Tissue Repair on Leather

This particular book's joint was broken and the spine was loose. It also had damage to both end caps. I repaired these areas with Japanese tissue. Unfortunately, I was working on a group of seven tissue repairs and did not take "before" pictures. Because the leather was also deteriorating, I coated the entire book with Klucel G. This picture shows the book before toning.

I was very lucky because the color of this leather was easy to match. For this reason, I decided to tone the areas of deteriorated leather between the gold stamping. After doing this, I applied SC 6000 wax to the areas treated with tissue, to add shine and create the appearance of leather. This is the end result.

German Springback

I have made one German style Springback before, and decided to make another, smaller one. Following these instructions, I made this.

 Note: Because my Springback was bound in leather, not only did I have to pare the edges, but I also had to pare the joint so the material would fit into the groove. I  was able to do this by first drawing a line where the grooves would be. Then, placing a brush handle under the line and running my paring knife along it. This removed a small amount of the leather, and gave me a guide to work from. I pared the rest thin using a scalpel.

Mylar Envelope

Besides the codex, we also encounter pamphlets, limp paper bindings, newspapers, etc. Sometimes these materials have some damage, but do not warrant intensive repair. In those cases, we can often provide support by encapsulation in a Mylar envelope. This envelope enables you to view the materials, remove them for handling, and keeps them protected and flat (with a 20 or 40 point board for support).
This particular book was stapled at the spine. The staples had rusted away, but the pages were still collated and in tact. The book had also been stored folded.

I cut a piece of board to the exact size of the book, and constructed the Mylar envelope. I began by folding a piece of Mylar in half and sharpening the fold with a bone folder. I put this fold into the mounting press. Then I used the crisp edge to cut the next side. I put the book and board between the Mylar sheets to measure the final side (the thickness of the materials must be accounted for). After removing the object, I cut and pressed the third side. The forth side was also trimmed, but left open so the object can be removed. This is the end result.

Mold Removal

This book came through the lab on our end processing cart. There was mold on the front cover and on the first 30 or so pages. This is a picture from one of the worst pages.

To remove the mold, I used a Nilfisk vacuum. These vacuums are great for mold because their chamber is completely contained, so there is no risk of it escaping. They also enable you to control suction strength and speed, for more delicate materials. All I had to do was run the brush attachment over the cover and each page, and it removed the mold spores. This is the same page after cleaning.

Note: Because mold spores can be inhaled and cause illness, it is advised for this method of treatment that a facial mask is worn and if possible, the materials are cleaned under a fume hood.

Recent Rebacks

These are two cloth rebacks I completed simultaneously. Thankfully for both books the sewing was in tact. This first book's covers were detached, the end papers were delaminating, the spine round was askew, and the first three pages were loose.

I started by tipping in the loose pages with wheat starch paste. Then I pasted out and lined the spine, with Japanese tissue and linen. When both linings were dry, I gently hammered the spine to fix the round. Then I proceeded with a reback repair as usual. This is the end result.

This is the second book.

The Thread That Binds - Design Binding

For The Bone Folder's 2010 Bind-o-rama, the text block chosen was The Thread That Binds. I worked on this design in my book binding class. I decided to sew the text block on raised cords. The signatures were very thick, so I decorated the edge with speckled blue acrylic. The leather I had to work with was a thick, gray, morocco grain. For a color scheme, I decided to go with gray and blue. I sewed the text block with blue thread (so it would show on the exposed cords), and sewed blue and gray end bands. For the boards, I glued pieces of mat board together. This provided me with the thickness I needed to match the leather, and was easily shaped by sanding. (I had to angle the boards to be thinner at the spine, so that book could open easily). I attached these boards to the text block by fraying and pasting out the cord on them.
I pared the leather and cut away the middle with a circle cutter. I also attached this with paste, leaving extra material out at the turn in to construct the head/tail cap. Then I infilled the covers, glued down the paste papers and trimmed the turn ins. For the joint, I pared two strips of the same leather thin and pasted them down, overlapping slighting on the text block and on to the board. When those dried, I rubbed them down flush with a bone folder at the spine, then infilled the boards and cut sheets of gray Roma for the end papers. The board sheet was glued down directly on the covers. The fly sheet however, was glued onto the text block using just a thin bead of PVA along the spine and fore-edge. Finally, I painted the exposed area of the spine to match the paste paper.

Leather Reback - Quarter Bound

This is another book from the Syracuse University Ranke Collection that was a good candidate for rebacking. The sewing was completely intact (on raised cords), but the leather at the spine and joint was delaminated.

I was able to remove most the leather from the spine dry, and applied a thin layer of methyl cellulose to remove the rest. Then, I pasted out the spine, and lined it with Japanese tissue. While that dried, I cut strips of linen to be glued down between the cords. Then, I resewed the end bands.

Using a scalpel, I cut along where the leather meets the paper on the boards. I removed the old leather, and lifted the paper slightly. I also lifted the endpapers at the corners and at the spine, for the turn ins. (I also put some brown Morike underneath the lifted paper for support. The paper was brittle and kept breaking. Adding the Morike enabled me to handle it without causing more damage). I measured and cut the new leather and prepared it by paring, dampening with a sponge, pasting it out, and allowing it to sit for the paste to soak in. Then I reattached the boards by gluing out the linen strips and bringing them on to the board. I trimmed the linen so it only overlapped by about half an inch. Then I cut two strips of 10 point board, the exact distance from the spine edge of the board to about 1mm before the paper. This makes the transition between the new and old materials smoother. After gluing down the 10 point strips, I attached the new leather to the corners, and put some silicon release paper between the board and text block. Then I attached the new spine leather, running a bone folder along the cords to accentuate them, and leaving enough material at the turn in to construct the head/tail caps. I wrapped a piece of cord around the joint, and put the book in a press to dry.

Leather Reback

On a recent field trip to the book conservation lab at Cornell University, I saw a few leather bound books that were rebacked with new leather (calf). This was interesting for me because most of the leather rebacks were do at Syracuse are repaired with PC4 paper. I decided to go through the stacks and find a good candidate for this treatment. This was the book I found.

My first step was to dye some of the calf leather we had to match. I used J.Hewitt aniline dyes, which start as a powder. You mix the powder with wheat starch paste (powder) and a little water to make a paste, then dilute as needed with boiling water. Dampen the leather with a sponge, then apply the dye. This picture shows the leather before (left) and after (right) dying.

While the leather was drying, I removed the old spine piece (saving the label), and cleaned the spine with methyl cellulose. I had to watch it carefully to the original end bands did not come off with the gunk. I pasted out the spine and lined it with Japanese tissue, which came up on to the end bands for additional support. Then I cut strips of linen, to fit between the cords, and glued them down with PVA. While the spine dried, I lifted the leather and end papers at the spine and corners of the boards. I reattached the boards by gluing the linen spine lining down under the lifted leather.

I pared and pasted out the new leather (one thick coat, let sit for 10 min folded over itself, add another coat) and molded it over the corners and spine. I also made sure to leave enough leather at the head and tail (after turn ins) to construct head and tail caps. I left this to dry over night. 

The next day, I glued down the lifted materials with PVA. I glued out a strip of Mylar, and slid it under the lifted leather, tapped down on it gently, and slid the strip out. This ensures just enough glue gets underneath, and has less risk of the leather darkening. I also pasted out strips of Japanese tissue for the inner hinge. 

While this dried, I worked on the spine label. I found a Morike similar in color to the label, and glued two pieces together. Then I glued the original label to the Morike and toned it to a better match with acrylics. I measured the spine width, and the height between cords, and cut the Morike to size. Then glued it in place with PVA. These are pictures of the end result.

I am going to try the technique on other books in the lab. The biggest problem I faced was building up my corners, which is something I need to work on. Other than that, my color is a little light, so the next time I will add a few additional coats of dye and dab them on with a sponge, to give the leather an aged look. Aside form dying the leather, this process didn't take much longer than a PC4 reback, and I like the end result better. Obviously the materials for this type of repair are more expensive, but I think it is worth it for the right books.

Tape Removal - Music Book

This book's sewing had broken in several places and the signatures were being held together with pressure sensitive tape. The case was detached, but in good shape.

I began by removing all the tape with a tacking iron and spatula. In several areas, the plastic carrier from the tape had dried and fallen off, leaving behind only the adhesive residue. I was able to remove most of this using ethyl alcohol and a cotton swab. When I had all the signatures loose, I washed the book between Reemay. First, in more alcohol to help reduce the tape staining and open the fibers. Then in water twice and Magnesium Bicarbonate [Mg2(CO3)2]. These pictures show the water washes one (top) and two (bottom). As you can see, a lot was removed.

When the sheets were dry, I guarded the loose leaves back together and repaired damaged pages with Japanese tissue and heat set tissue. Then I resewed the text block (two on) and lined the spine with Japanese tissue and linen. I repaired the case by lining Japanese tissue behind the original spine and adding a blotting paper stiffener. I also put PVA in the bumped corners and more Japanese tissue on the corners and endcaps, where the cloth was damaged. I rehung the boards using the linen spine lining, then covered the hinge with a strip of Japanese tissue. These are pictures of the end result.

Padded Boards

This was actually the first book I'd encountered in the lab with padded boards. The cover material felt like paper lined vinyl. The material was cracked in a few places and was coming off the padding. The spine had almost entirely deteriorated. Luckily, the sewing, original mull lining, and joints were in tact.

I removed the covering material gently with a spatula. Next, I lifted the endpapers at the turn ins. This was relatively easy because I went under the original cover material turn ins. Then I took off the few remaining bits on the spine. I pasted out the spine and lined it with Japanese tissue, then linen (PVA). The padding was only attached by four tiny dabs of glue, so I was able to fold it back on itself and bring all the new materials on to the boards. I also added a new spine piece of linen lined Morike and a stiffener, to make the spine more durable.
To recover the book, I used a sheet of Morike. I glued it down only at the spine and the turn ins, to prevent damage to the padding. Finally, I glued the original covers on the Morike (PVA). I did not bother to tone the Morike because I was afraid it would do more harm than good.

Leather Reback with Previous Repair

I picked this book off the cart because it had a lot of previous repairs. The sewing had broken and the text block was in two pieces. The sections closest to the break were being held in place with pressure sensitive tape. Being a tight backed book, the spine had also broken. The book was being held together by what looked like maroon duct tape. This tape was also on a few pages in the first section. There was also approximately ten pages of images, which had be cut down and taped together, in a random order, with pressure sensitive tape behind the title page.

I began be removing the tape from the spine. The adhesive was delaminating, so it peeled off easily, but did leave some residue on the leather. Next I removed the pressure sensitive tape from the pages of the text block with a tacking iron. I repositioned the now loose folios, cleaned the spine, and lined it with Japanese tissue and linen. Then I repaired the sewing at the break.
I worked on the images while my spine liners were drying. I removed the tape from all the images and lined the sheets with heat set tissue. The images were on single sheets, which I collated and guarded together. Then I tipped them on to the front of the text block with a thin strip of Japanese tissue.
Then I lifted the leather on the cover and attached the text block via the linen. I constructed a new spine piece from linen lined Morike and added a 10 pt board stiffener. I attached this under the leather, the glued the leather back down. Finally, I put some PVA and Japanese tissue on the corners to reshape them, and covered the linen hinge with a strip of Japanese tissue (paste).

This book was an experiment in toning techniques for leather. I toned the new spine piece prior to attaching, and I tried to stipple a variety of hues to better match the leather. My colors were a little light for this book, but overall I was pleased with how it looked. I plan on trying this technique again on other books.

Recent Projects

These are two books I have treated recently in the lab. Unfortunately, I got ahead of myself with these books and did not take before images.
This book was a half leather reback. The text block was a group of pamphlets sewn together and one section was exceptionally brittle. Initially, I tried to tip in the loose pages of this section with paste, but it was unsuccessful. It had to be removed from the group, washed and deacidified,  then guarded and resewn into the text block.

After the text block was repaired, I repaired the case and reattached it as seen in my previous entries. This is the completed book.

This book originally had fake raised bands, so I decided to mimic that when I rebacked it. Before cleaning and lining the spine, I made a template of the band positions. To make the fake raised bands, I glued two pieces of leather together and cut them into strips of the appropriate size. Then, using the template, I positioned the strips on the new spine stiffener. This was good practice, but because the leather was rotting 19th century leather, nothing was gained by saving the spine pieces. This process should be reserved for either better quality leather or a more valuable book. This was the end result.

Cook Book

A good friend of mine inherited this cook book from her aunt, in this condition. It is a little dated with some of the recipes, but she claims it also contains priceless ones. Looking for a new project to tackle, I offered to repair it for her. The covers were totally detached, the endpapers were falling off the boards, and the first section and the last two pages were in pieces. (The middle image shows the first section's pages and the bottom is the last page of the index. This is also the page missing the most information).

I began by flattening and repairing the damaged pages. I lined them with heat set tissue, and added additional tissue to the fraying edges. The first pages of the first sections were missing, so when the pages I had were repaired, I guarded them to pages of Dove Grey to complete the section. I also made new endpapers from Dove Grey. Next, I cleaned the spine, repositioned the sections, tipped on the last two pages with paste, and lined the spine with Japanese Tissue. Then I put the first section and end papers in place and put the book in the press. Then I lined the spine again with linen. Once that lining was dry, I sewed on the endpapers, the first section, and repaired the sewing for the sections in the middle which needed it. Then I slightly rounded the spine and lined it with a heavy weight paper to help hold the shape.
Then I made a new spine piece from linen lined Morike, complete with 10 pt board stiffener. I lifted the cloth on the covers, positioned them on the book and carefully moved it to the press. Next I attached the new spine piece to the covers, glued down the turn ins, and then cased in the text block via the linen and new endpapers.
Finally, I did some Japanese tissue repairs on the cover and toned the new spine piece to match with acrylics. (The middle image shows pages from the first section and the bottom is the last page of the index).