American Bookbinders Museum, Bookbinding museum in SoMa, San Francisco, United States.

The American Bookbinders Museum occupies a larger South of Market location it moved to in 2015, after opening as a private museum in 2009. Its displays centre on the 1800s shift from hand bookbinding to industrial book manufacture, using 19th-century equipment, much of it still functioning. The New York Times called it "a small, obsessive collection of machinery and ephemera."

The museum documents bookbinding from the 1600s through the 1800s, when industrial machinery transformed production. This shift moved the craft from individual artisans working by hand to large-scale factories using mechanical presses.

The museum's name comes from its focus on the book as a physical object, and its collection was assembled by Tim James, a Bay Area bookbinder who founded it. The New York Times called it "a small, obsessive collection of machinery and ephemera." Rotating exhibits, special tours and workshops run alongside the permanent displays.

The museum sits in the South of Market neighbourhood, at 355 Clementina Street, and opened to the public there in 2015 after moving from its earlier private location. Visits are by docent-led or self-guided tour, and the museum also arranges special tours and workshops. Researchers can consult the Special Collection of books, equipment and ephemera.

The museum began as Tim James's private collection; the Bay Area bookbinder opened it in 2009 and it moved to the South of Market in 2015. The New York Times called it "a small, obsessive collection of machinery and ephemera." A Special Collection of books, equipment and ephemera is open to researchers.