Bookbinding Beginnings

More Detail of the wear and tear to the map

2010-03-03T18:58:00.000Z

More detail of the wear and tear to the map

Closer Detail of the Ragged Map Edges

2010-03-03T18:57:00.000Z

this is closer detail of the map edge which is very badly worn and ragged. How to fix?

Very Worn and Ragged Map

2010-03-03T18:56:00.000Z

There are a couple of Maps in the book all of them very worn and ragged at the edges. The map has torn in two at the horizontal fold.

Book Block Pulled Apart

2010-03-03T18:54:00.000Z

This is the book block all in bits. It's in pretty good condition with some wear in the outer pages of each signature at the join at the bottom of the book. Quite a strange (to me) sewing pattern with seemingly a combination of sewing onto tapes with a loop taken around a second piece of thread?

Percy M Kerrison

2010-02-23T21:59:00.000Z

The books original owner, my Great-Great Uncle Percy

The Book Block

2010-02-23T21:58:00.000Z

Details of the remains of the spine lining

The Book Block

2010-02-23T21:57:00.001Z

Here is the separated book block complete with the obligatory damage from sellotape the remains of the tape and the note by my Great-Great Uncle.

The Spine

2010-02-23T21:55:00.001Z

This is the rather battered spine. Its complete but the bookcloth is coming away from the spine backing.

The War Illustrated Volume 1

2010-02-23T21:50:00.002Z

A new project. This is volume 1 of The War Illustrated or rather its the front cover of same. The book belonged to my Great-Great Uncle and has seen better days

Isle of Man?

2009-06-26T08:58:00.001+01:00

This is an embossed design on the front cover. The three legged symbol is from the Isle of Man but other than this I have no idea where this book came from originally

The Spine

2009-06-26T08:57:00.001+01:00

I've already done a bit of work and cut away the knackered mull and endpaper. The book block is itself in good condition and the stitching very tight. I get the feeling this didn't get read much.

Top View

2009-06-26T08:55:00.001+01:00

The front board actually survives and gives me some idea of how to make new boards

End Papers

2009-06-26T08:54:00.001+01:00

The book's marbled end-papers in this case doubling as the book's rear cover and held in place with duck tape and sellotape. It's a fine book this one with prints by gustav dore but this one has been very sorely treated.

Dante's Inferno

2009-06-26T08:51:00.001+01:00

A very unhappy copy of Dante's Inferno Published by Cassell in 1892. The spine has been recreated with red duck tape, the rear cover is missing completely and in this picture you can see that a part of the marbled end-paper is doubling for a rear cover

Page Decoupage

2009-06-12T09:12:00.000+01:00

These are the small cutouts pasted into a number of pages. I'm not sure whether to remove them or not. Original vs Charm?

Grandma's Memories

2009-06-12T09:11:00.000+01:00

A rather grimy copy of Grandma's memory. In good condition but needs a good clean, published 1888 by Ernest Nister and printed in Nuremberg

The Finished article

2009-06-11T23:30:00.000+01:00

The finished article with a little bookcloth cleaner applied. Well pleased with the result
It really needs some gold lettering on the spine just to finish it off but I don't have the original spine, or the tools talent or skill to apply the lettering.

2009-06-11T23:26:00.000+01:00

The new outer spine for the book made with red bookcloth as per the indiana university methods.

Spine Lining

2009-06-11T23:23:00.000+01:00

Applied a brown paper spine lining. Decided not to go for a hollow back as the original
didnt appear to have one. Solidified things quite nicely.

Spine Lining Removed

2009-06-11T23:21:00.001+01:00

This is the spine after removing the old spine lining. Done using some methyl cellulose and a small artist's palette knife. Not a bad result I decided not to remove the mull and resew the whole book block. The spine does tend to rack out of shape but the book block is pretty solid with very few loose pages so I just thought I'd make matters worse

Mrs Beeton's Spine

2009-05-20T19:09:00.000+01:00

The spine in close-up

Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management

2009-05-20T19:08:00.000+01:00

The same book from the spine-side

Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management

2009-05-20T18:56:00.000+01:00

Hmm bit of a tricky one this. The outer part of the spine is missing but the bookblock is sound and there are no pages falling out. I can do the repair using the Inside Spine Repair feature here.

The problem is what to do about the spine racking out of shape, remove the old lining paper and re glue, glue over the top of the original lining paper, or do nothing and hope the repaired spine supports the book better?