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Make Way for Book Things Part II

11/8/2019

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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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Make Way for Book Things...

10/8/2019

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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...
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Proto-Photostream

9/26/2019

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 A couple years ago in San Francisco, a friend and I stumbled across an antique storefront's going-out-of-business sale in a warehouse in SOMA. It always fascinates me to think about how all these strange objects from across huge swaths of time and space and culture can end up sitting side-by-side, to consider their converging histories. Maybe a thing is a new arrival to the shelves and crates, just recently pulled from circulation, or maybe it's been sitting there since the beginning, waiting to be recognized for something  - usefulness, beauty, novelty, curiosity - once again. I found a couple of black cloth, gold-stamped photo albums in less than fair condition, pasted full of black and white images from the ~1900s-1930s. That potentially permanent recorded evidence of so many single moments in time, with all the context packed into those pieces of paper, is a time capsule, proof of existence, for whatever that's worth. The doers - the picture takers and takees - felt it valuable enough to record, and I have a strong reverence any figment of personal creativity actualized, for the inspiration potential of any publicized idea. I bought the albums, a few dozen memories of ancient strangers, with the intention of cleaning them up a bit and giving them a place to stay for a while.

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The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth - Thomas Jefferson, 1904

8/16/2019

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​While in DC, a friend put me onto this fascinating volume, the so-called 'Jefferson Bible'; Thomas' own re-interpretation of Jesus' teachings extracted from Greek, Latin, French, and English versions of the New Testament. ​Jefferson's Bible focuses on Jesus' moral lessons and almost entirely excludes passages regarding divinity or the supernatural, ie the philosophy rather than the dogma. ​With beautiful red leather boards, edge-gilding, and marbled endsheets, this will be a perfect candidate for a leather reback - reusing all the original elements - once I've settled into my new home in Boston and can retrieve my tools and materials from storage!
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The Leader of the Stack: 1959 Underwood Leader

8/1/2019

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​Every machine has a story and, in spite of it, deserves to serve its original function diligently until the steel itself turns to dust. Right up to that moment, it's a matter of respect to maintain its mechanics, keep it slicked and clean, give it the chance to do what it was built to do. 

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Feels Like the First Type: 1919 Underwood Standard #3

7/30/2019

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It seems only right to christen the inclusion of my typewriter collection and repair antics on this blog with the first machine I ever purchased, a 1919 Underwood Standard #3. This model features a 16" platen and an extended frame to support it... as such, it weighs about 60 lbs and is far from a 'portable' model. I received it in pretty decent shape, albeit with some dust, sticky keys, and a missing ribbon.

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The patent information printed on the back of these Underwood machines makes it easy to determine the age and model...
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...especially if it takes you a while before finding the serial number tag (right side of the frame, just above the ribbon selector lever from the front, or the ribbon-winding gear from the angle pictured here).
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The Pursuit of Loneliness - Philip Slater, 1976

7/19/2019

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From out the treasure chest that is the Little Free Libraries here in DC comes a surprisingly powerful read. I picked this sorry volume up after noticing its nakedness and disrepair, only to carry it around in the same state for weeks while poring over its pages. Finally, as I swept through the final chapter, I was overcome by the desire to return it to the wild in a better condition than I found it, and I hope whoever finds this volume next will consider my efforts a success to that end.
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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.
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​New protective endsheets added
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Japanese kozo hinge and spine liner added
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Boards cut
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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.
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Brave New World - Aldous Huxley, 1989

6/24/2019

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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! 
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Both the front and back covers were badly chipped, and the toning inside suggested they weren't going to stronger with age...
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...in fact, someone had already gone ahead and plastered clear packing tape inside both covers and across the spine, much to my chagrin.
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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...
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...and it worked out surprisingly well.
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New endsheets and tissue flaps for board attachment.
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Faux-red leather book cloth will hopefully catch the eye of some other passerby when this book re-enters the Little Free Library pool.
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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.
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Tugby's Illustrated Guide to Niagara Falls - Thomas Tugby, 1890

5/7/2019

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Even in the midst of a cross-country move, when I ought to be thinning out my collection for my back's sake, I can't help but be sucked in by book in need. This little volume is not only falling apart but appears to have been put back together incorrectly at some point: The accordion-fold of photos has cracked, yellowing tape across each seam, and based on the orientation of the first page, whoever did this 'restoration' refolded the photos in the opposite direction, causing several to crease and tear over time. 

I'm fairly certain I'll be able to clean them up nicely and strengthen the insert from the back with strips of kozo paper. The acidic paper of the booklet may be more difficult to repair, but it's strong enough yet that bringing the book to a handleable state shouldn't be a problem.
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The stamped cover is what originally caught my eye, but on closer inspection there's some pretty suspicious evidence of prior repair work to the spine. When I reback this, I'll have to see if I can find an image of the original spine to stamp into my new cloth.
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The binding in three pieces: folded photo stream, stapled booklet, and the first and last pages of these sections glued down to the case. It's hard to say whether this was the original composition or not.
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Because of how the leftmost picture would have necessarily attached to and folded against the pasted down photo on the front cover, I'm led to believe that whoever tried to restore this in the past accidentally folded and taped these photos in reverse.
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'Carrots', Just a Little Boy - Mrs. Molesworth, 1891

3/16/2019

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'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. 
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The textblock had taken parts of the front and back pastedown with it, but they were still present, so I saved them for later.
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First step is clean all of the old spine lining and glue off of the textblock.
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Much better.
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After lining the spine with kozo paper using methyl cellulose, I opted to practice some sewn silk endbands on this book. It didn't come with endbands originally, and if it had they would've been the pre-fabbed, glued-on type, but this was a great opportunity to practice the skill on an inexpensive binding.
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Using red and gold based on the cover art, I think it turned out nicely!
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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. 
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