Billy Whiskers

In this children’s book, published by Saalfield in 1902, Billy Whiskers is constantly leading his girlfriend into trouble. After hearing stories some friends have told recently about their mischievous goats, I understand why the Billy Whiskers books were so popular. The book is 112 years old, but goats are still causing trouble in 2014. This rebinding was my special Christmas project for a friend.

Repairs performed:

Text block: Paper repair on all sections, using Japanese tissue and wheat paste.

Removed old glue and mull from spine.

Removed previous owner’s bookplate and saved it.

Pulled weak threads and re-sewed pages onto linen tapes.

Made new endpapers of Antique Endleaf.

Made new title page with author, publisher, and copyright information.

Made headbands of antiqued fabric and linen twine.

Backed spine with heavy cotton back liner.

Added tissue guards to colored illustrations.

Cover: Replaced some missing portions with dyed Moriki tissue.

Removed pencil marks.

Separated paper covers from original acidic boards and backed with Japanese paper.

Laminated cover boards with Bristol to create frames for insets.

Made new covers of slate-colored Iris bookcloth and glued insets into new covers.

Cased repaired text block into new covers. Titled the spine.