Step 1: Assessment and Disassembly. Antique Leather Book Conservation & Repair.

Learn as you watch the process of conserving an heirloom 1880s leather book. This first video assesses age-related damage to the joints and explores physical aspects of this book. You'll also hear one conservator's perspective when undertaking these repairs.

"Antique Leather Book Conservation & Repair. Step 1: Assessment and Disassembly" is video 1 in a 13 part story of the restoration and repair of this volume.

0:00 intro
0:10 assessment
2:07 removing spine
6:39 removing endband cores

🛠TOOLS & MATERIALS🛠
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ARCHIVAL STORAGE

SMALL BENCH TOOLS

EQUIPMENT
I got pretty much all of my equipment used on eBay, and I’ve been happy with everything.

MATERIALS & SUPPLIES
If you’re a hobbyist bookbinder, book artist, and/or practicing by conserving discard books, I’ll include links below to Amazon, and other vendors who provide materials that are perfect for those pursuits.

Japanese long fiber paper from Hiromi Paper.

Channel topics:
antique book restoration, antique restoration, old book restoration, book restoration, antique book binding repair, old book binding repair, antique book repair, old book, old books, paper repair, antique paper repair, bookbinding, book binding, binding repair, book repair, repairing books, restoring books, repairing old books, restoring old books, antique manuscripts, manuscript, manuscripts, narrated, asmr video, asmr

[beatricevancroonenborg]

So relaxing to watch you work and listen to your lovely voice.

[emsam]

I am not sure how have I found myself in book-restoration part of the internet but it sure is fascinating

[rafaelgelpi]

Thanks for the thorough explanation of the procedure, during the past several months I've been learning bookbinding & conservation from YT. I don't have the nerve or knowledge to cut the spine of a book, shows importance of having a seasoned teacher, I can't wait to take lessons in person!

[Raveyl]

Should we use leather oil on antique leather spines to keep them from cracking like this? I am highly interested in preventative care as well as spine recovery. Thanks for showing us your work.

[janvafa]

Would conditioning the leather periodically help prevent this type of breaking?

[edition-deluxe]

Removing the spine completely seems drastic! I would probably have just repaired the splitting. I've been restoring books for my collection and store for over 15 years, but not formally trained, so maybe I've been doing it wrong, but I don't think so.

[kolosmenus]

Nice, I've been looking for videos that get into the detail of book conservation. Would be nice if you could do something about that echoing audio though.

[skullheadwater]

I bought a book similar in design to this one, inside the only date I see in 1894. By similar I was meaning there were leather corners and spine pretty much identical to your video book. Of course this one the spine is gone so I am going to try and use your video to construct a new spine. The front and back boards are disconnected as well. Today I am asking about the front cover which originally had very extensive fancy writing in gold. I am very good with crafts and restoration and I have already taken a 20/0 paint brush and metallic gold paint and hand painted the lettering which to my eye looks like it would have looked back then. My question is about stabilizing the blue book cloth portions. It seems stuck on the boards fairly well, the 4 leather corners are missing and what's left of the leather which wrapped from the spine onto the book boards has that red rot you talked about. Is there some thing I could use to clean and stabilize the cloth board covers. There are multiple areas where the cloth is bubbled up in dime sized blotches, perhaps it was around moisture because it seems the starching is gone on most of the fabric stuck to the boards, much of it is tattered and I think it needs to be stabilized with something and since the gold stamping on the cover is so nice I have to save it because this is a great coffee table book with nothing but photos of Paris in the late 19th century. My first tought was thinned PVA brushed on or a clear acrylic spray? Maybe laundry spray starch and an iron which is no too hot? any suggestions. The book is online ranging from $45 to $95 so it isn't worth paying someone but I would like to stabilize the cove cloth and replace the corners and spine.

[richardgreen]

What is the weight of the Japanese long-fiber paper from Hiromi that you used on the spine?

[t.gardener]

I am wondering how to get a book to you to have the cover reattached. If you are still in Macon I could bring it to you.

[tingootango]

Great video! Can you share what scissors were used?

[dianefiske-foy]

What if you’re missing the spine piece? Can that be helped?

[Jervisdude]

An antique collecting friend of mine said old wood can be restored, but old leather can’t

[tardwrangler]

Prædifener over Kirke = Aarets Evangelier holdte af Prefter i den norske Synode i Umerifa???
Even as a Norwegian this is almost as "similar" as German lol