Book Repair -- Recase

A video of Aran Galligan recasing a library book at Sojourner Truth Library at SUNY New Paltz.

Here is my disclaimer:
These videos demonstrate my way of doing things. They are meant as guidelines. If it doesn't work perfectly for you, then make some adjustments. There are many ways of doing things in this world and problem solving is a crucial skill to have.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• book repair
• preservation
• library
• tutorial

[l0m3y]

I decided to redo the book I had made a mess of and now, wow, what a difference. I have one problem though, the signatures seem to be loose leaves that were glued into a text block. I can't find any stitching nor a folded signature after looking 3x. Would I just glue the end pages on and hope for the best?

Thanks for your help.

[aranmade]

@l0m3y Yes, you would just glue them in. In most commercially bound books the endsheets are not sewn in.

[l0m3y]

Very nice, best video I have come across yet, wish I had found it before doing a hack job of book repair but now I know. A couple questions though, can a book press be substituted? In an earlier video and maybe this one, you mention something called "super" what is that exactly? Thanks.

[aranmade]

@l0m3y Instead of a book press you can use lots of cloth cover bricks, but I feel like the end result is never as nice as with a book press. Super is the fabric that is glued to the spine of the book.

[BCShakarov]

Aran,

Thanks to your instruction I just successfully recased my first book. I had another question regarding the spine board material. Would it be ok to use cardboard (say 0.59lb) instead of cardstock for the spine? I ordered a board and it was thicker than I anticipated and wondered if it can still be used.

Thanks again

[aranmade]

@BCShakarov Congrats on your first recase. I would say that cardboard would most likely be too thick. Traditionally binders would often use paper, sometimes newspaper for the spine. I prefer something a little stiffer, but it would be better to go thinner than thicker for the material for the spine.

[aranmade]

@BCShakarov Unfortunately I don't know much about working with leather. My only experience with it was trying to preserve it.

[BCShakarov]

@aranmade Thanks Aran, I also wanted to ask if the same recasing process would be used for leather? I saw some videos where the leather was attached after the book case and text block were combined

[aranmade]

@BCShakarov It is not necessary to sew an endsheet in. Many commercially bound books are not. I usually do when repairing library books because they take so much abuse, but if I were making a book for someone and was using a nice endsheet paper, I wouldn't sew it it.

[BCShakarov]

Aran,

Thank you for posting these book binding videos. I'm in the process of learning to do this with several books and I had a few questions and I hope they reach you

I plan on using Silk Moire as my end sheet and sewing them wouldn't look attractive. Would it be acceptable to sow in endsheets and then glue the silk moire endsheet onto that endsheet? Is it neccessary to have the end sheet sewn in

Thanks