Our commitment to quality and customer service is firmly rooted in our past. The company was established in North Denver in 1929, specializing in repairing old books and binding. It started as a home-based business, moving to Five Points in a converted house purchased by Axel Erslund and his wife Sylvia in 1946.
Axel had achieved the rank of Master Bookbinder in Denmark after apprenticing in the king’s court. He immigrated to the United States in 1929, when there were more than 90,000 hardcover book workers employed in the industry. He worked from New York City to Washington state, and when Denver Bookbinding Company was available to purchase in 1946, he talked his wife into purchasing the business. He and his family came to Denver in December 1946.
5 Generations of Service
Starting out in the converted house on 23rd and Welton St., the close-knit family performed all the bindery operations by hand. The pages were sewn together on a loom that Axel had brought with him from Denmark. Rita, his daughter, sanded off the backs of the glued magazine spines with an oversized wood file.
Denver Public Library and Colorado School of Mines were inherited as a few of the public library customers, and the company has rebound many Bibles for individual customers. The company relocated to northwest Denver in 1961 and relocated in 2013, when gentrification overtook the neighborhood and the local businesses. The company moved to the current location at 1401 W. 47th Ave.
In 2019, the company has started its 90th year in business and is in its fifth generation. Upon Axel’s death in 1972, the company became woman-owned and continues to operate as one of the few female-owned and operated binderies in the United States.