Antique Book Rescue - Saving a 130-Year-Old Book - Part 2

Hi everybody, Dennis here, welcome back to The Bindery. I'm just getting things set up for part two of the Book Rescue series. Wait, hold on, did you miss part one? Well then, let's recap. I went to Scotland to poke around used bookshops, looking for a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore that was close to giving up the ghost. The one I found was 130 years old and had seen better days. I brought it back home, carefully disassembled it, cleaned it up, repaired the pages, and then stitched it all back together again. Okay then, you're all caught up, so let's get back to the video. As today's to-do list includes me working on all four edges of our book, I'm first getting my combination press set up. You'll see some of the ways I use it in just a bit. But first I need to trim back these tapes. Because I stitched around them, I'm able to pull them through and then trim off the excess. I'll save those offcuts for another project. I'll then add a couple of temporary boards before putting the book's spine up in the press. I've made sure that the spine is square and flat, and all the signatures are even. Next I apply some archival PVA glue, taking care to avoid the tapes. The PVA sets up quickly, but it'll remain plastic for some time, which will be to my advantage in the next operation. And though the PVA is a non-reversible adhesive, it doesn't actually come into direct contact with the original paper because of the guards that I applied in the previous video. In 15 minutes or so, the glue's dry to the touch, so it's time to trim the fore edge. The width of these pages is all over the place, so I try to find one of the narrowest ones and take a measurement there. I then transfer that to one of the waste sheets and make a reference line. A quick flip converts my press from backing mode into trimming mode. I purchased this tool from an estate sale, so I have no idea where or when it was made, but it's a great design. Again I get the book into the press with some temporary boards. The board on one side is level with both the jaw and my reference mark, while the rear board is a sacrificial one and it sits a little bit higher. I triple check that the book is on its mark and square, and then I tighten it down firmly. This tool came with the press, and it's called a plow. It has a razor sharp cutter that sits perfectly flat on the jaws of the press. The screw handle retracts or advances the cutter, while the whole tool rides along on a runner on the other side. With each pass, I give the handle a slight turn, advancing the cutter the thickness of one or two sheets of paper. Here on the fore edge, I usually cut on both the forward and back strokes, and I clear away the trimmings so they don't get under the plow and affect the cutting angle. Once you develop a rhythm, the plow makes short work of it, and I don't mind a bit of extra time it takes compared to a guillotine. It looks like there was one page narrower than the other one that I measured, which you can see here as a single line down the middle of the fore edge. I'm not going to trim it again though, just for that. Once every 130 years is enough. But joking aside, that will be far less noticeable once the book is rounded, which is the next step. Or, almost the next step. I'll first just take a moment to check the thickness of the split boards that I'll be making later. I need that in order to form the shoulders, so I'll mark those now before I forget. Rounding the book's spine is done with the help of a backing hammer. I'll use this small one, as it doesn't really require that much force. I begin by flexing the book, pushing the fore edge with my thumb as I pull back with my fingertips. I then begin with light downward blows to shift the signatures toward the fore edge. I work slowly, flipping the book regularly to gradually develop the round. Rounding a book has several benefits. It reduces swell at the spine by offsetting the sewing threads in each signature, and it helps prevent the spine from collapsing in on itself through use. It also ever so slightly fans out the fore edge of the pages, making them easier to turn, and, not least important, I think it's just a classic, aesthetically pleasing shape. With that done, I need to move on immediately to backing. I'll flip the press into backing mode once again, but this time I put the book in without any boards. The metal jaws are aligned with the marks that I made for the shoulders, and as I apply pressure, you can see the spine swelling out, which is just what I want it to do. Backing a book is the process of deliberately folding over the spine edges of the signatures, away from the center of the spine. For this I'll be using a slightly heavier backing hammer. I begin with light, glancing blows, working from the middle of the book out to the ends, and from one side to the other. The force of the hammer gradually bends the papers over, and because I haven't sewn or glued down the tapes, they don't restrict that movement. When finished, the signatures in the center of the book should still be more or less straight, while those at the front and back covers are bent over at 90 degrees. Those are called the shoulders, and combined with the cover boards, they'll add a lot of strength and rigidity to the book. When I'm happy with the final shape, I want to lock it all into place, so I glue out the back once again, this time including the tapes. The spine of the book will take a lot of stress after all, and glue alone won't be enough to keep it together, so I need to add some further reinforcement. I start with a layer of mull, which is a stiff, loosely woven cotton cloth. You might remember me removing the original mull from the book in part one. I apply it to the spine, and add some more glue on top, making sure that it's well adhered with my bone folder. And if you're wondering, the overhanging portions will help to reinforce the hinges of the covers later. While that dries, I'll take a few minutes to make the split boards. These are made of two thicknesses of greyboard, a 2mm and a 1.2mm, both of which are long grain. The thinner ones will make up the inner parts of the boards, and those are the ones to which I'll apply the glue. I don't want to glue out the whole surface though. These boards need to be split to accept the hinge tabs, which I'll be making a bit later. For now, I'll just mark out some no-glue zones, and with some waste paper for neatness, I'll brush on some more PVA. The thicker board then gets applied, and I'll let those get to know each other while I make up the other one. Then they go between boards, and into the press as is. No blotters or release paper required. The book is thoroughly dry now, so it's time to finish the trimming. Using a square lined with a shoulder, I'll mark a modest amount of material to remove at the head. The tail's another matter. This book has ample margins though, no doubt to accommodate just such an operation, so cleaning up this edge should be no problem. I'll begin the trimming by carefully cutting through the shoulder first, being sure to cut in one direction and lifting the plow to bring it back for the next pass. Cutting on the pull stroke would tend to pull apart those carefully formed shoulders, so it's best avoided. Once the cutter engages with the face of the waste sheet, I can take full strokes. The trim bits now tend to stick together as they're glued at the spine, but so long as they don't get under the plow, they don't pose a problem. I stop when I reach the opposite shoulder and cut away the remaining paper with a paring knife. So finally, after 130 years, this book finally has some nice tidy edges. I admit, I rather like a nicely formed deckled edge on a book, but this one was just ragged, and from a conservation perspective, I don't think the original edges added much in the way of the book's historical significance. Trimming the book, in my mind, enhances its readability and functionality, so I don't regret the decision. I'm very much a form follows function sort of guy, and this style of binding is a perfect embodiment of that. Each element is there for a reason, yet is balanced and pleasing to the eye. Which leads me to my next task, which is to add the end bands. So we'll get to those next. Our boards are dry, so I might as well get those out of the press, since I can use them for the next step. First though, I need to prep our book by marking the center of each signature. I'm helped in that by the original printer, who marked the first page of each signature with a letter, or in this case a number and a letter. And since each signature has four folded sheets, I need to only count four leaves to find the middle. I'll slip in a little piece of paper as a flag, and then continue through the whole book. I'll then just nudge those away from the spine so they're not in the way. I put the book into the press at an angle, so that I can see the edge and the spine at the same time. What I have in mind for this book is a sensible period binding. Something handsome, but not ostentatious. So I'm going to go with simple single core end bands, sewn with two colors of unwaxed linen thread. I find that wax dulls the colors without adding much benefit, so for this application I'm leaving it out. I cut about an arm's length of the red thread, which will be my tying down color, and somewhat less of the grey. These get tied together at one end with a simple overhand knot. A needle gets attached to the working thread, and I get things started by stitching from the inside of the second signature. I start in the second signature because that's what lines up with the shoulder. Ideally the stitch should come out below the kettle stitch, which is something I need to work on. The thread gets pulled through fully, and the knot gets seated in the gutter of the signature on the inside, but because of the way the shoulders angle, it'll be hard to see that when the book is finished. The working thread is then brought back for a second time, and that forms the first loop. Now I can add in my core, which is a bit of hemp cord that's been stiffened with watered down PVA glue. It's fully dry now, of course. Pulling the working thread tight then holds that in place. The white thread then goes under the core, and back around to the front. In theory this locks the stitch. In reality the whole affair is still pretty loose until we get a few steps down the line. The white gets two wraps around the core, and then it's brought to the front. Then the red is passed over the white, under the core, and back to the front again. And that effectively finishes one stage of the pattern, which will then be repeated over and over again until I finish the end band. Before I restart the pattern though, I need to do a tie down. As before, a stitch is made through the center of the signature below the current wrap. Just which signature that is can vary depending on the number of wraps, the thickness of the signatures, etc. Pulling the thread tight forms a loop, and then a second is made before swapping to the white thread, and from there on the pattern's continued. I've chosen to tie down at every wrap of the red thread, but skipping the tie downs between a couple of repetitions of the pattern isn't uncommon. By physically stitching the end band into the book, it adds a significant amount of reinforcement to the head cap, which bears the brunt of stress when the book is taken off of a shelf. To finish, the needle is swapped to the white thread, which gets stitched through to the spine, and then tied off to the working thread with a square knot. Or granny knot, it doesn't really matter, so long as it stays there long enough to be glued into place. With the tail finished, I persuade my flags around to the other end, and get to work on the headband. When I first started weaving end bands, I struggled quite a bit, until I realized I was working backwards. I am, of course, left handed, and all the instructions and tutorials that I'd seen were distinctly anti-sinister. So, if you're following along and getting confused, I apologize. I have plans to do some standalone end band videos that are both left and right hand friendly, so stay tuned for those. As for this one, it looks like I've got it just about done as well. These flags can go now to wait for the next book. I did a bit better on my tie downs on this end, luckily all of those will be hidden later. The front's looking good, I'm really pleased with the little bead along the bottom. Now to tidy up a bit, and get to work on lining the spine. I want this book to have a nice smooth spine, so no raised bands, false or otherwise. To achieve that though, I need to fill in the low spots between the sewing tapes. For that, I'll glue in some paper, in this case I'm using some watercolour paper. I've cut these pieces to size already, with the grain of course running head to tail. Attaching them is simply a matter of gluing them in place with PVA. This paper's a bit stubborn at first, but eventually the PVA grabs and holds. Next I'll attach a strip of thinner paper to bridge all the smaller gaps. This is a 25% cotton bond paper. When both of those linings are fully dry, I'll use some 220 grit sandpaper and a sanding block to knock down any high points on the spine. This is important because any imperfections will telegraph right through to the leather. It's a dusty business, but I'll spare you the noise of the vacuum cleaner. The last thing to go on the spine is a flat paper tube, which is called a hollow. Using some craft paper, I'll crease a portion that's equal to the width of the spine. This gets folded over, then another crease defines the second fold. The excess is then cut off, leaving a three panel piece that's as wide as the spine, and a bit taller than the book. The outside of the middle panel gets glued out with PVA methylcell mix, which gives me a bit of wiggle time to get the hollow in place. I've often said that straight PVA is the one shot, all or nothing, hail mary of adhesives, and as you can see here, getting the hollow attached is not the time for that. I've read some instructions for forming the hollow right on the book, so I might explore those in the future, but for now this method works well enough. Once it's in place, I make sure it's firmly attached with my bone folder, then I'll put some waste paper in to prevent any adhesive getting on the inside, then I'll glue down the outer flap. If done properly, I should have a running the length of the spine, with the two outer layers of craft paper attached only along the edges. I'll make sure the glue has full contact, and then I'll leave it to dry completely. You may recall that in the last video I said that the waste sheets would play an important role. Well, now we're going to put them to use. First though, I'll do a final trim on these tapes. These, plus the mull and the waste sheet, will all come together to form tabs for attaching the boards. I'll mark a line along the fore edge of the waste sheet that is slightly less than one third of the width of the book. That gets creased and folded in, then the folded edge gets aligned to the shoulder, and that gets folded down as well. I've now made this little burrito of paper, mull, and tapes, which tapers very slightly towards the fore edge. Now I'll open that up, and using some PVA mix, I'll glue down the first flap, and then the mull and tapes, making sure to get the underside of those as well. Finally, the first fold is glued down to form the tab. I'll put a pressing tin on the inside, and that prevents the tab from making an impression in the text block when it goes in the press. I'll then sandwich it all together with blotters and release paper. The pressing board caps it off, and the whole thing gets flipped over to do the other side. With that done, it's on to Mr. Ritchie to put maximum pressure on those to get them nice and flat. Those tabs have had a night in the press, so they should be ready, but first I'll get my boards sorted out. I mark the split sides with an X, and then check them for squareness. With that done, I can now check on those tabs. Those are looking good too, so now I'll go back and finish trimming the boards to size. I'll first measure the height of the text block, adding 8mm to account for a 4mm square at either end. That'll give me the length that I need to trim the boards to. With my square registered against the split side, I trim the ends opposite the confirmed square corners. I'll also take a moment to trim the ends of the hollow. These get cut flush with the top of the end bands. I'll also snip off the ends of the end band cores, and I'll do that as close to the coloured thread as I dare. I'll also take a moment to slit the edges of the hollow about 3 quarters of an inch, or 25mm down the edge, and that allows space for the leather to be turned in at the ends later. I'll also take the additional step of carefully trimming away the inner portion of the hollow that sits behind the end band. Not doing this would leave a little strip of craft paper visible in the finished binding. Finally, some tiny dabs of PVA on the ends of the bands will keep them from unraveling. Okay, I'm all over the place here, let's get back to the tabs. I'll trim away a portion on each end so that the tabs don't stick out through the ends of the boards. I'm just using the width of my ruler as a gauge here. I take care not to cut into the shoulder as I remove the waste, and I bevel the corners just to streamline things. And now you can see how the tabs and the split boards function together. A dry fit at this stage is critical to make sure I don't make any mistakes when things get glued. Using a simple 4mm spacer of greyboard wrapped in packing tape, I establish the width of the groove. I then add several registration marks to guide me. And finally, it's time to permanently attach the boards. Again, I'm using mix here as a bit of insurance. It's a tight space, but I try to get an even coating of glue inside the split. Then I slide the board over the tab, relying on my spacer and the registration marks to get it in the right place. As with the tabs, I'm using pressing tins to shield the text block, and concentrate the pressure right on the boards. And if you're noticing the less than dynamic camera work here, well, that's because glue-ups like this are about as stressful as bookbinding gets, so it's one camera angle for this job. I need to concentrate on what I'm actually doing. Once those are in place, it's into the press, but just for a minute. That quick squeeze is enough to force out any excess glue, which needs to get cleaned away before the book is allowed to dry. As it is, I didn't do too badly. A quick wipe here and there, and then it's back into the press at maximum pressure for a day or more. It can be hard at times, waiting for hours or even days for glue to dry, but luckily you don't have to endure that. This book now has twice as many covers as it did when I got it, and they function perfectly. It's really starting to look like a book again. I just have a couple more things to do to finish off these boards. I left the four edges of the boards long on purpose, so I can trim those to match the book once they're in place. With my ruler under the text block, I measure out 4mm, then slowly and somewhat awkwardly trim off the excess. With both of those trimmed, you can really get a sense of the book's final proportions. The last thing I'll do today will be to back corner the boards. Doing so allows room for the leather to turn in at the ends of the grooves. I like to do that with a chisel, again with a tin on the inside to protect the text block. And with that, this book is basically fully rebound. Everything from here on in is covering and decoration. In the next video, we'll prepare some leather to apply to the spine and corners, fill in the remainder of the covers with book cloth, do some blind tooling to the leather, both simple and elegant, we'll break out two different lettering sets and some genuine gold leaf to make some title labels, and then we'll bring them all together for this book's final rebirth. This has been a great project so far, so you won't want to miss the ending. So be sure to subscribe and click the notification bell so you don't miss out. Until then, I'm Dennis, thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.