IT follows that the books you most love to read are the ones which fall to pieces first.

Like everything else, if it's in pristine condition it usually means it hasn't been used for the purpose it has been made - like sad toys at antique fairs which no child was allowed to take from their boxes.

It may not have particularly occurred to you but again, like anything else worth saving, your books can be mended and restored to provide years more delight for you or for future generations to enjoy.

Bookbinding is an old craft which has been dying off with the computer age but one place in which it is thriving is Chipping Campden, where classes have been

taught for 40 years.

Anne Weare comes from Stroud for regular four-hour sessions to teach people from all over the area how to repair and recover their books as well as make new covers and whole new books.

She has been teaching the sessions since 1992, having taken over from her father, Theo Merrett, who started them in Campden in 1962. Anne has been binding since she was about nine and has worked in a famous bindery where she tackled repair projects on the likes of Captain Cook's log book, Wordsworth and Coleridge letters and original poems and Scott's Antarctic expedition notebooks.

She joined the family business in 1976 and teaches and runs summer schools and exhibits with Cotswold Craftsmen.

She said bookbinding was slowing up as it moved into the 21st century with regular work like council minute books being stored on computer disk instead. She added: "It is a dying art but there is still a call for it. A lot of books I bind nowadays have value to the person rather than monetary value."

Children's books are often repaired so they can be handed down and another market is for books for special occasions, like signature books for weddings or parties.An open day was staged in Campden recently when work by Anne and her students was on display. It included hand-made books and impressive leather and paper bindings.

Visitors could also talk to members and see them gluing, stitching and pressing away.

Sonia Woolven of Willersey was busy making a portfolio to use in her work fund-raising for St Richard's Hospice. She took up the classes after she retired to the area four years ago. She said: "I just thought I'd like to do it.

"My husband has a lot of books and I've repaired a lot of them.

"I find it's a really relaxing afternoon and I like the four-hour sessions because you can really get your teeth into it."

Bringing some new ideas to the class while learning the craft, Jan Collins of Campden is a former student of the Royal College of Needlework. "I make hand-made cards and wanted to go into books," she said.

John Howells, meanwhile, seemed to be enjoying more traditional bookbinding.

He was repairing some books by strengthening ragged dust jackets and putting new board and fabric covers around those which had gone too far to be saved.

"I've always been potty about books - both reading and the feel of them," he said. "When I retired I found I had time for the course."

For details of the classes, contact Wendy Butler of Mickleton on 01386 438275. The autumn term begins on October 2. Anne Weare is also heading a week-long course as part of the 21st annual Gloucester Arts and Crafts Group Summer School in Tuffley. Contact John Cooper on 01452 521643.