Antiquing bookcloth

It's been a while since my last post due to snow shoveling, extra hours at work, and a rebacking that has been more of a challenge than I anticipated. So I'm going into the archives for this entry. For Christmas one year, I offered a free book repair to a friend, who brought me her family Bible. I sponged Venetian Gold paint onto white buckram bookcloth and crumpled it to attain the same look as the original (unsalvageable) antiqued cover; made an inset from the cover illustration; and lifted the illustrated endpapers, covering the joint with brown Moriki tissue.

(1) Photo top: Endpapers, lifted from original cover and re-used; (2) middle, the Bible before repair (note the greenish tone of the brittle, unsalvageable cover); (3) bottom left, the antiqued buckram; (4) bottom right, the finished Bible.

Psalm 91

I mentioned in an earlier post that I enjoy repairing study Bibles whose value lies in their owner's personal history of interaction with Scripture. When the owner of this Bible learned he had a serious illness, he turned to Psalm 91 for comfort. Over time, the Bible broke open at this place.

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.' Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence...." The entire psalm offers hope that the Lord hears the cry for help and will answer: "With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation."

The top photos show how the repairs turned out. Now my work is part of this owner's history with his Bible. He continues to read this psalm and recall the faithfulness of God.

Note: The Austin Burnham photos may have been confusing. The top photo is the repaired book; the middle photo shows the mold-ravaged pages before repair. I forgot to photograph them afterward.

Reproduction endpapers

The original endpapers on this children's book (The Boys and Girls of Polly's Ring) had become too brittle to work with. I located a distributor of reproduction late-19th and early-20th-century endpapers and ordered them from England. They weren't an exact match but kept the look close enough, especially after I tea-dyed them to lead naturally to the aged paper of the text.

Samuel Wesley 1742 book continued

I followed the placement of the original cords to sew the pages after guarding the backs of the signatures with Japanese tissue tinted to match the sturdy old rag paper.