Book Restoration Question.

[Robby Raccoon]

The original book was published in 1865, but this copy is from 1868. I was able to find others like this book, but by Poe and Hitchcock I was only able to find one other that was in green, not black. I've learned a little German from trying to figure out this book.
Some of the text:

 

[sandchip]

You're a smart young'un, Robert and I applaud your tackling something of this nature. Most young people wouldn't give an item like this a second glance, much less consider investing the time and effort to restore it. Keep on keeping on! Sorta off the subject and not, but I have a fragile 1917 copy of Longfellow's The Courtship of Miles Standish and Minor Poems. I think you would enjoy his work. He lost his wife at an early age and you can sense his mourning for her in many of his poems, The Village Blacksmith, A Gleam of Sunshine and Evangeline. These are all true masterpieces that paint a picture with words of how America must have looked in the early days.

 

[bostaurus]

Book binding is something I have been planning to try. I have a lot of old agriculture and vet books that are the worse for wear. In good shape I can't afford some of them. In the older books the pages are usually fine. It is finding time to do it. I also looked in to finding someone around here that would be willing to teach the skill but there is only one bookbinder within a couple hours drive and she does not teach. I figure I will start with the cheaper books and work my way up.

 

[Plumbata]

Just buy some supplies from a website dedicated to providing bookbinding materials. Acid free glue, replacement boards, cloth binding/covering for spines/boards, strong rag paper for reinforcement and whatnot, and a bit of creativity will get you far. I had never tried any of it before my girlfriend needed 2 copies of her dissertation hardbound, and was unwilling to spend 200-300 to have it done professionally. I opted for drilling through the pages near the spine in 5 spots and lacing strong thread through, reinforced with glue, then cutting from the cardboard stock (not corrugated) 2 covers and a spine, spacing them appropriately, and wrapping with a sheet of bookbinding cloth covered in the glue, all of which was affixed to the meat of the book by gluing the front and back spare sheets of strong paper to the inside of the front and back covers The first copy came out strong but a but amateur-looking. The 2nd copy, for her adviser's library, turned out quite wonderfully in my opinion. It may not have been kosher, but it worked great for our purposes, and I'm more confident now in my ability to repair my own damaged but prized antique books. Just practice a bit with expendable projects; the common-sense observations gained from jumping in headfirst will be far more valuable than just reading about it.

 

[RED Matthews]

Fantastic projects - for sure. I have read a lot of early books regarding early glass making. So I read this thread with interest. Best regards, RED Matthews

 

[Robby Raccoon]

Sandchip, I love poetry. It sounds like an awesome read for emotion. As for intelligence, as Yogi would say, "I'm smaarter than the av-er-age bear." Thanks for the compliment.
Bostaurus, I spent awhile doing research and I can send you what I have written into an outline kind of for it (we have to do a write-up on the project, and so I took notes online to help.) As for most of the books that were in need of restoration, I was unable to follow the reattachment of covers according to traditional methods, as the details on the borders would then be obscured. If you send me a pm with your email, I can send you a write-up of sorts. Start with the least-valuable, as you have planned, and work your way up. This dictionary had several loose pages, and was held together only by tape. I first redid this one quite well. As for agriculture and veterinary, those would be fantastic to see. I have one Trees Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 that has "From Gerald R. Ford, JR. Representative in Congress Fifth District of Michigan" as an ink-stamp on-top of the pages. It's my only agriculture-related one, and will probably remain one of real interest to me for not only the information in it, but that stamp.
Plumbata, buying stuff online is a rarity here, except on Ebay--still very uncommon, lol; if necessary, possibly-- but all in all, we still have spent nearly $50 to get the right materials that will not cause permanent damage. We'd rather go to a store... The idea of drilling a book mortifies me.... If it's not an antique, then whatever works, but antiques exist in limited numbers. I had read about the drilling, and on I think it was called an Instructable, the author showed how he redid Moby Dick which included that... I also, when reading the comments, discovered a very good source for learning how it is done professionally, as the commenter had some issues with how the author permanently altered the book. What was her dissertation, and how long have you two been dating?
Red, thank you for the compliment.
This late 1920s dictionary I pulled out of a dumpster, the finds of which can be located by clicking here.

 

[Robby Raccoon]

See the spine now? You can see here a photo of it, in the corner, before-- notice the tape holding the spine onto the covers, and multiple pages falling out of it, along with the now gone white stuff that was stuck to it in a few places. To get the covers reattached, I put the fabric beneath the covers instead of a standard way of putting them on-top-- also, seeing as how I struggle to cut a straight line, it makes more sense to hide the fabric rather than let it be shown--although with a copy of The Decameron, the spine of which was leather and went through complete "red-rot" (basically, it disintegrates into pieces,) I did the more traditional way; I couldn't save any of the spine, sadly.