Bill Tito preserves historic WWI journal The Pākehā for future generations

Bill Tito with one of the few books he hadn't heard of before restoring - The Pākehā. Photo / Grace Odlum

Bill Tito repairs many books, and there aren’t many he hasn’t heard of.

The Upper Hutt-based book repairer, who has been in the industry since 1963, said he was shocked when a book titled The Pākehā ended up on his desk and he hadn’t heard of it before.

“I said ‘God, I’ve never heard of that before’.”

The book was sent to be repaired by Danny Hopkins, from Paraparaumu.

The HMT Pākehā was a ship that took several Kiwi sailors to Belgium during WWI, and one of those sailors was Hopkins’ grandfather.

Hopkins said the sailors on the ship created The Pākehā as a journal, and it was sent back to their families.

The Pākehā was passed down through Danny Hopkins' family. Photo / Grace Odlum

The book was handed down through Hopkins’ family over the years, and it eventually ended up with him.

He and his wife knew they wanted to preserve the book, so they sent it to Tito.

“We thought it was definitely worth spending the money on to get it into good condition and keep it for the future.”

Hopkins said since the book is about 110 years old, many of the other copies may have disappeared.

He knows of various copies around the country, including a digital version in the Auckland War Memorial.

Tito said to repair the book he took the old staples out of it and hand sewed the pages together.

“I’ve just taken it apart and strengthened the whole book back together.”

Tito got into repairing books in 1963 when he started a bookbinding apprenticeship, and said over the course of his career he’s come to love lots of aspects of it.

“It’s not a heavy job but it’s quite creative, and there’s always different things coming in all the time - and every person is as interesting as the book.”