r/bookrepair

I have to return this book to the library but my roommate made such mess how can fix it?!I don’t have money to pay for compensation

I of course imagine me pulling a bit on it to show you wasn’t a great idea, but is there any possible way to fix this? Should I just put tape on it or something? I’m sure i could just find a cheap and used divine comedy but I’d rather save the money.

I was so excited to receive this book. It came in the mail today and the second I looked at it I was devastated. I know how to re-glue pages and do simple repairs as I am a librarian. However, this is a book for my own personal collection and I have no idea what to do with it. I debated painting the edges, but then that would kind of ruin the rest of the books in this set because then I would have to paint the edges of those too. I’ve never painted book edges before and have no idea how to do that. Any recommendations on what I can do to fix this?

Hello everyone,

I have a lot of books that I got for cheap from library sales, hardbacks and paperbacks. They always have very prominent shelf marks on the spine and they are bound in some kind of self-adhesive film.

Does anyone have experience with restoring old library books and removing these films and underlying shelf marks?

Could a beginner do it?

Thank you for your advice.

I’m currently working on my first real book repair project, and I’m at a loss for how to handle the corners of the spine.

They’ve bent inwards and probably need to be reinforced somehow, but that part I think I can figure out (though I’d be happy to hear any tips or tricks!). That aside, I’m not sure how to go about patching such tiny holes in the book cloth. Would something like a band of book cloth over the entire area of the spine work? That feels like kind of a heavy handed solution though, and ideally my repairs would be as invisible as possible.

There’s also the issue of color matching the repairs, and what to use to apply said color. I’m fairly confident I could whip up the colors I needed with some gouache paint, but that reactivates with water so it’s probably not my best option. Are there specific paints most often used for book repair?

Any thoughts or tips anyone has would be greatly appreciated as I’ve been stuck on how to approach this for a few weeks now

The book is like a vibrant emerald green, camera doesn't pick it up well. I attempted to wipe the stain off and got green powder on my cloth. Can old books be redyed? Also I am aware it's probably arsenic but I'm more concerned for the book.

I have a really old copy of Black Beauty that I'd like to try and repair as it has been one of my favorite stories since childhood. I am very much an amateur at book binding, and I've never tried to repair such a delicate book before. The paper is quite fragile and has begun tearing. Any advice would be appreciated, or is this book too far gone? It also appears to have been stapled at some point in its life.

Hello everyone!

I have the biggest problem as of now concerning a dear book of mine. I treasure all of my books as much as it is possible so this is breaking my heart.

Is there any way to fix this as well as I can?

Do you all have any thoughts on it? It was in my backpack for a few days while I was taking on classes at my university and today I saw the torn. I have no idea how it happened so I'm completely clueless on what to do.

Hey guys! Is this considered fixable? What terms should I be searching for when I research this? I was thinking of just using white electrical tape / Scotch tape lol. But id like to do it properly. It's a $500-$1000 book.

I recently purchased a book bundle from Vinted for a very good price, noticing one was this Waterstones first edition of Crescent City with sprayed edges.

When it arrived it turned out to have quite a bit of damage, with a slightly ripped dust jacket and the back cover/endpaper ripped and detached from the block.

My options are to try and repair it (with no experience!) so I can keep as a characterful reading copy, or to resell at lower price in current state to go towards funding a replacement copy in better condition.

Thoughts welcome from the more experienced team here please - I guess I’m nervous about attempting a repair and just making it worse 😬

Bought this from the donation shelf at the local library. They glued this plastic cover onto the book. Is there a way for me to safely remove it and the glue?

I was thinking about lining the inner edge with a it of glue and letting that dry, it I don't want to damage the rest of the book, what are my options?