episode 051: Richard Smart

The Craft with May Globus

There’s a wonderful gentleness to Richard Smart, the owner of EC Rarebooks, a subterranean shop in Gastown full of first edition books and titles. A third-generation book restorer, he—and his late grandfather and late father—are well-known and trusted in the large international antiquarian book world as the best at their craft.

He grew up in London, England, the grandson of Charles Smart, who became a book binder in the 1930s, mostly out of necessity. His father John joined the family business as a young man, taking it over after Charles became ill. Richard, who loved motorcycles and building things with his hands growing up, also eventually learned the art of restoring books, coming into the company and relocating with it from the city to a smaller, more affordable town outside of London. With a desire to carve his own path, Richard attempted to move his family to Melbourne, Australia, but when that fell through, he found himself in Canada instead.

In this conversation, we discuss how joining the family business wasn’t his initial dream and what he had really wanted to do; how he came to enjoy his craft in more recent years, now that he added a bookshop to the restoration studio; the things he must consider from a material and chemical standpoint when restoring a book; the joy it brings him when the younger generation wander into his shop and marvel at what’s in there; the life lessons he learned from his late father; what he wants for his daughter, a talented ballerina currently dancing abroad; and much more.