Life's paths lead in many interesting directions. Mine have included university training, an internship and employment at the Library of Congress, and starting my own business. It all began about twenty years ago when I started to think again about what I really wanted to do in life. It had become obvious to me that my artistic work was leading nowhere and my literary dreams weren't practical. I thought about what I really enjoyed and saw that it was reading and books. I had collected a large library and most of them were older books, some needing repair. I had sought out bookbinders and had things restored. I was satisfied, but it was expensive. I began to think that maybe I could save on this expense by learning how to restore them myself. - Ralph Weber, Rare Book Conservator