About Us

Tribute to William J. Grimm, President

It is with deep regret that we inform you that after a short illness, Bill Grimm, President of Grimm Book Bindery, Inc., passed away on April 30, 2020.  Those of you who had the pleasure of working with Bill over the last 40 years will remember his kind nature and willingness to be a listening ear.  We will all miss his presence and entertaining humor around the Bindery.   His many contributions to the company can be seen in every corner of the Bindery today.

Our thoughts & prayers go out to his family.  He is survived by his wife Natalya, daughter Serafima Grimm (Alex Lopez), step-daughter Julia Fensterwald (Matt) and their two sons, his sister Judy Stair (Stuart), and brothers Paul Grimm (Patricia), and Karl Grimm (Kayse).  

Bill was in the process of retiring so he had everything set in place for his absence.  We are saddened that he didn’t have the time to enjoy it.  The company is continuing to operate under the leadership of long time Bindery Manager, Tracy Seyfert and her son Matt Sebastian.    

His obituary and the opportunity to leave a tribute or memory of Bill for the family can be found at:  https://www.cressfuneralservice.com/obituary/William-Grimm.

Bindery History:

Gottlieb Grimm was originally from Bottingen in the Kingdom of Württemberg, Germany. He was born in 1831 and learned the craft of bookbinding from his father, Gelasius Grimm. He immigrated to America in 1849 and settled in Madison, WI in 1850 where he began his life as a Bookbinder. It is reported that Gottlieb bound the first book ever in Madison. The book was actually a collection of back issues of Graham’s Magazine, which Madison banker Simeon Mills had saved and wanted bound. As a side note, Gottlieb was also a founding member of the Madison Maennerchor, a German singing society started in 1852 which patterned after the similar groups in the “old country.

In 1855 Gottlieb joined with Daniel Maul to found the “Madison New Book Bindery,” however they sold it to Atwood, Calkins and Webb in 1857 (which were actually the owners of the local paper, Wisconsin State Journal). Gottlieb remained with the firm as a supervisor until 1860 at which time he joined BW Suckow’s Bindery as foreman. In 1874 he bought the bindery from it’s current owner and named it Grimm Book Bindery, Inc.  It’s been in the family since that time.  That’s over 165 years in business and run by Gottlieb’s family over 145  years!

Since then, the Grimm Book Bindery along with the traditional binding trade learned in Germany, has been passed through each generation growing up in and around book binding. In 1893, Gottlieb took his son, John J. Grimm, in as a partner. A generation later, John J. was joined by his three sons, John P., Henry G. and Francis W. as owners of the Grimm Book Bindery. Again, in the following generation, Henry G. was joined by his sons Henry G., Jr. (“Bud”) and John J. Grimm.  And a generation later, Bud’s children, Judy (Stair), Bill & Karl Grimm came to work at the Bindery.

The employees of Grimm Book Bindery are like a close knit family in themselves. Regular workers have years of experience with an average of over 23 years employment with the company.  So, you can trust that your treasured books will be in experienced hands when at the bindery!