Posted 8 years ago
SpiritBear
(813 items)
There are a few ways one can restore a book.
The main way is for light use-- for display, really, in which it is made beautiful and much work is put in to look brand new again.
I always make them readable, but in some cases that's all I do (also increasing its physical appearance a little to not be an embarrassment to look at).
And such was the case for this one. This German-English Dictionary (from 1904 Leipzig) was meant to be a gift for my online brother, who is a German student, so I made it usable, but it still shows its battle-scars.
Quite obviously, it was well-worn. The binding is still good, though, as is expected of German books-- which were usually made well.
Sadly, the spine is extremely brittle, and much is missing. What was left was in the book itself. Separating it from its original backing, and using acid-free rubber cement and acid-free cloth-glue, I attached it to a black cloth backing on new stock paper and attached it to the book, rubber-banding it tightly to it.
Beyond that, the main work was in finding an acid-free marker in a similar shade of brown.
You can judge for yourself. The cover is the same cover and same side.
Well done Spirit. I have done a bit of book restoration for schools (recent stuff, hammered by the kids) and it is often harder than it seems. You have achieved a great result here.
Great and clever work, I always love to see old pieces return to life :-)
Good job on bringing that book back:)
Great restore !
Racer4four, I may have to do it for one of my textbooks, albeit I'm gonna have to ask if I can turn the paper-back into hard-cover.
I began doing this as a school project to learn a new skill.
Nicefice, thank you.
Kyratango, it is always a pleasure.
Trey, thank you. (:
Manikin, I tried. You can still clearly see the major scratch in either pic, but it also proves it's the same cover and is now more hidden.
Be sure to look out for the next book I'll show.