I used to work for Hertford College Oxford so I approached the Librarian and asked her if she had anything she wanted repaired. She gave me these two volumes, out of four, to repair. Now these have already had new cases (covers) put on them before. They were pretty banged up but the stitching and everything else about the book was just fine. All I needed to do is replace the book covers. The Librarian asked that I make them as close to the original as possible.
This is why most books come apart. The end paper starts to rip and the only thing that keeps the covers on are endpaper, mull, and some book tape. You can see two of the linen book tapes behind the mull. Mull is a starchy material used to enforce the spine.
You can see the stitching in the middle of this section. Perfectly fine.
Pretty banged up.
After removing the cover it is time to clean up the spine of the old paper and adhesive.
Use paste, I'm using wheat paste, I wouldn't attempt to use wallpaper paste. Many of that brand is too liquidy. It needs to be thick.
Keep it covered for 20 minutes. I did this three times to get the majority of the gunk off of the spine.
What I pulled off.
It took me over six hours to remove this Library Label from inside the front cover. The second book label only took me two hours.
Here I'm adding a material called Calico. It will be used to enforce the edge of the end papers. That same area where the previous endpapers ripped. This will add many years onto the books life.
Put down a layer of PVA glue.
Add your material
Put a piece of scratch paper over the top and pat it down, don't rub or slide the material.
Using a lifting blade remove the material from the plastic. Now one side has a thin, even coat of PVA glue on it. Next add it to your end papers. I didn't get pictures as you have a limited time to add it to the endpaper. right on the fold place 2mm on one side of the fold and the rest on the other side.
In the picture below you can see that the wider side faces the inside of the book cover. The small side with only 2mm is on the inside of the book and can be seen. That is why you want less on one side.
I then tipped the endpapers onto the book. Tipping is glueing the endpaper to the book instead of sewing them on.
Then you case the book in by pasting the endpaper to the cover.
Then I used nipping boards in the nipping press to make the nice crease in the hinge.
I then pasted the label in the new cover.
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