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At long last, a classic dust jacket is freed of its pressure-tape mummification and returns to its corner store display a little more lively than it was a month ago. 
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I'm currently in hot, slow pursuit of a dairy-related enamel sign screwed to a seemingly decades-unused wooden door in an alley on Boston's North End, less than a block from the North Bennet Street School. While making my way back from yet another attempt at first contact, I spied this familiar title, in a sorry state, through the window of souvenir shop next to The Paul Revere House. A damaged book with a story based in Boston, during my first month in the city for a book restoration program? They say there're no such things as coincidences... 
 The textblock has seen better days and is crucially acidified, moisture-stained, and torn. A friend who watched me pick this volume up begged me to leave it so, lest the story of the life it has lived be lost.
New protective endsheets added
 Brown cloth case and title label recovered from the original paperback back cover. Nothing will stop the paper in this mass-produced volume from acidifying, browning, and eventually turning to dust, but until then, I can rest easy knowing that it has clothes enough to thrive in the hands and eyes of a few more readers. On a recent walk through Washington, DC, I stopped at a Little Free Library (and how could I not?) and picked up a worn paperback edition of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Having recently moved to the city, I've been desperate for a reason to pick up a bonefolder again - here was my reprieve!
 Having limited tools in my new apartment, I attempted to remove the tape mechanically from the first and last pages of the textblock using my craft knife...
 Faux-red leather book cloth will hopefully catch the eye of some other passerby when this book re-enters the Little Free Library pool.   Post-move, this was a wonderful 2-day project to get my hands back to work. This is far from a masterpiece, but the cloth and board case will ensure the novel makes it into at least a few more hands before it's through. For me, that's what bookbinding is all about. 'Carrots' came to me in decent shape from a $1 sale, but the joints were torn and the textblock was solid be separated from the covers.
 The textblock had taken parts of the front and back pastedown with it, but they were still present, so I saved them for later.
Here's the completed reback. After the endbands, the spine was lined with another layer of kozo paper, then linen, then paper. A new spine piece was fitted into the boards, new spine cloth was toned to match the existing cloth, then everything was slid, glued, and pressed together.  
 New bookcloth toned to match the original. Since this piece is only visible at the hinges, that's the color I aimed to match.
 
 Detail of the worn, broken sewing.  Given the state of disrepair, the rest of the sewing was removed so that pages could be repaired and new, stronger sewing could be added.
 The stack of completely repaired and re-punched signatures.
 
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