Treatments - Leather Book Repair - Booksmith Conservation

Leather Bindings

Late 19^th Century Bible: The original spine was too degraded to save. New leather was toned to match a mid-tone of the original leather. The textblock was consolidated, new leather spine added and board edges recovered with leather.

A book with a cross on it next to a color scale.

20^th Century Binding: The original leather spine was broken and half was missing. A new leather spine was made to match the binding but the original was not retained as the portion left contained no identifying information.

A book with the cover open and the title of " miss-minstrels-money ".

A book with the title men-minutes-money.

Cloth Bindings

20^th Century Swiss Family Robinson’: The original spine was torn. A new spine was made from heavyweight Japanese tissue toned to match the original spine. The original spine was adhered on top.

A book with an old fashioned cover on it

A book cover with trees and mountains on it.

20^th Century Amy Vanderbilt’s Complete Cookbook: The original binding was broken, dirty, and the spine was missing. A new binding was constructed to mimic the original binding. The original titling label was saved and inset on the front cover.

A book with the cover open and the words " philosophy of thought."

A book with the cover open and a red ribbon.

Paper Based Treatments

18^th Century Manuscript: This handwritten manuscript had been severely damaged by mice. The cover was deteriorated beyond repair, but retained separately for the owner. Losses were filled with linen paper toned with acrylics to match some of the mid-tones of the older paper and the manuscript was re-sewn into a new cover of handmade paper.

A white book with a name tag on top of it.

19th Century Personal Letter: This letter was written in iron-gall ink on handmade paper. It had been stored folded with most of the tears and losses occurring along the folds. It was washed, then tears were mended and losses filled with Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste.

A very old letter with some writing on it.

Early 20^th Century Map: The map was torn along the heavily inked lines. The map was humidified, flattened and mended with Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste.

A piece of paper with red and black writing on it.

A map of the area that is being examined.

20^th Century Parasol: This paper parasol had minor tears and losses. The tears were mended and losses filled with Japanese tissue toned with acrylics and wheat starch paste.