 I tried to touch the book as little as possible in the restoration. The binding was completely destroyed, making it a stack of folded folio pages. I re-sewed the binding with linen thread in the "cord binding" style. The spine is covered with leather, but I left the original, worn covers exposed to show the fancy relief work and gold inlay decoration. The new glue in the binding is home-made flour paste, which I prefer for its archival and historic qualities. |
Robin Hood
2003 book restoration. 5"x7" This book was given to me by a good friend who stumbled across it in an antique shop. The second most impressive thing about this book is the inscription inside the cover: To Barbara, with love.
From Uncle Dan, 1/ 7/ 27 My mind boggles. Who was this Dan fellow? Was it a late Christmas present? Is Barbara still alive in a nursing home somewhere? This artifact makes me keenly aware of the time-travelling nature of a book. Then, once I'd had the tiny tome for many months, I noticed the first most impressive thing on the title sheet, in small print at the bottom: London: MDCCCXLI
For those who are not Roman, that's 1841. That means that when Uncle Dan gave this book, it was already 86 years old. Was Barbara old enough to appreciate this antique? Holy cow, I own something that is 162 years old. In 1841, they didn't even know there was gold in California, and they thought that mice were spontaneously generated by grain. Penicillin was almost a century away. Submarines and rifle cartridges were unheard of. And this book, this selfsame collection of papers, saw it all- and now sits on a shelf next to my computer in air conditioned luxury. Hmm. |