I was bound in 1857. I had been purchased new by my family from a stationer. So I am about 150 years old. The leather that covers me has rotted; the atmosphere during the 1900’s was full of dilute sulphuric acid, caused by the massive burning of fossil fuels, that, plus other factors has rotted my leather and led to me needing a Family Bible repair man. I was nervous, like going to the dentist; but the family Bible repair man gently took me out of my box and placed me on his work bench. My front board had come off, and my spine leather was hanging by a thread. My back board was removed by the family bible repair man; it had to come off as well, so as to make the repair possible. Without my boards, he then put me in a wooden press and removed my leather spine. Economies were made during my original construction, the sewing was not very strong, and needed strong linings of cardboard and canvas to compensate. With the aid of a very sharp knife, the family Bible repair man cut away my spine linings. Then he applied thick paste to my spine, it was like having a cucumber wrap, a delicious feeling as the cool damp paste soaked into my spine. Originally all the linings to my spine had been applied using hot animal glue; the paste softened the animal glue and the remaining linings. The family Bible repair man came back after a while, and gently scraped away the paste, taking with it all the old glue and cardboard linings, this exposed the bare spine of the book. Right now I was vulnerable, I was a very large book, my sewing, which held all my pages together, was quite fragile, but the bookbinder knew this and applied a thick canvas lining to my spine, to hold me together while I was moved around. My type of family Bible repair is quite common, involving the same procedures. The repair he was going to effect involved installing a new leather spine which incorporated new leather joints, and would give me brand new strength where my covers hinged. He had some cosmetic repair work to do on my covers, but they were in quite good shape. After these repairs he gave my boards a good leather dressing, my leather was so dry. The family bible repair man made a new set of cloth jointed endpapers; these would provide great strength where my covers hinged. He took a piece of goatskin, a very strong and long lived leather, and shaped it and pared it to fit my covers. My text block, (all my pages) was in good condition, he applied new linings to my spine, and right away I felt better, like wearing a back brace if you have a weak back. With my cover repaired and the new endpapers fitted to my text block, I was ready to have my cover back on. During the next few days my glue dried and I was given a final leather dressing. I felt good again for the first time in over a hundred years, now all Im’e doing is waiting for my family to come and collect me, then home where I belong. By R.Norman
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