How could I learn to do that?

Ooo, right. I got distracted. :) I've added the end papers shot to the gallery as well. The actual print looks like this:
www.strangelittlegirl.com/print...ey.jpg
it's the original scan ~160K. I may get it resized at some point, but in the mean time, surfers beware.

The book is sewn onto cords and then the back is packed with Japanese paper to smooth out the ridges from the spine. The cover boards are a very plain (and thin) mat board for framing art. (I've decided I don't like working with Davey board. It makes me sneeze and gives me headaches.) The text block is a French paper (Durotone). Fairly cheap, comes in big sheets and does the job. The paper on the cover I made last fall from my old (undergrad) thesis notes from university. It proved to be frail when wet when I added it to the cover, but dried perfectly smooth under pressure. I've since added a coat of clear glue to reinforce the paper.

The head bands are sewn using Gutterman polyester button thread and instructions from _Headbands, How to work them_. I bought my copy from Oak Knoll. www.oakknoll.com/detail.php I'm getting very fast at the simple headbands and may try something more complicated next time.

The leather on the spine comes to me via a friend and is originally from Hewit. www.hewit.com Fortunately she sent me a paring knife as well. (Unfortunately I need to find a sharpening stone before I can make my next leather book.) It bleeds when wet (which I knew), but was the easiest to pare (thin down so that it turns over easily on hinges and around corners). I should have used dark cover paper as the lighter paper on the cover and the end papers have both stained (not really visible in teh photographs).

The cords are emphasised by using a wet string to brand/burnish lines above and below where the cords are. I don't have any other leather working tools, so my leather books will be very plain for now. I may do some inlays on my next try. No type or fancy debossing or gold leaf though...

The end papers are wood engravings for the Year of the Monkey exchange with the Baren Forum. www.barenforum.org My prints use Graphic Chemical Perfect Palatte ink (tar-like ink for printers). They were all "pulled by hand" using the back of a spoon onto a Japanese paper. Wood engravings, unlike wood cuts, use the endgrain of the wood as opposed to the side/plank.

A lot of the book was by-guess-and-by-golly. I got some stuff right and some stuff wrong. I haven't got any books at this point which are specific to leather binding procedures AND my best bookbinding buddy (who sent me the leather) just had her second child this week. ... so she'll be busy for a bit!

I think that's most of the info...let me know if you're curious about other parts of the book.