About Us
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 Grimm came to work at the Bindery. In 2020, Bill passed away, Judy retired & there was no family to continue the business. The family made a generous offer to pass ownership on to Tracy Seyfert & her son Matt Sebastian. Tracy had been working at the Bindery since 1984 and had been the Bindery Manager for decades so the transition to owner was an easy one, since she had already been managing all aspects of the Bindery. Matt had been working at the Bindery since 2005 and was trained in by Bill Grimm on all the machines & mechanical aspects of the business. So both had full knowledge of all the aspects of the business which made a seamless transition. Grimm Bindery remains under their ownership & management today.
A story about the Grimm – Seyfert connection: Bill Grimm and Tracy (Beyler) Seyfert attended a funeral together at Highland Cemetery in Madison. Bill said Gottlieb Grimm was buried in Section 1, Block 1 of the cemetary so they went looking for his grave. As both walked along looking at grave markers, Bill said “here it is” (Lot 80) and at the same time, Tracy said “it’s my Great-Great-Grandpa’s grave!” (Christian Henry Beyler Lot 77). Buried just feet apart! We always thought, being Germans in early Madison in the late 1800’s early 1900’s and only a year apart in age, they were likely friends or at least acquaintances. Both had immigrated from Württemberg, Germany.
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!
