This article is about resewing a broken text block, leather book restoration and corner repair. This 18th century copy of Boyer’s English-French Dictionary was once owned by a direct ancestor of it’s current owner. The book arrived with the text block split into 5 sections. The spine was pretty much worn away and both covers […]
This article is about a leather book repair on a small music score. Not all of the books that I work on are rare or of high monetary value. Many of the books I restore are relatively common volumes that have a sentimental connection for their owners. This is often enough reason to make them […]
This article is about a Victorian leather-bound photograph album repair. The 3rd of my ‘most satisfying jobs of 2015’ was to work on this late 19th century family photograph album. The album had been compiled by it’s elderly owner’s grandfather. It had suffered the ravages of time. Pages had come loose and the covers and […]
This article is about a Morocco binding repair. I’ve just completed this restoration of an illustrated book on natural history bound in half Morocco. This attractively bound volume arrived with the back cover detached. The spine was very rubbed and the binding was held together by old sellotape. This useful reference book had definitely seen […]
This article is about a vellum binding restoration. I’ve just completed a very satisfying restoration of a volume bound in a 17th century limp vellum binding. The book, printed in 1674, arrived with it’s contemporary binding in a poor state. Condition of the vellum binding prior to repair The lower part of the spine had […]
This article is about the leather spine reback of a two-volume set. The original spine tooling design was closely copied on the new spines. Another job that came in over the summer was a magnificent two volume quarto-sized edition of Pope’s Works. The set was bound in contemporary full panelled calf with a full gilt […]
This article is about a family Bible restoration. A local customer brought in his cherished small mid-19th century family Bible for restoration. The Bible contains a unique handwritten history of his family going back almost 150 years. Unfortunately, it was so damaged that he didn’t dare handle it. Consequently, it had languished in a cupboard […]
This article is about a Morocco binding restoration. This volume bound in full Morocco came in earlier this year. What had been a richly-bound volume in the 1870’s had become dried out and damaged. The hinges had split and the top and bottom of the spine had been rubbed away. The leather, once a deep […]
It’s been a while since I last posted any updates to this section, so it’s about time to update on some of the repair and restoration jobs that I’ve completed in recent months….
This article describes a corner repair and leather reback to an 18th century book. I’ve just completed quite a satisfying corner repair and leather reback. It’s a good example of what is possible when the corner of a volume has been badly damaged. This copy of ‘Hoyle’s Games’ dating from around 1760 came in for […]