REDLANDS >> Benjamin Gonzales of Redlands has bound books for John F. Kennedy and worked on book restoration for Pope John Paul II.

But now he’s running American Book Art, a custom bookbinding and restoration shop in Mentone. A master bookbinder with 55 years of experience in the trade, Gonzales opened the shop with his family in August.

The new business on Mentone Boulevard is a block from Book Craftsman, also a bookbinding and restoration service provider, and where Gonzales was previously employed.

Gonzales said it was a coincidence that the most economically sensible location he could find for his new business was just down the road from his previous employer.

Book Craftsman has been in business since 1931, when Swiss immigrant Wesley Aplanalp moved his garage workspace to the Mentone storefront. Over its 84-year history, the shop has had only three owners including Aplanalp. It is currently owned by retired attorney Mike Arnold.

Gonzales spent four years working for Arnold as the shop’s master bookbinder before deciding to open his own location.

“It was just time for me to start my own place,” said Gonzales. “I am here to do the best work I can and take care of customers in the best way possible,” he said.

Gonzales began bookbinding in 1960 when he was 20. At the time he lived in the Federal District of Mexico in the colony of San Jose.

“I began in a workshop just like this,” said Gonzales, standing in the middle of his 2-month-old shop, surrounded by a wall of individual hand-stamping tools and thousands of pounds of metal hand-operated bookbinding and cutting devices. “A friend asked me to join him, so we would go down to a little shop every morning and learn about how to take care of, make and restore books. It was just a hobby back then.”

Gonzales came to the U.S. in 1997 with his four children. His only son, Benjamin Jr., and one of his three daughters, Laura, help their father at American Book Art.

Benjamin Jr. said his 20 years of experience in bookbinding pales in comparison to his father’s expertise.

“The point is, not everyone can do what my father can do,” said Benjamin Jr. “He can make or fix anything book related.”

In addition to bookbinding and restoration services, American Book Art offers binding of reports, documents, theses, photographs, maps, newspapers and magazines. It also specializes in family Bible restoration, a quickly dying art in the bookbinding world, he said. Hot stamping services with customization of leather items are also available.

American Book Art’s hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The shop is at 1820 Mentone Blvd., Mentone. Call 909-990-0213 or go to americanbookart.com for more information.