scissors, pliers, hammers, razor blades, and other specialized tools of the trade lie on wooden worktables worn from decades of use. Shelves line the front work area, displaying Bibles in every stage of restoration.
Each Bible enters the workflow with a written order that details repairs according to the customer’s desires. The restoration process can take two hours to two weeks.
The next step is carefully removing and collecting the photos, bookmarks, and other scraps of paper that often arrive hidden in the Bible’s pages. Each item, no matter how tiny, is placed in a plastic storage bag and labeled with the customer’s name. The bag will be returned to the customer along with the newly restored volume. No fragment is missed.
Then, if necessary, corners and pages are gently unfolded. A custom-made, foot operated wooden press is used to remove as many creases as possible.
Some repairs require partial or compete disassembly of the book. Covers may be repaired or replaced with careful attention given to matching the original.
Depending on a customer’s budget, individual pages can be mended or replaced. “If you can describe it, we usually can do it,” a brochure says. Exceptions are the occasional zipper (destructive to binding), and thumb indexes (cannot be reglued to deteriorated paper edges). Pages that record family records can be laminated for permanent preservation.
In another work area, Nila Gardner, who has been with the company for 21 years, applies gold foil letters to new leather or leatherette covers using a machine that resembles a hybrid drill press and old fashioned typesetter. Then David Welch, a 16-year Norris employee, glues resewn pages into the new cover, finalizing the process in a bookbinding press. The finished product is a remarkably like-new copy of God’s Word ready for more years of use.
Elaborately tooled pulpit Bibles, even including those that arrive in poor condition, are a common challenge. Repairs on these volumes often take considerable time and effort, but the results are the same.
One such volume was the Bible of Rev. James Dempster (1740-1804) who came to Christ under the preaching of John Wesley in Great Britain. In 1774, he came to the American colonies where he ministered and preached to American settlers in the Mohawk Valley in New York until his death in 1804.
His Bible was discovered in the home of a descendent, Rev. William H. Kroeger, in Amsterdam, New York. In the early 1950s, Kroeger sent the historic Bible to Norris Bookbinding for restoration. After receiving the refurbished Bible, he wrote the following in a note of thanks:
“We received the Bible which you reconstructed for us. … I may say that everyone who examines your work is enthusiastic over what you were able to do with a book which other bookbinders considered impossible. …”
Norris company scrapbooks are filled with nearly 70 years of similar expressions of appreciation and surprise from customers around the globe, including well-known book publishers and ministry organizations.
Future faith
The craftsmanship is extraordinary and the service unparalleled, but Charles has no doubts who gets credit for the success and longevity of Norris Bookbinding.
“God blessed us with this Bible business,” he said. “I know He is responsible for getting us this far. All credit goes to Him. How can we not trust Him for the future?” 
Norris Bookbinding
107 N Stone Ave
Greenwood, MS 38930
662-453-7424
info@norrisbookbinding.com
norrisbookbinding.com
facebook.com/norrisbookbindingcompany
Price quotes are available. Norris repairs and binds a wide range of volumes including church bulletins, historical books, hymnals, magazine collections, antique children’s books, and more.
