diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index f7af435c..319e793d 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 - vipsthumbnail supports stdin / stdout thumbnailing
 - have a lock just for pdfium [DarthSim]
 - better GraphicsMagick image write [bfriesen]
+- get pdfium load building again [Projkt-James]
 
 6/9/20 started 8.10.2
 - update magicksave/load profile handling [kelilevi]
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index badb77df..e1236520 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -913,18 +913,20 @@ fi
 AC_ARG_WITH([pdfium],
   AS_HELP_STRING([--without-pdfium], [build without pdfium (default: test)]))
 
+# pick 4200 as the starting version number ... no reason, really, it'd
+# probably work with much older versions
 if test x"$with_pdfium" != x"no"; then
-  FIND_PDFIUM([
-     if test x"$with_poppler" != x"no"; then
-       AC_MSG_WARN([PDFium found, disabling poppler])
-       with_poppler=no
-     fi
-     EXTRA_LIBS_USED="$EXTRA_LIBS_USED $PDFIUM_LIBS"
-     with_pdfium=yes
-    ],[
-     with_pdfium=no
-    ]
-  )
+  PKG_CHECK_MODULES(PDFIUM, pdfium >= 4200, [
+    AC_DEFINE(HAVE_PDFIUM,1,[define if you have pdfium > 4200.])
+    if test x"$with_poppler" != x"no"; then
+      AC_MSG_WARN([PDFium found, disabling poppler])
+      with_poppler=no
+    fi
+    with_pdfium=yes
+    PACKAGES_USED="$PACKAGES_USED pdfium"
+  ], [
+    with_pdfium=no
+  ])
 fi
 
 # poppler
@@ -932,15 +934,14 @@ AC_ARG_WITH([poppler],
   AS_HELP_STRING([--without-poppler], [build without poppler (default: test)]))
 
 if test x"$with_poppler" != x"no"; then
-  PKG_CHECK_MODULES(POPPLER, [poppler-glib >= 0.16.0 cairo >= 1.2],
-    [AC_DEFINE(HAVE_POPPLER,1,[define if you have poppler-glib >= 0.16.0 and cairo >= 1.2 installed.])
-     with_poppler=yes
-     PACKAGES_USED="$PACKAGES_USED poppler-glib cairo"
-    ],
-    [AC_MSG_WARN([poppler-glib >= 0.16.0 or cairo >= 1.2 not found; disabling PDF load via poppler])
-     with_poppler=no
-    ]
-  )
+  PKG_CHECK_MODULES(POPPLER, [poppler-glib >= 0.16.0 cairo >= 1.2], [
+    AC_DEFINE(HAVE_POPPLER,1,[define if you have poppler-glib >= 0.16.0 and cairo >= 1.2 installed.])
+    with_poppler=yes
+    PACKAGES_USED="$PACKAGES_USED poppler-glib cairo"
+  ], [
+    AC_MSG_WARN([poppler-glib >= 0.16.0 or cairo >= 1.2 not found; disabling PDF load via poppler])
+    with_poppler=no
+  ])
 fi
 
 # librsvg
@@ -949,15 +950,14 @@ AC_ARG_WITH([rsvg],
 
 # 2.40.3 so we get the UNLIMITED open flag
 if test x"$with_rsvg" != x"no"; then
-  PKG_CHECK_MODULES(RSVG, [librsvg-2.0 >= 2.40.3 cairo >= 1.2],
-    [AC_DEFINE(HAVE_RSVG,1,[define if you have librsvg-2.0 >= 2.40.3 and cairo >= 1.2 installed.])
-     with_rsvg=yes
-     PACKAGES_USED="$PACKAGES_USED librsvg-2.0 cairo"
-    ],
-    [AC_MSG_WARN([librsvg-2.0 >= 2.40.3 or cairo >= 1.2 not found; disabling SVG load via rsvg])
-     with_rsvg=no
-    ]
-  )
+  PKG_CHECK_MODULES(RSVG, [librsvg-2.0 >= 2.40.3 cairo >= 1.2], [
+    AC_DEFINE(HAVE_RSVG,1,[define if you have librsvg-2.0 >= 2.40.3 and cairo >= 1.2 installed.])
+    with_rsvg=yes
+    PACKAGES_USED="$PACKAGES_USED librsvg-2.0 cairo"
+  ], [
+    AC_MSG_WARN([librsvg-2.0 >= 2.40.3 or cairo >= 1.2 not found; disabling SVG load via rsvg])
+    with_rsvg=no
+  ])
 fi
 
 # zlib
@@ -1286,8 +1286,7 @@ if test x"$LIB_FUZZING_ENGINE" = x; then
 fi
 
 # Gather all up for VIPS_CFLAGS, VIPS_INCLUDES, VIPS_LIBS
-VIPS_CFLAGS="$VIPS_CFLAGS $GTHREAD_CFLAGS $GIO_CFLAGS $REQUIRED_CFLAGS $EXPAT_CFLAGS $ZLIB_CFLAGS $PANGOFT2_CFLAGS $GSF_CFLAGS $FFTW_CFLAGS $MAGICK_CFLAGS $JPEG_CFLAGS $SPNG_CFLAGS $PNG_CFLAGS $IMAGEQUANT_CFLAGS $EXIF_CFLAGS $MATIO_CFLAGS $CFITSIO_CFLAGS $LIBWEBP_CFLAGS $LIBWEBPMUX_CFLAGS $GIFLIB_INCLUDES $RSVG_CFLAGS $PDFIUM_INCLUDES $POPPLER_CFLAGS $OPENEXR_CFLAGS $OPENSLIDE_CFLAGS $ORC_CFLAGS $TIFF_CFLAGS $LCMS_CFLAGS $HEIF_CFLAGS"
-VIPS_CFLAGS="$VIPS_DEBUG_FLAGS $VIPS_CFLAGS"
+VIPS_CFLAGS="$VIPS_CFLAGS $GTHREAD_CFLAGS $GIO_CFLAGS $REQUIRED_CFLAGS $EXPAT_CFLAGS $ZLIB_CFLAGS $PANGOFT2_CFLAGS $GSF_CFLAGS $FFTW_CFLAGS $MAGICK_CFLAGS $JPEG_CFLAGS $SPNG_CFLAGS $PNG_CFLAGS $IMAGEQUANT_CFLAGS $EXIF_CFLAGS $MATIO_CFLAGS $CFITSIO_CFLAGS $LIBWEBP_CFLAGS $LIBWEBPMUX_CFLAGS $GIFLIB_INCLUDES $RSVG_CFLAGS $PDFIUM_CFLAGS $POPPLER_CFLAGS $OPENEXR_CFLAGS $OPENSLIDE_CFLAGS $ORC_CFLAGS $TIFF_CFLAGS $LCMS_CFLAGS $HEIF_CFLAGS" VIPS_CFLAGS="$VIPS_DEBUG_FLAGS $VIPS_CFLAGS"
 VIPS_INCLUDES="$ZLIB_INCLUDES $PNG_INCLUDES $TIFF_INCLUDES $JPEG_INCLUDES $NIFTI_INCLUDES" 
 VIPS_LIBS="$ZLIB_LIBS $HEIF_LIBS $MAGICK_LIBS $SPNG_LIBS $PNG_LIBS $IMAGEQUANT_LIBS $TIFF_LIBS $JPEG_LIBS $GTHREAD_LIBS $GIO_LIBS $REQUIRED_LIBS $EXPAT_LIBS $PANGOFT2_LIBS $GSF_LIBS $FFTW_LIBS $ORC_LIBS $LCMS_LIBS $GIFLIB_LIBS $RSVG_LIBS $NIFTI_LIBS $PDFIUM_LIBS $POPPLER_LIBS $OPENEXR_LIBS $OPENSLIDE_LIBS $CFITSIO_LIBS $LIBWEBP_LIBS $LIBWEBPMUX_LIBS $MATIO_LIBS $EXIF_LIBS -lm"
 
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/pdfiumload.c b/libvips/foreign/pdfiumload.c
index 1f5bf183..b986ff0d 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/pdfiumload.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/pdfiumload.c
@@ -39,6 +39,37 @@
 
  */
 
+/* How to build against PDFium:
+ *
+ * Download the prebuilt binary from: 
+ *
+ * 	https://github.com/bblanchon/pdfium-binaries
+ *
+ * Untar to the libvips install prefix, for example:
+ *
+ * 	cd ~/vips
+ * 	tar xf ~/pdfium-linux.tgz
+ *
+ * Create a pdfium.pc like this (update the version number):
+ *
+
+VIPSHOME=/home/john/vips
+cat > $VIPSHOME/lib/pkgconfig/pdfium.pc << EOF
+     prefix=$VIPSHOME
+     exec_prefix=\${prefix}
+     libdir=\${exec_prefix}/lib
+     includedir=\${prefix}/include
+     Name: pdfium
+     Description: pdfium
+     Version: 4290
+     Requires:
+     Libs: -L\${libdir} -lpdfium
+     Cflags: -I\${includedir}
+EOF
+
+ * 
+ */
+
 /* TODO 
  *
  * - needs the reopen-after-minimise system that pdfload has, but we'll need
@@ -95,8 +126,8 @@ typedef struct _VipsForeignLoadPdf {
 	 */
 	VipsArrayDouble *background;
 
-	FPDF_DOCUMENT *doc;
-	FPDF_PAGE *page;
+	FPDF_DOCUMENT doc;
+	FPDF_PAGE page;
 	int current_page;
 
 	/* Doc has this many pages.