A wee roundup of some book repairs completed over the last few months. Fixing up older books is never boring. Every single one, even if it’s a common repair, has it’s own history and idiosyncrasies to take into account.
This book was losing it’s spine, had lost it’s front board, and the corners were in pretty rough shape. Fortunately, with the exception of a few loose plates, the interior was in good condition. Customer was ‘over the moon… very sentimental, didn’t expect them to look so good again’.
Breakage at the spine and losing one or both boards is a common problem. This prayer book had suffered the same fate. The repair was a bit tricker, as it was a full leather binding with stamped covers and tight back.
Whilst sorting out the spine break and detached board, infills were also inserted under the original leather to ensure full coverage and protection once again.
I’m usually pretty firmly in the repair don’t replace camp, but sometimes that’s not possible. This thesis came in for a bit of a glow up, replacing the initial binding with full leather and gold titling.
And while we were at it, we made it a twin. A cloth covered reading copy, for family enjoyment, while the original copy can be kept in the archives.
Sometimes half the work in a repair is undoing previous repairs. This lovely little book had adhesive tape on the joint that needed removing… and at some point int it’s life it had been glued back into it’s cover upside down, leaving the back flyleaf now at the front.
