The Complete Nonsense Book - Edward Lear, 1923

The cover was completely detached from the textblock when I found it and clear packing tape had been used to secure a label and hold the cover together.

The damaged sewing (shown below) left most of the pages in the front half of the book loose and tattered on their edges.

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.

Scotch tape and some other adhesive had been used on a few leaves, leave the paper brittle and stained. The tape was removed and the leaves were repaired one by one with strips of kozo paper and methyl cellulose.

The stack of completely repaired and re-punched signatures.

Sewn and rounded by hand. I visited a local studio to use their backing press and return the textblock to its original curve.

The rounded and backed textblock is lined with linen cloth using PVA. The lining is wider than the spine to provide an attachment point for the original boards.

Dying new bookcloth to match the patina of the old spine piece and boards.

The complete reback, showing the new, dyed bookcloth at the hinges.

The original spine piece was lined with kozo paper and adhered to the new spine cloth with PVA.

The damaged endsheets were left as they were found, but the linen and kozo lining makes this binding as strong as if it were brand new.

The tape-stained folio, after extensive paper repairs.