Photo memory books

Collect the photos and each person's words in one place, arrange them on the pages, and print the book or keep it as a PDF.

From £10.99, plus £6.99 UK delivery

Shape

Cover

Style

165 designs

Or design yours

Start from a blank book and make every page yourself.

1 Pick a style
2 Add your photos and words
3 We print it and post it

See all 18 styles

Start a shared memory book.

A memory book with pictures is a photo book where the words carry as much as the photos. Each person who knows them sends a picture and a memory; you put the two together on a page.

The studio collects both. People are invited, they send from a phone, and you read everything before it goes on a page. Nobody edits the book but you.

The same pages become a printed book in A4 portrait, A4 landscape or 21 cm square, or a PDF for anyone who lives too far away for the post.

It works for a birthday, a retirement, a wedding, a leaving gift or a memorial. What changes is who you ask and the date you give them.

What makes it a memory book rather than a photo book

The words. A photo book is pictures with captions. A memory book has a page from each person who matters: their photo, their memory in their own words and their name under it.

Messages arrive by invitation. Each person sends a photo and what they want to say; you read it first and place it. A contributor cannot change a page, so a surprise stays one.

Collecting the pictures and the messages

Send the invitation with a closing date and one clear ask: a photo, a memory, a name. Family abroad answer from a phone in the same way as the people next door.

Scan old prints, or photograph them flat in daylight. Put the person's name and a year on each one you can, and ask the sender for the rest while they still remember.

Laying out the pages

One person a page, or one decade a spread. Keep each message beside its own photo, with enough room to read both without turning the book.

The scrapbook-style designs hold more small photos and leave room for a message under each. The full-photo designs give one picture the whole page and suit a book with fewer, stronger photos.

Printing it, or keeping it digital

Choose A4 portrait, A4 landscape or 21 cm square, and one of four covers. Softcover and hardback are printed in the UK; lay-flat is made in Europe and takes longer to arrive.

Read the proof of every page before paying. The delivery price shown is for a UK address.

A recording cannot print. If somebody sent a voice message or a clip, keep the digital book as well: the free plan reads it online and paid plans download it with the PDF.

For a funeral, a retirement or a milestone

The same book serves a memorial, a leaving gift or an eightieth. For a memorial, ask for one specific memory rather than a tribute, and give people a few weeks after the service.

For a retirement or a leaving, ask colleagues for a photo from work and one line about a day they remember. For a milestone birthday, ask for the oldest photo each person has.

Questions

Can people add their own messages?

Yes. Invite them and they send a photo and their words from a phone. You review each one and choose what goes on the page; sending does not let anyone edit the book.

How many photos and messages fit?

About 40 to 70 photos in 24 pages. With a message under each photo, allow one or two people a page and add pages as the book grows.

Can I give it as a PDF instead of a printed book?

Yes. Paid plans export a PDF and page images. The printed book comes from the same pages after you approve the proof.

Is the first book free?

One book of up to 40 pages and 250 MB is free to make, read and share online with a watermark. A printed copy and the PDF need a paid plan or a one-book payment.