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Rows of leather-bound books, raised bands and gilded titles.

Cairo · Al-Azhar, Darb el-Ahmar

Abd El Zaher, bookbinders

Cairo's last hand bookbinding workshop, behind the al-Azhar mosque.

€€ Mid-rangeOff the beaten track

A small house where books are still bound with thread and leather, with hand-heated gilding tools. You buy bound notebooks, have a book bound, and watch craftsmen whose trade is disappearing.

The extra bit

Have a name gold-tooled on a notebook: it is done in front of you and takes half an hour.

Know before you go

The workshop is down a lane: ask nearby shopkeepers for "Abd El Zaher", everyone knows it.

Directions

Mohamed Abdou street, behind the al-Azhar mosque, Cairo

Directions

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