Report on The Art of War in Europe

I don't seem to post my works on cloth binding restorations here as much as leather bindings, so I decided to put this up. It's Report on The Art of War in Europe in 1854, 1855, and 1856 by Colonel Richard Delafield, under the order of Jefferson Davis, printed by George W. Bowman. (1861, Washington D.C) The client asked to preserve everything, including the written names of Jefferson Davis and George B McClellan, along with a bookplate depicting firearms on the front endpaper. (The picture on the right. I wonder if it was one of those official Army's book plates in the Civil War era.. I have to ask Mr. Jaffe about it.) Restoring cloth bindings is way trickier than that of leather bindings' because aged cloth is extremely fragile to work with and matching the color and texture of new material to the original cloth perfectly is time-consuming and difficult. Well, troublesome jobs always end up being on my table, so no surprise there. - (Master would say things like "Oh, your tiny fingers are perfect for an intricate job like this. *grin*"...) Anyway, as I examined the original case, the entire edges were worn out horribly in a way that convinced me that the book needed a brand new case. (Pictures on the left.) I could patch them up and rehinge it, but for this book, I knew that the extremely fragile cloth material wouldn't react well with rather intense restoration process, resulting the end product to look terrible, let alone the fact it wouldn't have enough integrity to last long. By creating a new case, I needed to peel off the entire front endpaper with the written names and a bookplate, so that I could put it back onto the new endpaper. I antiqued the new endpapers as well, so that they match the original endpaper and don't shout out "NEW!". (The picture in the middle.) The original spine, the front and back covers were inlaid back onto the new case. Well, everything turned out as I expected it to be, and I thought I was done there... then, I remembered there were dozens of folded maps in the book....You see, normally, folded maps and graphics are crumbled and torn and need repairing. In this case, there were DOZENS! Well, I just finished mending them at last, and the book will be on the way to the East Coast soon.
--------About the Bookplate---------
Mr. Jaffe said: "The item in question is a universal bookplate. They are made so the owner can write his or her name in the blank space.Unfortunately it has very little value."

Northfield High School Yearbook, 1927

School yearbooks are something that I really don't wanna open, unless someone asks me for a good laugh. You know, there's always someone whose picture makes you think, like, "WTF !?!" or " Damn,, it must suck to be you.." sorta thing, and my yearbook pictures definitely belong to the category. I have an unusually thick and tough hair for an Asian and when I was a kid, I really didn't take care of it so well. And because my mom kept it short throughout my childhood, my hair always looked like a mad scientist's after his lab got exploded. - The ultimate bad-hair-years was what it was. So, whenever we get yearbook restoration jobs here, I habitually look through the pages, looking for someone with whom I can commiserate! Anyway, aside from my bad habit of cynically checking out the photos, it's always interesting to see the styles and fashions of each era. This yearbook was published in 1927 for Northfield High School in Minnesota. People in there are all looking fabulous.. (I couldn't find a single "WTF!" picture.. Damn it! And for your information, people were all fit back then... Pre-fast food era....) Anyway, in terms of restoration, the client wanted a brand new leather case with the original front cover inlay-ed, and the book needed to be re-sewn. It was a simple job.

Wood's Complete Natural History, 1898

Here's another book of Mr. K. This is Wood's Complete Natural History by Rev. J. G. Wood, published by Orange Judd Company in 1898. You'd think that this book just needed a new cover made, but actually, I had to completely re-sew this one because it was stapled. I've seen quite a few books that are put together by staples, and many of those have contents compiled in gathered signatures instead of loose sheets. Yet, somehow, the manufacturer didn't sew them at the end. Hummm, well, they must have saved a quarter of a cent by not sewing it, but why on earth did they spend money to create signatures that they didn't need? Maybe, the book block was a left over from other edition of the same book which was actually sewn? I don't know.... Anyhow, in case some people are curious about how they put the staples on this particular book, I took some pictures of them. You see, those "cheapen it" type people seemed to have pursued the least expensive way to staple such a thick book block. They stapled from the front & back slightly off to each other so that the staples on opposite sides don't meet. Anyway, I took it apart and resewed it. I was just gonna inlay the original cover graphics on the cover, but both front & back the original graphics had different pictures printed on their back sides, so I didn't wanna use them to inlay. - if I did, the graphics on the back will be forever gone. So, I scanned & printed them for the cover inlays, and kept the originals inside the book in clear plastic sheets that are sewn with the book. By doing this, it allows both sides of the graphics to be viewed.

Three children's books, complete

I've forgotten to post the completed works of these three books here. Like I said, they were simple new case jobs. I've included a picture of Five Little Peppers with the repaired rat damage section above. It really was kinda nasty though it doesn't look nasty now! According to the order instruction, I didn't need to inlay the original graphic of Honk-A-Tonk Takes a Trip on the front cover, but I did it anyway. (No extra charge, of course.) It just takes half an hour to do it, and I wanted it to look just like the original. Anyhow, we finally got snow here by the way, and it's freaking cold!! We don't get much snow here, so when it snows, people get really excited and start playing on the street and all. I don't get it. I mean, I'm from a country where it snows often. And if you really wanna know how I feel about snow, "Only kids and dogs dig it." is it... You see, when it snows heavily, traffic gets jammed, accidents happen, public transportation stops, and my butt gets frozen! What's so fun about that!?

// For before pictures of these books, go to my former post: Three Children's Books

Ching Li and the Dragons, complete

I actually cased-in this book (basically finished) on the 30th, but I took a couple of days off after that, so I didn't see it till today. Well, it came out alright. As you see on the pictures, I inlaid the original graphic on the new front cover on the exactly the same position as original, repaired paper and put the insignia back onto the endpaper. For your information regarding the "inlay", I create an indented "window" on the board for the graphic to rest flat or slightly lower on the surface, so that the fingers won't touch and peel the edges off when being handled - we don't just stick it on the surface. We use the same approach on the spine inlay, as well. Anyway, I hope the client's gonna be happy when she sees it. Oh, yeah, a day (or two? depends on where YOU live) late, but,,, A happy new year to you all!! (あけましておめでとう!! Bonne Année! Buon anno! Feliz Año Nuevo! Καλή χρονιά! Gutes Neues Jahr! С Новым Годом ! สวัสดีปีใหม่! ) It's been only about a month since I started this blog, but it seems that there are people ( you, maybe!?) who come here regularly. (though I don't advertise it much.. How did you find my blog?) I'm basically just writing about books which I restore, so I really didn't think anyone would be interested in reading such a boring stuff. But, I guess I was wrong. Thanks for your interest. Bookbinding is considered a dead art. It has been getting very popular amongst hobbyists and book-artists in recent years, but still, sadly, the real bookbinding trade seems to be an obscure craft. Since I've figured there are people who are truly interested in this "dead art", I think I'll try to write more tips and techniques of bookbinding, and create tutorial videos more often. I have no way of knowing who visits my blog except for the two "followers", (it's nice to know, for real, someone's reading my blog..) so I really don't know what I write has any benefit to anyone. It feels like dealing with ghosts, really. But I just gonna keep hoping this blog will help keeping my traditional profession alive for the future. Whoever comes here and has questions regarding bookbinding, (however basic or deep it is) let me know via comment or if you don't wanna be in the "public eye", e-mail - bookbinderschronicle@gmail.com. I'd be happy to answer (anonymously).  The thing is, I don't know what people wanna know about bookbinding.. You gotta have to tell me what.. seriously...
// For before pictures of this book, go to my former post: Ching Li and the Dragons by Alice Woodbury Howard