Rebinding

These are two batches of rebinds I worked on. I toned some PC4 paper lightly with acrylics and wanted to use it for quarter rebinds.

Wooden Boards Recase

I would typically not take the time to post about a recasing job, but this one was unique in the sense the original covers were wooden boards attached by a leather spine and covered with decorative paper. (This is the first time I have encountered wooden boards).

The book qualified for recasing because the sewing was broken and the text block was detached from the spine, in several small groups. I removed the loose signatures from the book, and removed the original endpapers (which were already delaminating) by spraying them with a 50/50 water/alcohol mix to loosen the remaining adhesive. Next, I pulled the text block and placed the folios between Reemay for washing and deacidification. While thumbing through the text block, I found a small ink drawing. I tested in the inks, and they were water soluble. So I set the image aside and later brushed the back with Wei T'O to deacidify it. This is the drawing.

 The text block required a full treatment because it was originally stab sewn. After washing and deacidifying, I went through and guarded all the sections with Japanese tissue. (The top image shows the text block being guarded and dried between Reemay lined boards. The bottom shows the text book after guarding and collating pages).

Next, I sewed the text block back together, adding new dove gray endpapers, cased it in, and made a label. Then I began to work with the original covers. I made a fake text block from corrugated board to support the covers, and wrapped it in polyester film (mylar) so it could be handled without further damage. Finally, I constructed a phase box to house these items together.

Recasing

Occasionally in the library, I encounter books with covers so badly damaged it is easier (and cheaper) to recase the text block than to mend the original covers. Recasing is also a treatment option for damaged books that are not especially valuable.
This is an example of a book I recased. It was originally a quarter bound leather, tight backed (fastback), with marble paper covered boards. The paper was torn and faded with dirt and age. The spine had completely delaminated and split off the front board (Top). Delamination at the spine also caused the text block to split (Bottom).

I started by removing the cover. I pressed the sections of the text block together between boards, and cleaned the spine with methyl cellulose to removed the old liner and adhesive. The sewing was cut in several places, so I had to pull the text block apart. I washed and deacidified the sections in filtered water and magnesium bicarbonate [Mg2(CO3)2]. After the pages dried, I repaired damaged areas with heat set tissue, and guarded each section using wheat starch paste and Japanese tissue. I realigned the signatures, resewed the text block, adding dove gray endpapers and lined the spine with Japanese tissue. The addition of materials from guarding caused swell in the spine, so I rounded it to reduce this swell.

I decided to mimic the original case design with a quarter binding in PC4 paper. I cut the boards to fit, attached the PC4 spine and trimmed the PC4 to be even and straight on both covers. Next, I covered the remainder of the boards with book cloth. Then I trimmed the turn-ins, infilled the boards, and attached the text block. After pressing the book with jointing boards, I attached the labels, which were pre-coated with Klucel G to prevent the ink from smearing (Summer 2009).

The above image on the left shows the finished product and the right depicts the stability of the text block after treatment. The below images are additional before and after examples of recased books. These book were bound entirely in book cloth (2008).