The Process Finale!
So while I may not be a prolific blogger, I have actually been accomplishing work on the things that matter most--the BOOKS! Yes, you have arrived at the final chapter of the process, the completion of Ben's book. Please allow me to pick up where we last left off, to illustrate how we achieve that end.
Having cleaned and properly prepared the book spine, you can see below the spine following application of a Japanese tissue barrier layer with paste. This layer is allowed to dry completely before the addition of subsequent layers. As you can see, the tissue when dry, is very thin, molds exceptionally well to the curves of the spine sections, and is almost entirely transparent. It is this layer that will shield the original material from the non-reversible PVA adhesive that will be used to adhere the remaining layers. PVA, or polyvinyl acetate, is a viscous, white glue, similar in consistency to Elmer's. The difference being that PVA is specially formulated to resist yellowing, and becoming brittle over time. It provides a quick dry time, and a strong bond, though the adhesive itself remains very flexible. PVA is not reversible in water once it is dried, and so any application of the glue to original materials in a book are essentially permanent. As the tissue barrier layer protects the spine, PVA is now used to provide a level of strength and flexibility to the spine that wheat past alone would not yield. At this point, the quicker drying time of the PVA allows the rest of the job to proceed much more efficiently. While wheat paste can take hours to dry, PVA is generally set-up in only 10 minutes.
Spine with tissue barrier lining Spine with cloth hinge liner
Immediately following the paste and tissue layer, a cloth hinge layer is adhered with PVA. As you can see above, the hinge layer extends approximately an inch to either side of the spine itself. It is these hinges that later get pasted down to the inside of the book boards, and form the attachment of the book to the cover. It is important to use a hinge cloth that has an appropriate amount of strength to support the boards of the book. The cloth will help to take all of the stress as the covers are opened and closed. One of the most common places for damage is along this hinge edge, so a good choice of cloth here is a well made investment.
Spine with top paper liner Text block ready to be cased-in
Following the hinge cloth a paper spine liner is set in place, also with PVA. The spine liner is cut to fit from shoulder to shoulder of the book, and will also cover the entire length of the spine. This final liner creates a smooth finish to the shape of the spine. In some applications, multiple layers of spine liners are built up, and then sanded down to eliminate bumps from uneven areas of the text block, providing an exceptionally smooth finish.
Pasting up the end sheet
Once the spine linings are dried completely, the last step in this repair is to attach the cover to the text. It appears that I am missing some photos of the cover construction, so I will just briefly explain how it is made. The text block is carefully measured and cover boards are cut out of acid-free binder's board. The boards are cut to fit the book with an 1/8" overhang around the outer edges. This overhang is referred to as the square. The square gives a small edge of excess board to protect the more delicate pages of the text from damage. After the boards are cut, a spine strip is cut from a more flexible material, such as card stock, or bristol. The spine strip is cut to the same height as the new boards. Finally a piece of book cloth is cut that is large enough to cover all of the pieces, with approximately an inch extra for turn-ins. Each piece is carefully glued up with PVA adhesive, and adhered to the cloth to form the cover. A 1/4" gap is left between each cover board and the spine strip. This open gap of cloth is where the hinge of the book lies, and allows the covers to flex open and closed as needed. All of the pieces of the cover, or case as it is called, must be very precisely laid out and measured to ensure that the finished case will fit the text block appropriately.
With all of the pieces adhered to the cloth, the cloth is trimmed to an even 3/4" turn-in all around. The turn-ins are glued up and folded over the boards to produce the completed case. The image above shows the inside of the case, and you can see the way the cloth is turned in around the boards on all edges.
With this project Ben had chosen to retain the original title labels on the cover. To do this I created recessed areas on the new cover by cutting out a thin section of the board to fit the dimensions of the label, prior to adhering the cloth. This left a small depression on the cover into which the original labels could be recessed, and pasted down with glue. It is certainly easier to just adhere a label directly to a cover, and of course there's nothing wrong with doing this, but by creating the recess area, the label is placed flush with the cover surface. When the book is pulled in and out of its place on the shelf, there is no worry that the label will catch and become worn, or fall off. This step makes the finished product look just a bit cleaner, and provides an added layer of insurance protecting the saved elements over time.
With the case complete, the final step is to insert the text block and attach it to the case. This is done by applying glue to the outer side of the end sheet, also aptly referred to as the paste down. A sandwich of blotter material and scrap paper is inserted directly beneath the end sheet while it is glued up, to prevent glue from seeping in where you don't want it. You can see from the image above that the inch of overhanging hinge cloth also becomes pasted up at this step, as it will form the bridge between the text block and cover. With the glue quickly applied, the cover board is carefully closed onto the adhesive and end sheet. If the textbook was aligned correctly, there should be no need for any adjustment (not that there is much you can do at this point if you get it wrong). If anything a minimal amount of smoothing of the paste down may be done. This also needs to be done carefully, by opening the cover as minimally as possible. The end sheet papers can very easily stretch at this point while they are wet, and so opening the cover fully to check one's work can create bubbles and wrinkles in the final sheet as it dries. The opposite paste down is adhered in the same way, and the book is put into a press to dry overnight.
Completed repair
After drying, the book is removed from the press and is complete!
New end sheets Page opening
Here you can see the end sheets "played nice" for me and were laid in a nice smooth manner, with no wrinkles, or bumps. The completed book also opens freely and easily, to be enjoyed by our good customer well into the future.
Before treatment After treatment
Here we can review where we have come from with this book, and take a good look at its repaired and polished state. Our friend Ben was very pleased with the finished piece. See, it's not magic, it's just book repair. Thanks for following along.
Having cleaned and properly prepared the book spine, you can see below the spine following application of a Japanese tissue barrier layer with paste. This layer is allowed to dry completely before the addition of subsequent layers. As you can see, the tissue when dry, is very thin, molds exceptionally well to the curves of the spine sections, and is almost entirely transparent. It is this layer that will shield the original material from the non-reversible PVA adhesive that will be used to adhere the remaining layers. PVA, or polyvinyl acetate, is a viscous, white glue, similar in consistency to Elmer's. The difference being that PVA is specially formulated to resist yellowing, and becoming brittle over time. It provides a quick dry time, and a strong bond, though the adhesive itself remains very flexible. PVA is not reversible in water once it is dried, and so any application of the glue to original materials in a book are essentially permanent. As the tissue barrier layer protects the spine, PVA is now used to provide a level of strength and flexibility to the spine that wheat past alone would not yield. At this point, the quicker drying time of the PVA allows the rest of the job to proceed much more efficiently. While wheat paste can take hours to dry, PVA is generally set-up in only 10 minutes.
Spine with tissue barrier lining Spine with cloth hinge liner
Immediately following the paste and tissue layer, a cloth hinge layer is adhered with PVA. As you can see above, the hinge layer extends approximately an inch to either side of the spine itself. It is these hinges that later get pasted down to the inside of the book boards, and form the attachment of the book to the cover. It is important to use a hinge cloth that has an appropriate amount of strength to support the boards of the book. The cloth will help to take all of the stress as the covers are opened and closed. One of the most common places for damage is along this hinge edge, so a good choice of cloth here is a well made investment.
Spine with top paper liner Text block ready to be cased-in
Following the hinge cloth a paper spine liner is set in place, also with PVA. The spine liner is cut to fit from shoulder to shoulder of the book, and will also cover the entire length of the spine. This final liner creates a smooth finish to the shape of the spine. In some applications, multiple layers of spine liners are built up, and then sanded down to eliminate bumps from uneven areas of the text block, providing an exceptionally smooth finish.
Pasting up the end sheet
Once the spine linings are dried completely, the last step in this repair is to attach the cover to the text. It appears that I am missing some photos of the cover construction, so I will just briefly explain how it is made. The text block is carefully measured and cover boards are cut out of acid-free binder's board. The boards are cut to fit the book with an 1/8" overhang around the outer edges. This overhang is referred to as the square. The square gives a small edge of excess board to protect the more delicate pages of the text from damage. After the boards are cut, a spine strip is cut from a more flexible material, such as card stock, or bristol. The spine strip is cut to the same height as the new boards. Finally a piece of book cloth is cut that is large enough to cover all of the pieces, with approximately an inch extra for turn-ins. Each piece is carefully glued up with PVA adhesive, and adhered to the cloth to form the cover. A 1/4" gap is left between each cover board and the spine strip. This open gap of cloth is where the hinge of the book lies, and allows the covers to flex open and closed as needed. All of the pieces of the cover, or case as it is called, must be very precisely laid out and measured to ensure that the finished case will fit the text block appropriately.
With all of the pieces adhered to the cloth, the cloth is trimmed to an even 3/4" turn-in all around. The turn-ins are glued up and folded over the boards to produce the completed case. The image above shows the inside of the case, and you can see the way the cloth is turned in around the boards on all edges.
With this project Ben had chosen to retain the original title labels on the cover. To do this I created recessed areas on the new cover by cutting out a thin section of the board to fit the dimensions of the label, prior to adhering the cloth. This left a small depression on the cover into which the original labels could be recessed, and pasted down with glue. It is certainly easier to just adhere a label directly to a cover, and of course there's nothing wrong with doing this, but by creating the recess area, the label is placed flush with the cover surface. When the book is pulled in and out of its place on the shelf, there is no worry that the label will catch and become worn, or fall off. This step makes the finished product look just a bit cleaner, and provides an added layer of insurance protecting the saved elements over time.
With the case complete, the final step is to insert the text block and attach it to the case. This is done by applying glue to the outer side of the end sheet, also aptly referred to as the paste down. A sandwich of blotter material and scrap paper is inserted directly beneath the end sheet while it is glued up, to prevent glue from seeping in where you don't want it. You can see from the image above that the inch of overhanging hinge cloth also becomes pasted up at this step, as it will form the bridge between the text block and cover. With the glue quickly applied, the cover board is carefully closed onto the adhesive and end sheet. If the textbook was aligned correctly, there should be no need for any adjustment (not that there is much you can do at this point if you get it wrong). If anything a minimal amount of smoothing of the paste down may be done. This also needs to be done carefully, by opening the cover as minimally as possible. The end sheet papers can very easily stretch at this point while they are wet, and so opening the cover fully to check one's work can create bubbles and wrinkles in the final sheet as it dries. The opposite paste down is adhered in the same way, and the book is put into a press to dry overnight.
Completed repair
After drying, the book is removed from the press and is complete!
New end sheets Page opening
Here you can see the end sheets "played nice" for me and were laid in a nice smooth manner, with no wrinkles, or bumps. The completed book also opens freely and easily, to be enjoyed by our good customer well into the future.
Posted by Jen at 3/11/2010 7:13 PM 
Categories: Binding and book repair at Red Letter
Tags: the repair process Ben's books conservation
Categories: Binding and book repair at Red Letter
Tags: the repair process Ben's books conservation
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