Here's a book. It needs help. And I need to use it almost every day. So, gentle readers, I ask you: what do you use to repair books? (This is not the only book in this house that needs some TLC.)
I looked up "bookbinding tape" at Amazon, but a lot of the stuff they have is clear protective tape, which I could see being very useful for reinforcing spines, but not for the complete repair I need to do. I'm thinking I might need linen tape for reattaching the cover to the interior, and possibly for rebuilding the spine as well.
If you're going to be clever and say "duct tape it!", don't. I want a good useable fix that won't damage the book or start peeling in an ugly fashion or get too dirty. And as you can see, someone's already tried duct tape (not me; the book came to me with the spine duct taped together) and it fell off.
Here is a tutorial with pictures. I've never tried it myself. You might also consider doing away with the binding and having it spiral bound or 3-hole punched at a copy shop. Also, that book sells for about $7 used on Amazon so if the repair went badly...
ReplyDeletecharlotte got all my good ideas :) you could also paste clear plastic along the spine with rubber cement or something :) i vote amazon, unless you've got lots of margin notes and things... (and the captcha word is uniontiz for my comment. ha! you want to uniontiz your book!)
ReplyDeleteCharlotte, the link isn't quite right -- it just goes to an article at Faith and Family about a sermon. Could you post it again for me?
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I really don't want to have it spiral bound -- I want the book to survive as a book. (Anyway, the stuff I have that's spiral-bound doesn't seem to hold up very well.) I think I'd rather buy a new one if I can't repair the one I have.
Correct link here.
ReplyDeleteAh, thanks. That looks like it'll be very useful. Now I just need a few handy supplies, heh heh.
ReplyDeleteHey, that Bible looks familiar. Seriously, that's the exact same one I had growing up.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I think I know someone who knows a thing or two about book repair (and in fact repairing that very Bible). I'm sure she has some advice.
Is that the same children's Bible we had when ya'll were kids!
ReplyDeleteSame book I had growing up as well! =) . . . in that condition, unless it really had serious sentimental value I'd start looking on bookfinder.com or amazon.com.
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of using contact paper for the whole cover. I think that might work for you. Perhaps reinforce it with card stock.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Darwin,
ReplyDeleteI regularly find that edition for $1 at Half Price. Shall I just pick you up a replacement?
BTW we use the clear book-binding tape even for fairly substantial repairs, and it works wonderfully. It does lower the value of the book to $0, so I wouldn't use it on anything that you expect to have some value sometime.
[BTW, the Opinionated Household is not in Scotland this weekend after all.]
:-(
And it's the same Bible I had as a kid! There must have been a sale.
ReplyDelete