Kevin Kraus (left) and Bill Tito with the restored Holy Bible. Photo / David Haxton
Book repair craftsman Bill Tito has handled numerous bibles over the years but the latest one has left him breathless.
It’s because it was the heaviest bible he has handled in a career that started in the early 1960s.
Bill, of Upper Hutt, has worked on a very old, and very sizeable Holy Bible, which he estimated weighs 5kg.
“It was as heavy as hell.”
The bible belongs to Kevin Kraus, of Raumati Beach, but has been in the family for a long time.
It was given to Emma Dunn (nee Kraus) who owned a bakery shop in Forest Gate, London, as payment for a bread account.
When nephew Christian Kraus and his wife, Susanna, were leaving London in 1909 to come to New Zealand, it was presented to them as their family bible.
It then came into the possession of their son, Wilhem Kraus, in 1930.
Wilhem gave it to his daughter, Susanna Kraus, a Sister of Mercy, in Wellington, at the time of the silver jubilee of her religious profession in 1977.
About 1980, the Sisters of Mercy were rebuilding so he passed the bible on to her sister, Helen.
Helen died in 1990 so the bible went back to Susanna, until early this year when it was given to her nephew, Kevin, because of her declining health.
Kevin wasn’t sure what to do with the bible.
“Do you put it in the cupboard, like everyone else?
“But then my wife Kim said ‘we should display it’, which I thought was a good idea.
“I then rang Bill, who I didn’t know, and we had a talk, and then I took the bible to him
“Bill gave us two options — either do the cover and a few pages or do the cover and every page — we went for the latter.”
Bill said the bible was in relatively good condition but needed some future-proofing work done to it.
“It’s like getting a jigsaw puzzle and working out how you’re going to put it together.
“It’s quite a lot of fun.”
He has strengthed the bible’s spine, added extra pages for the Kraus family tree, added a permanent bookmark, polished the leather covering to soften it, checked hundreds of pages, fixed some pages that bugs had chewed, and more.
He also had to be careful when carrying it.
“It would fall apart if you dropped it and you could also damage yourself with it.”
Bill, who turns 78 next month, said the project took about two and a half months to complete.
“The fun thing is, when I started on it, I didn’t want to stop because I could see it all coming together.
“I’ve tried to make it look like I haven’t done anything.”
Bill started his career in 1963, as a bookbinding apprentice at the parliamentary library in Wellington.
“The day I started work, the Queen opened Parliament, and I got a day off.
“I thought ‘this is going to be fun’ having days off.”
Bill’s parents were farmers in Taranaki, and his uncle and brother were linotype operators.
“A job must have come up in the paper.
“My parents must have arranged something over the phone and then we came down to Wellington.
“I was taken through Parliament to have a look and Dad said ‘What do you think?’ and I said ‘Yeah it’s okay let’s go home now’ and he said ‘You’re not coming home’.
“They had arranged for me to stay at a public services boys hostel called Antrim House, in Boulcott St, and that’s how I started.”
Kevin was delighted with Bill’s craftsmanship.
“I’m very happy with how it has turned out.
“Bill also felt it should be displayed so Kim and I decided that’s what we would do and got an antique table made and will display it in our home.
“It’s something I can pass to my daughter, Bianca, and it can go further after that.”
There are 44 works (24 by Frances Hodgkins) in the collection.