Digging through grandpa’s box of stuff in the attic, you find a yearbook falling apart—so fragile it can’t be opened. “How cool it would be to look through this,” you might think to yourself. To Google you go. A quick search on book repair leads you to the sole person in Rochester who does just that. She’s one of those special people you don’t know you need until you need her, and there’s some kind of magic in that. On the street is she’s referred to as “the book girl,” but her real name is Rachael Gootnick, and the work she does is meticulous, intimate, one of a kind, and, simply, just terrific.
Specializing in repairs and restorations such as rebinding, rebacking, and spine repair, Gootnick launched her business, Just Terrific Handcrafted Goods, in May 2012 and celebrates thirteen years this spring.
“I was a library kid. I grew up walking to the library every other day, just constantly reading books, drawing in books, cutting books up and collaging them—not really thinking anything of it, just being a kid,” Gootnick says.
The path to her dream career took her to art school in Georgia; back home to Rochester Institute of Technology to study publishing, typography, and page design; and then to a job at a book bindery in Rochester, where she met a man named Tom Pinzon.
“He worked upstairs and was a book binder—he did Bibles and thesis bindings,” Gootnick says. “I loved what he was doing so much—he was making these books by hand with all his old equipment in a small studio at Anderson Arts Building. I wanted to keep learning from him, so I quit my job and did an apprenticeship with him for a year. He ended up retiring, and he gave me a book press and one roll of leather—and so it all began.
“It’s one thing for a teacher to sit in front of a room and say, ‘now draw a still life picture,’ it’s another thing for a gentleman who had thirty years of experience to have me look over his shoulder while he created something. It’s a deeper level of educating and understanding craftsmanship that I really appreciated,” Gootnick continues.
In addition to repairs, Gootnick makes her own journals and book goods as well.
“When I was working at the book bindery, I was on lunch and digging through the recycling bin and just made a tiny little book out of scraps. I thought it was extra cute and adorable and resourceful. I showed my grandma, and she just exclaimed with enthusiasm and giddiness, ‘this is just terrific. You need to sell these.’ So, when I started my business, I started selling miniature book necklaces that were all made from scraps—everyone loved them. My grandma passed away right before I launched, and I found a fifty-dollar savings bond she had given to me when I was born. I cashed it and started my business with that, the book press Tom gave me, and that one roll of leather. I called my business Just Terrific as an ode to my grandma, because she was the first person to encourage me to do this, and she was my biggest supporter.”
What exactly does book repair consist of, though? Gootnick explains that the extensiveness of the process depends on the condition of the book. Rebinding involves taking the inside pages and making a new cover, and rebacking is keeping the covers but putting a new spine on them.
“The majority of the work I do is Bibles,” Gootnick says. “I’m responsible for taking the book apart, removing the cover from the pages, and then every single page gets cleaned and inspected for tears or rips. Once the pages are clean and in one piece, the book gets put back together—all the pages get rebound. Then you can create the covers—I only offer leather bindings because they’ll last at least 100 years. If the book isn’t leather, I’ll take part of the front cover, clip it out, and add it back onto a new cover; that way the original title is still there, but the book will be bound much stronger.”
The whole process can take weeks and leads up to one crucial moment— attaching the pages to the covers.
“It comes down to minutes where I get to glue the book into the cover. And this is all my work from one month, and you really only get one chance to glue it in. It’s the most exciting part though, because it’s when the book actually becomes a book,” Gootnick says.
Just Terrific has been at its current location inside School 31 Lofts, across the street from the Memorial Art Gallery, since September 2023, and Gootnick couldn’t love the location more.
“Being an artist that works on restorations and finding a space in this building that was rehabbed and renovated itself feels full circle,” Gootnick says. “Having a studio here makes me appreciative of the history of the building itself. I feel like I’m where I belong—in an old building doing old book work—I’m really grateful they renovated this space for me and welcomed me in.”
The best part of the business, though, for Gootnick, is the intimate interactions with customers and being able to give life to their treasured belongings.
“People come in with stories of why their books are broken, how long they’ve had them, or how their grandmother used to read them, and then they come back and see the book in one piece, and they’re just amazed—it’s really special,” Gootnick says. “As cliché as it is, these books have stories, but the stories people tell about the books are just as meaningful and endearing to me as the content the books have inside of them. I feel like I’m keeping them alive in households, daily life, lineage, and for generations.” Gootnick also hosts small social gatherings that are free for the public to come have some snacks and drinks and work on a craft—she is planning one in May to celebrate year thirteen. More information on book repairs and where to purchase her handmade goods can be found at justterrific.com. And you can find fifty-two downloadable journal prompt cards on her website as well, because Gootnick believes books are meant to be used— give the blank pages purpose.
This article originally appeared in the March/April 2025 issue of (585).
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