How to repair an old book?

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Free Christian

Puritan Board Sophomore
Hello all you readers and collectors of old books. Recently I got an old book which is from the 1890's. But before even reading it I dropped it and broke the, im guessing, spine. Bits an pieces of what once held it together are now falling out from the back section of it. It was ok till then but now it looks like the pages will soon fall out and the book itself fall to bits.
Is there some way in which others have repaired books like this and kept them intact?
 
A bookbinder would be able to fix it but might be expensive. If the book has been reprinted it might be cheaper to buy the reprint.
 
It's too bad you don't live in the States, although I'm sure there are fine bookbinders in Oz. Bessenberg's Book Binders in Ann Arbor, MI was where I had a vintage baseball statistics book repaired for my husband several years ago (it was about 100 years old) and they did a fine job. Perfect, in fact. They also did our son's Ph.D. dissertation - but they do all the dissertations for the University of Michigan. The baseball book took 5 months to piece together and cost about $175, but it was well worth it. A book binder and paper conservator, working together if they're not one and the same person, will give the best results. I'm sure there would be such people working near you.
 
One learns such interesting things on the PB! I don't think I'd ever realized that there was such a thing as a paper conservator.
 
Silicone won't hold. What you need is a cloth tape, sort of like a ribbon and as wide as the spine of the book. Glue the fabric to the spine while the pages of the book are pressed together tight. Leave it to dry and then reattach the spine. That's a poor man's way of fixing it, but it might work for at least a while.

Unless the book is exceptionally rare, it might be cheaper and easier to buy a "new" copy. If quite rare, then it would be worth the expense of having it professionally rebound. Try abebooks.com or addall.com. Or you could probably locate an electronic copy at archive.org. If you order a print on demand copy, try to find a university based service for more reputable results.

Another factor to consider is the quality of the paper. A lot of paper from that 1890 era is made from wood pulp and has a high acid content, making the paper rather brittle and often incapable of repair or rebinding.
 
Thanks for the ideas. The cloth tape idea is a good one! There used to be a book printers/makers in my town but they closed down a while ago unfortunately.
Ill give the cloth tape one a go.
 
I'd recommend a book binder's PVA glue. Sometimes it is found in hobby shops. Googling might yield sources.

It's far better than silicone, sticks well, flexible, and will hold that tape binding in place Wayne mentions.

Before my large format Kindle, I used to print and bind pdf printouts of online books I wanted to read. I'd use the PVA glue and sheetrock (drywall) tape to bind up to 300 + pages together. I've got three volumes of Owen in "paperback" that have been used hard and are still holding up.
 
One learns such interesting things on the PB! I don't think I'd ever realized that there was such a thing as a paper conservator.

Yes. I knew a lady who was a paper conservator for the National Archives in D.C. She's the wife of a minister in VA. Bessenberg's did some conserving of the pages of my husband's 1900-vintage baseball book as well.
 
One learns such interesting things on the PB! I don't think I'd ever realized that there was such a thing as a paper conservator.

Yes. I knew a lady who was a paper conservator for the National Archives in D.C. She's the wife of a minister in VA. Bessenberg's did some conserving of the pages of my husband's 1900-vintage baseball book as well.

How intriguing! That seems like the sort of work Heidi would enjoy.
 
One learns such interesting things on the PB! I don't think I'd ever realized that there was such a thing as a paper conservator.

Yes. I knew a lady who was a paper conservator for the National Archives in D.C. She's the wife of a minister in VA. Bessenberg's did some conserving of the pages of my husband's 1900-vintage baseball book as well.


How intriguing! That seems like the sort of work Heidi would enjoy.

I believe that Heidi would be most interested in this - and she would have been charmed by the lady I knew in VA... :D They would have much in common!
 
Before my large format Kindle, I used to print and bind pdf printouts of online books I wanted to read. I'd use the PVA glue and sheetrock (drywall) tape to bind up to 300 + pages together. I've got three volumes of Owen in "paperback" that have been used hard and are still holding up.
Thank you Victor. Now that sounds Like the way to! Been done, tried and used successfully. Ill check out our craft shop here and failing that get my sister to order me some online. Appreciate the help everyone. :up:
 
Hi Stephen. We live about a 2 hr drive from Melbourne. Only go there maybe twice a year. Try to avoid it but we have relatives there so we have to.
The book probably is not worth a lot monetary wise, was one I found in a small country bookshop but I had not read it and dropped it. Im going to go with Victors idea. Sounds well proven, plus it saves me driving to Melbourne. I am not a lover of big cities, even though its where I was born. I often joke to people I know. Question - "what's the best view of Melbourne?" Answer - "In your rear view mirror".
 
I often joke to people I know. Question - "what's the best view of Melbourne?" Answer - "In your rear view mirror".

Hi Brett, coming from Sydney I appreciate that joke. you can check out some rebinding on webpages & youtube. R. victor has a good idea with the glue as Ive used it myself to do some backyard jobs on old Bibles & psalters, Id recommend that you use
cloth to glue the spine together as this would probably last longer than tape & be more flexible, then glue the binding or covers back on, put it on a flat surface with a couple of phone books or something on top of it for a few days till the glue drys & binds.

just found this link brother http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0LrUR9el-A
 
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Change the word Melbourne to "an Australian"
I can fully understand that Stephen, the best view of an Aussie being in the rear view, given the armed forces that New Zealand has. That is so because, us Aussies if there ever was a war in this region, "we got your back". ;)
 
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