max808•16d ago

The librarian who asked me to fix her 1923 travel guide

Last Thursday a local librarian brought me this beat-up 1923 travel guide with a cracked spine and missing pages, asked if I could do anything without a full rebuild. She watched me work for 20 minutes and said she didnt care about perfect, she just wanted to be able to open it without the pages falling out. I recased it with rice paper and linen tape, cost her $45, but now Im wondering if there are better ways to handle brittle paper than the standard Japanese tissue trick for these older books with coated stock.

2 comments

2 Comments

hunt.jana16d ago

Rice paper held up fine on my 1930s atlas, but I added a second layer on the folded bits.

blake_martinez16d ago

Double layered the spine creases on an old road atlas from the 60s and it worked like a charm. That extra bit really saves the weak spots from ripping out over time. Glad someone else tried it cause I was nervous about wrecking mine.