Become a Member today!

Membership of the Victorian Bookbinders Guild runs from 1st July to 30th June each year. Membership forms can be completed online or downloaded and emailed to the Secretary. Annual membership is $60 for a single membership.

Membership Benefits:

  • Three editions of Signature per year, the Victorian Bookbinders Guild newsletter, along with updates from other bookbinding guilds and societies from around the world.
  • Priority booking and discounts for workshops and courses hosted by the Guild.
  • Access to the Guild's extensive library covering various aspects of bookbinding.
  • Access to the members' buying scheme, which aims to make materials and supplies available that may not otherwise be readily obtainable in small quantities.
  • Priority access to bookbinding equipment donated to the Guild and made available for sale.
  • An open invitation to monthly meetings, open bindery sessions, and special events. See the What's On page for further details.

Willis Binding Challenge

Each year, the Victorian Bookbinders’ Guild runs the Willis Binding Challenge to encourage both new and experienced members to bind a book and share their work. It’s a chance to learn, practice new skills, and enjoy the process of binding. Our November meeting provides members the opportunity to exhibit their work.
In 2020 the annual Victoria Bookbinding Guild Challenge was re-named the Willis Binding Challenge in honour of John Willis, a founding member of the Victorian Bookbinding Guild. 

2026 Willis Binding Challenge

This year’s challenge is to create a book with a custom slipcase, inspired by the theme of nostalgia.
We encourage you to explore both your binding and book arts skills, as well as storytelling, drawing on memories, materials, and meaning to create a piece that reflects the past.
Your theme of nostalgia might appear in the content of the book, the cover design, the materials you choose, or the construction of the slipcase. Perhaps a combination of these.

Who was John Willis?

John Willis was born in 1922 in Birkenhead in England, just across the River Mersey from Liverpool. He came to Australia with his family in 1935. He gained a Master of Science from Sydney University in 1944, winning several medals including the University Medal for Inorganic and Physical Chemistry. In 1946, he returned to England and completed a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry at University College, London. He then returned to Australia and worked for what became the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). In 1961, he was awarded a Doctor of Science for published work, again from University College London.
During his nearly forty years at CSIRO, John helped to develop the Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer which earned him a significant reputation as an eminent research scientist and earned the Australian Government significant royalties. He also developed a revolutionary nitrous oxide burner to use with the instrument. Because of his expertise in the area, he was awarded travel fellowships that took him back to the UK in 1963 and to the United States in 1967 – 8. He was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute in 1957 and was the inaugural recipient of their Analytical Chemistry Medal in 1983.
After his return from England, John married Bettina Fletcher in 1953. They had two children. They were happily married for 47 years, although Betty’s last years were blighted by her Parkinson’s Disease which meant that John was her full-time carer. He looked after her faithfully. He was in turn, a devoted son, brother, husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather.
Aside from his work and family, John’s interests were many and varied. He took up piano lessons again in his late seventies, having learnt as a teen and young man. He continued his lessons until about a year before his death at the age of ninety-six. He took up bookbinding as a hobby after his retirement, feeling he needed “something to do”. He won several prizes at a number of Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria shows. He bound many books for friends and family, particularly enjoying the challenge of binding old books, including prayer books and books “special” to the owner. He also kept an eye out for old piano music that he would obtain, put in a new binding and keep, or give to his daughter, also a pianist. He was a devout Christian, worshipping regularly at St James the Great, East St Kilda. He wrote a history of this church, published a year before his death. He was also a member of the (Anglican) Prayer Book Society (where his bookbinding skills came to the fore re-binding old prayer books). He was also a member of the Port Phillip Probus Club.
John is remembered through the annual bookbinding challenge of the Victoria Bookbinding Guild. 

See A Tribute to John Willis - Melbourne Royal Show Display for a showcase of John's bookbinding work. 

Past Challenges