I've been working on the 1871 edition of Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland, published by Macmillan & Co. The client wants to
preserve everything, (well, this isn't a cheap book..) so I thought it would be a good cloth book to feature
here on my blog. As you see on the picture, the cloth cover has a
serious "bubble" problem that needs to be fixed. We've had Alice several
times before - both cloth and leather editions, and somehow, the cloth
copies often have this bubble issue. **sigh**.. Working with old cloth
can be tedious as it's very sensitive to the moisture of the glue.
Re-gluing those bubbled sections without damaging the surface was a bit nerve racking. This book needed
to be externally and internally re-hinged, spine reconstructed and
partially re-sewn. One thing about restoring cloth books that's more tedious than leather books is matching the color of the new material. It's often more difficult to make the repair invisibe when it comes to cloth. This particular book was hell. If it was a solid color without any fades, I could have started drinking beer an hour earlier. (haha..) You see, it took a bit of a brain power and focus to create the exact texture, color and gradation of the original with brand new material. Another thing about this restoration is the sewing. As you see on the picture, the first half of the
sewing was broken, yet the other half was intact. I could have
completely re-sewn this, but there's always a chance for the thickness of the
book to be swollen as the thickness of the thread is always slightly
different from the original thread. For this book, it had to be exactly the same thickness
or the original spine would be too narrow to cover the new, re-hinged spine. So, only the broken half was re-sewn. I just finished this book, and it's in the press to rest overnight. I'll post the completed work tomorrow.
// For the completed work of this book, go to my latter post: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, complete
// For the completed work of this book, go to my latter post: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, complete
I have what I believe is a first edition or a very edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but it is missing the title page. Any suggestions in how I can tell if the book is a first edition?
ReplyDeleteHello,
DeleteAlthough I have handled many Alice editions over the years, I've never paid close attention to such minute details that could identify the first editions to others because the title page indicates it. I don't know if there were ANY differences between early editions other than the title page information... Anyway, I'm sorry to hear that your copy's missing the most important piece of a book. However, as long as I remember, the first and/or early BRITISH editions normally have the binder's mark on the back endsheet, and it should be Burn and Company's. I don't know if your copy is in cloth or leather, it should be in red in either instance, OR, if it's in green, which is very rare, it should be the FIRST or a very, very early American edition,first published by Macmillan, N.Y. in 1865, the same year as the British edition. The thing about Alice is that they are normally very much identical in looks in terms of the materials and designs in earlier editions, so if it's missing the title page, I don't know if anyone can tell you what year it was published. I'll talk to one of my bookseller friends about it. He might know something. Will get back to you later.
Oh, one more thing.. The American Editions don't have the binder's mark, if my memory is correct. And do check the last pages of your Alice - there might be advertizements/endorsements that could give you a clue as to when your copy was published. They added the advertizement section on Alice books for some editions, if I remember correctly.
DeleteThank you very much for shedding some light on this… I haven’t been able to get an honest answer when it comes to this book. One “book store” place said it’s just a nice old copy and said they couldn’t put an actual value on it but wanted to purchase it from me for a couple hundred dollars. This made me think maybe its worth more than a couple hundred bucks.
ReplyDeleteThe book cover is cloth and is green in color. Also no advertizments. I don’t see any burn markings on the covers? If possible I would be willing to send you a few pictures of the book just to get your opinion of the book?
Thanks again!
Hi,
DeleteYeah, pictures will be helpful for my bookseller friend to give me a more precise answer as to the value of your copy, if not the publishing year. My e-mail is bookbinderschronicle@gmail.com.
I've only seen one green American edition Alice in person. In fact, the particular copy is in the bindery at this moment, waiting for us to restore it. It's actually the first edition "Alice's adventure in wonderland and through the looking glass" in one volume. I will be featuring it on my blog in the near future if I get to be the one to fix it.
I would like to start having my old collection of books rebound. I live in the Mt. Vernon, Wa. area and thought you might be able to help me out. Thanks. Mike
ReplyDeleteOf course. ;-) E-mail me, so that I can tell you my bindery information. My e-mail is bookbinderschronicle@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteI want you to be 100% happy with our work, so start with a couple of books. :-)