AN OXFORD bookbinder is hoping to trot out more than just any old present for this year’s jubilee.

Ian Barnes runs Temple Bookbinders in Stephen Road, Headington, and is putting together something special for the Queen’s 60th year on the throne.

The 49-year-old is making a handcrafted book on horses which will be gifted to the Queen. He said: “It is going to be quite large. I would call it a coffee table book.

“The way it is bound will be unique. It will have full leather binding and handmade marble endpapers. It will be in a silk-lined box.

“It will all be produced in this country.”

Mr Barnes, who grew up in Blackbird Leys, said the book would be picture-based.

He said: “I am a royalist and I think the Royal Family do a brilliant job, though I know some people don’t agree with that. I want to show British craftsmanship off at its very best and show we can still produce books in a traditional way, not just en masse.

“We have been working on it for at least five weeks and it will be about another week before it is finished.”

Mr Barnes’s book is near to completion and he will make arrangements for it to be delivered to Windsor Castle.

Having been a bookbinder since leaving school, Mr Barnes set up his own company 18 years ago, beginning in a shed in his back garden.

He moved the company to Headington three years ago and is now offering youngsters the chance to become his apprentice.

“There are very few binderies of our size left in the country,” Mr Barnes said.

“When I left school I wanted to be a carpenter but I happened to pop in to bookbinders and they offered me a job.”

In most cases it has been suggested by Buckingham Palace that any individuals or organisations wanting to give a gift to the Queen might consider making a donation to The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust.