may be re-backed. Any of the leather
of the back that remains should be carefully removed and preserved. It
is impossible to get some leathers off tight backs without destroying
them, but with care and by the use of a thin folder, many backs can be
saved. The leather on the boards is cut a little back from the joint
with a slanting cut, that will leave a thin edge, and is then lifted
up with a folder. New leather, of the same colour is pasted on the
back, and tucked in under the old leather on the board. The leather
from the old back should have its edges pared and any lumps of glue or
paper removed and be pasted on to the new leather and bound tightly
with tape to make sure that it sticks.

When the leather at the corners of the board needs repairing, the
corner is glued and tapped with a hammer to make it hard and square,
and when it is dry a little piece of new leather is slipped under the
old and the corner covered.

When the sewing cords or thread of a book have perished it should be
rebound, but if there are any remains of the original binding they
should be preserved and utilised. If the old boards have quite
perished, new boards of the same nature and thickness should be got
out and the old cover pasted over them. Such places as the old leather
will not cover, must first be covered with new of the same colour.
Generally speaking, it is desirable that the characteristics of an old
book should be preserved, and that the new work should be as little in
evidence as possible. It is far more pleasant to see an old book in a
patched contemporary binding, than smug and tidy in the most
immaculate modern cover.

Part of the interest of any old book is its individual history, which
can be gathered from the binding, book-plates, marginal notes, names
of former owners, &c., and anything that tends to obliterate these
signs is to be deplored.

SPECIFICATIONS

SPECIFICATIONS FOR BOOKBINDING

These specifications will require modification in special cases, and
are only intended to be a general guide.

------------+---------+-------------+----------+--------+----------+-------
| SHEETS. | END PAPERS. | PRESSING.| EDGES. | SEWING. | BACK.
------------+---------+-------------+----------+--------+----------+-------
|To be |To be sewn |Books on |To be |To be with|To be
I. |carefully|on. To be of |handmade |trimmed |ligature