Bookbinding Tools - for Bookbinding

A majority of the tools used by Fine Bookbinders are the same ones used in Medieval times and through the centuries. Backing hammers, bone folders, brass finishing type and decorative tools, cobblers knives, glue brushes etc. The same goes for the equipment. There are new ones developed for Conservation thank goodness. Gaylord.com is a good outlet to find any of these tools except for gold finishing.
http://book-restoration.com

Custom Fine Cloth Bindings - Bookbinding

A fun way to preserve your novel or dissertation or any form of personal writing is to have it bound in a custom cloth binding. It is much less expensive than having it bound in leather and the final product is just as beautiful. As with the example in the video, you can use what ever art work or titleing to be inlayed in the cover as the spine is usually pretty thin. I was able to do a short lenthwise label on mine, so that it can be identified on the shelf. http://book-restoration.com

22k Gold Tooled Leather Labels - Bookbinding

Hand gold tooling is the most difficult aspect of the Fine Binding process. I use 22k gold foil rather than gold leaf at this point. It is faster and looks almost the same. The price is nice too. The albumen is already fused into the foil. For tools and equipment you will need a stove and brass type, type holder, decorative hand tools, etc. For leather I head the stove to 225 degrees, for calf, right round 100 degrees. http://www.book-restoration.com

Katrina Victim Restoration

A cloth binding came to me out of New Orleans. It was badly damaged from the flooding. I had to dismantle the cover; soak off pages that were stuck together at the front and rear of the book. Tissue repair throughout the book. Resew the text.
Rebind it in a new cover. www.book-restoration.com

Childrens Book Conservation/Restoration

Most childrens books that come to me are in terrible condition. The pages have been scribbled on. The cover torn and extremely worn. The text usually has to be resewn.
This Uncle Remus is a First Edition Cloth Binding. It required a complete dismantling. Page repair, section repair, resewing. New hinges, relining of the spine, cloth reback with matching cloth. The final product is a solid binding. The only thing I don't mess with too much is the discoloration on the cloth covers. Acrylic paints dabbed on can even out the problem. I prefer to leave the discolorations as it gives the book character and keeps its antiquarian charm.
Please visit my website at www.book-restoration.com Go to the examples book and you will enter my photo gallery. I have a cloth restoration before and after section you will enjoy.

Cloth Binding Conservation

Many times when I am Conserving a Cloth Bound Binding, I have to match the original cloth. There are two important points of consideration when doing this. The material should match exactly or very closely, and the color needs to match exactly. I almost always have to dye the cloth to match eventhough I have an extensive antiquarian cloth selection to choose from. Usually there is a original spine I can relay but in the case of this book there wasn't one. A 22k gold tooled leather label is sometimes the way to go, especially if there is a lot of gold embossing on the cover. In this books case, I found that a hand tooled ink/paper label would look better. The final product is a beautiful, solid little cloth binding ready to be sold or saved in ones collection. Please go see many of my Cloth Conservation before and after photos at my website at www.book-restoration.com

Restoration of Rare Historical Books

I just finished Restoring/Conserving a very Rare 3 Volume set from the first woman to write a historical book about America, dating back to the early 1800's. (Warren's America) The volumes were in terrible shape. The spines were completly deteriorated. I did leather restoration rebacks on all of them. I conserved the boards and endsheets. (The boards were crumbling and one was missing a corner, which I reconstructed. I recreated the spines to match the originals as much as possible. The second volume was apparently rebound for the Whig Library at some point, so it was a slightly different size. It is tricky matching up spines when any of the volumes don't completly match. You have to measure from the tail going up. They came out very well and suitable for reselling. I can only post 2 pictures on this Blog, but if you go to my website at www.book-restoration.com under Leather Restorations I have all the pictures posted.