# How to repair a book



## phatch

Dartmouth library has a useful site on hardback book repair. It's not always a simple and trivial thing but there are a couple of older cook books of mine I'll want to spruce up for longer life and use.

A Simple Book Repair Manual

With the rise of heirloom quality scrapbooking as a hobby, lots of these materials have become readily available.

Going beyond that to a full do-it-yourself book rebind, instructables.com has a number of instruction sets, but I like this one:

How to bind a book

If you want to use tape for your repairs, Demco.com - Library, Teacher and School Supplies, Book Carts, Library Security, Office Furniture, Audiovisual and Reading Program Supplies has a wide array of library tapes and such. Even de-acidifying sprays though I don't know if they're safe for DIY types. And those sprays are expensive.

Paperbacks are trickier in most ways. They aren't as repairable. I'm told the glue for the perfect binding is heat activated and you can iron the spine to reactivate and reset the glue. What heat setting for the iron, I don't know.

I've seen instructions for DIY paperback binding involving a high quality PVA glue as that adhesive retains flexibility when dry. Stripping down a paperback would probably destroy the cover and the existing adhesive would be difficult to remove.

You can stitch them, sort of like a monster signature for a hardback book, then cover over the stitching to protect it and improve it's looks.

Make Blank Books, Sketch Books or Repair Paperback Books with a Simple Japanese Bookbinding Technique -- a Tutorial

You might find it easier to drill the holes rather than punching them as in the instructions. Using someone's drill press would be best to keep the holes nice and vertical and SMALL.

If you have any other book repair knowledge, please share it.

Phil


----------



## chalkdust

this is fantastic!


----------



## kokopuffs

Contact Phil Dusel in the Berkeley, California area. He's a god as to the repair of antique books. I've seen some of his work applied to cookbooks from the 12'th century. Yes, that's the 1100's A.D. that I'm talking about. Books on my shelf date and were published to 1693 and are also authored by the Emperor Napoleon II(?) during the 1850's or so, during the Montmartre debacle. And so I know a little bit about old books.

Last I heard (many years ago) was that Phil Dusel was living or working in the Davis, California area.


----------



## bixaorellana

Here is my method, which I've used to put back together an oversized, falling apart paperbacked cookbook, along with less dramatically damaged books:

REPAIRING BOOKS

Suggested equipment:
•Silicone, preferably in the small cost-ineffective tubes, as they are easier to work with and control
•Regular white glue, such as Elmer’s or wood glue
•Scissors
•Bias tape, or book repair fabric, if available
•Scotch tape, invisible
•Rubber bands
•Newspaper or other material to protect your work surface
•Popsicle sticks, Q-tips, toothpicks, anything that might help in smearing the silicone and removing excess.

Set up your work surface and examine the book to be repaired. 
Determine the simplest, most long-lasting solution to the problem. For instance, if a small section of a sewn volume is coming away from the rest of the text, some tape might be enough. However, if you think the tape may tear at the pages later, you can either dab some silicone into the space between the binding and the pages, and/or weld the section coming away onto the next intact page, using opened bias tape coated with white glue. If using the silicone, keep the book closed with rubber bands, and set it on its spine, supported on either side.

For extensive damage, such as when all or most of the pages are coming away from the binding, you’ll want to use silicone.

First, make sure groups of loose pages are in order. Set each group in ascending order from left to right above your work space. This is not a hard and fast rule. Depending on the size of the loose chunks, you may decide to start from the back, or even the middle.

Open the book to the first missing section, apply silicone to the binding, and insert the proper group of pages. Make sure the pages have been squared up as tightly as possible before inserting. Close the cover as you gently but firmly push the pages into the binding. Now, lightly bang the book top & bottom on the work surface to square the pages into it. Then bang the spine part firmly on the work surface in order that the pages will set down into the spine. Hold the spine section of the book tightly for a minute or two in order to let the silicone set somewhat before you proceed to the next section.

Continue inserting the loose sections as above. If pages have come entirely loose, put them in their proper order and treat them as part of a section. Be sure you repeat the banging and the holding of the spine after each insertion.

Depending on the size of the book, the material and weight of the cover, etc., it may be helpful, after the insertion of the first section, to work with the book setting on its spine.

When all sections are siliconed into place, clean any excess silicone off the book. Carefully carry it to a bookcase and lay it on its spine between other books. Without pushing or pulling on the repaired book, force the books on either side as tightly against it as possible. You’ll probably have to pull some books out and replace them with others in order to achieve the desired tightness. When the repaired book is sufficiently sustained, pile books of an appropriate thickness on top of the exposed edge of the pages. Leave in place as long as possible, up to twenty-four hours.

When you pull the book back out, you’ll want to see what other repairs or cosmetic actions need to be taken. Sometimes pages protrude too far out, in which case they can be carefully cut. Spot repairs of glue or silicone may be needed. In the case of abused hardbacks, the end papers may need gluing back onto the covers.


----------



## adam smith

This is soooo cooool!


----------



## homemadecook

Repair books? Well it very easy if your book just separeted its page and you want to organize it again ...just be rebook bind .


----------



## siduri

And I thought i was pretty smart using duct tape and a piece of cardboard!


----------

