Bring your irreplaceable books back to life thanks to my book repair expertise
Whether you want a family heirloom repaired, or a personal touch adding to an old favourite, I can help.
I treat every book that passes through my bindery as priceless whether or not it would fetch a fortune at auction. I know there are precious memories in them, and that now’s the time to act to make sure they’re preserved in a worthy manner. I’ve done this not just for the Bibles, Missals and prayer books you’d expect, but diaries, dictionaries, and even a Victorian book about horses.
Below are some examples of the different levels of repair I offer, along with their guide prices, to give you some idea of what’s involved. When you’re ready for a bespoke quote for your book, click the ‘Repair my book’ button to get in touch for a no obligation assessment.
Book Repair
The most basic book restoration projects aim to return the book to working order and keep as much of the original cover and binding as possible. Of course, that includes any inscriptions usually found on the endpapers, so the writing of loved ones is preserved.
For the majority of books this would involve some of the following
- straightening/strengthening the spine
- replacing worn out ribbons
- repairing or reattaching the cover’s spine (see photos)
- reattaching loose pages and repairing torn ones
- cleaning the bookcloth cover
The example in the pictures is a fairly typical case – I used dyed Japanese tissue to reattach the spine, so it’s strong, light, and blends in well with the black cover, and has new ribbons and endbands.
Prices start at £70
Book Upgrade
One of the benefits of having a bookbinder take on a repair project is that you get to decide what the finished book will look like – you don’t have to stick with what the publisher decided decades ago! This has proved a very popular option for people who’d like their hand missals, divine offices, and spiritual reading books to be more ‘worthy’ of the sacred texts and wisdom they contain.
Upgrade options include:
- new black Moroccan leather cover
- sturdier boards to better protect the book
- basic hand-tooled decoration, ‘blind’ or gold foil
- new endpapers
- all the necessary elements of the Repair option
Once again, the before-and-after photos show what a stunning transformation the Upgrade bestows on a previously tired old book.
Prices start at £150
Book Design
For that extra special book or occasion – a Divine Office for an ordination, a hand missal for a big wedding anniversary – you can commission a special binding. We will talk about the styles of art/books you like to guide my ideas, and of course you’ll have approval of the design before I start work.
In addition to everything from the standard Book Repair, you can choose any of the following Book Design elements:
- Silk or leather endbands
- More gold decoration, with the option of 23ct gold
- Leather onlays to create a multi-coloured design
- Handle marbled endpapers
The Liber Usualis pictured here is a good example – the blue panels on the spine are individually cut and pared, then the gold decorations applied by hand with heated brass tools and type. Obviously time consuming, but worth the effort.
Prices start at £275
Book Protect
Once your book is back in one piece and more beautiful than ever, you’ll want to keep it that way. To that end, I create different kinds of hand-made boxes, a key component of book conservation. Take a look at the Boxes page to select the best option for you and your wonderful volume.