This was a massive and rewarding repair job, both in terms of the amount of damage, and the heft of the book. Display of Heraldry by John Guillim, Pursuivant at Arms, was printed in 1724 and came to me in pretty rough shape.

The front cover had detached entirely from the book, the leather was brittle and flaking away.

The book had been repaired at least once at some point in the past. That repair included some questionable decisions such as holding the shoulder together using hot glue. That was painstakingly removed and conservation repairs made to the pages.

The spine leather was removed in order for repairs to be made, conserved, and then put back in place on top of the new leather. The rebacking looks better, but more importantly it protects the pages and returns the book back to full functionality.

There was a wide range of paper repairs needed throughout the book, from small to large tears to missing chunks.

The most challenging repair by far being the last couple of pages – they must have fallen out previously and had been glued back in. Unfortunately where they were glued obscured some of the text. Some very careful glue removal, yet more repairs made using kozo and paste, and the page again opens fully and legibly.