Treating a $5 book with respect

A friend asked me to repair THE RED KNIGHT OF GERMANY for a friend of his. In my written repair estimate, I noted that the repair would cost more than the value of the book. (Many identical copies are online for $5 and up.) My friend assured me that his friend didn't care about that. Although the book did not have any personal inscription or notes, apparently it meant a lot to its owner. So, I did a detailed repair and rebacking. I also created a collage of photos of the process, so the owner could see that the book had received respectful treatment.

The finished repair.

Wheat paste softens the old glue so it's easier to scrape off.

After I repaired the tattered cover edges with black Moriki, the spine strip is ready to apply.

I had repair tissue that matched the browned paper.

First, the covers and spine had to be carefully removed.

For a smoother spine, I put on a paper spine liner, let it dry, and sanded it. Then I applied another spine liner of the same paper.

Before the book came to me, someone had forced white glue down into the hollow of the spine to  tighten it. These  "fixes" make the repair a lot harder. The poor spine was battered and fragile.

A Book of Love and Support

Last September, our neighbor gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. During her labor, she suffered a stroke. In the months that followed, her family kept everyone updated on CaringBridge. She is home now, working hard to get better. Recently, her amazing friends and work colleagues threw a fundraiser that drew more than 400 people. An auction raised money for special equipment and the physical therapists who give her daily care at home. The baby is thriving! Mommy and baby were the guests of honor at the fundraiser. My husband donated one of his handcrafted mirrors to the auction, and I made (what else) a book, from the posts and messages of support and love. I copied and printed everything from September to May, including the comments, and bound them using fabric with an elephant pattern--symbolizing the "herd" of friends who have given so much love and support these past months. I gave one copy of the book to our neighbor and her husband. The second copy found its perfect home with the husband's parents, who had basically moved in with them to care for baby and daughter-in-law.

I backed the fabric with iron-on tissue to make bookcloth. The photos all come from the blog, and are displayed at the end of the text block in mylar page protectors. (Note: the book is 8-1/2"x11". That top page showing is a "waste sheet" to protect the text block.)

This precious photo is the final image.

I told the husband, "You all wrote a book!" The posts were beautifully-written, clear about the medical challenges, but filled with hope. And the comments kept flooding in. Now everything is together in a physical book--I called it Book 1. One day our neighbor's daughter will read about her mom's journey and see all the people who were cheering and praying for her and her family.

The clamshell boxes will preserve and protect the books as family keepsakes.

Catch-22/M*A*S*H

I copied the image and mounted it on a cutout board. It's held to the pocket with a magnet. I like interactive books. The title, "M*A*S*H" is stitched onto the spine.

A traditional leather spine for Catch-22 references the leather aviator helmets worn in WWII.

Recently I entered a binding into the Pyramid Atlantic MASH UP show because the theme fit perfectly with a binding I’d had in mind for a while. As usual, I needed a deadline. A friend retiring from the Army provided the uniform fabric. The dos-a-dos binding combines Richard Hooker’s M*A*S*H with Joseph Heller’s CATCH-22—a Catch-22/MashUp.

White House Cookbook

A coworker asked me to repair this early-1900s White House Cookbook. He loved the worn and stained covers and wanted the book to remain that way, just put together so he could page through it. I made endpaper sections with the flyleaves, giving them linen hinges and sekishu blank pages to protect the front illustration from the acidic, brittle facing page. I applied acid-free tissue to protect the illustrations within the book. A grayish buckram remnant turned out to be the right match for the cover material—at least, on the back. The front cover had browned due to cooking grease and foodstains, so I toned the front joint with some acrylic paint. I took photos and made a collage of the process to accompany the book, along with a detailed treatment sheet. A fair amount of work goes into even a modest repair that doesn’t clash with the book. My coworker was happy with the book and the collage. He even appreciated the toned front joint.

A Wedding Gift

We rang in the New Year with a wedding! The lively reception took place before the wedding itself, and vows were exchanged at midnight. This was a unique and joyful way to begin 2019. I made a keepsake box using a modern print of an antique map (I have several more of the same print), and finished the box a few hours before we had to leave for the ceremony.