Simple bookbinding restoration for private libraries
(ongoing)
Simple bookbinding restoration for private libraries
(ongoing)
If you need your library to be rebound,
please contact me at: info@dsartistrylabs.com
How research becomes form - and what a 1930 thesis reveals about how we work with books today
A Master’s thesis: C.S. Buck, Pioneer Art and Architecture — the origins and character of early architecture and practical arts of Ontario to 1850.
Three volumes and three supplements,1930, held at Western Libraries.
What appears at first glance to be “just a thesis” unfolds into something far more complex.
The work consists of three large volumes — nearly 1,000 leaves — mostly handwritten, with sections typed, interwoven with hundreds of original pencil drawings and photographs printed from negatives and mounted by hand. Architectural details, roof structures, porches, domestic objects, stonework, metalwork, furniture — each element is observed, recorded, and placed within a larger visual and historical narrative. Plus three supplements — additional oversized albums extend the work further with plans, drawings, and photographic material.
What becomes visible through these pages is not only documentation, but a method.
The author travelled across Ontario, drawing on site, photographing, annotating, assembling — building a visual archive through direct encounter. This project does not read as a student submission, but as a work shaped by long-term dedication — the result of sustained, attentive looking that is increasingly rare — a form of research carried out through direct observation, drawing, and material engagement over time that passes through the hand before becoming knowledge. Documentation, interpretation, and making are inseparable.
Suppl. n. 1
Before restoration:
the binding structure is broken; the volume needs the full rebinding process.
Treatment included:
- Complete disbinding and removal of old adhesive and fragments
- Restoration and attachment of strips on the leaves
- Rebinding of the book block without cords (because the boards remained attached to the endbands & leaves)
- Sewing and installation of new endbands
- Saturation of the loose corners with glue
- Spine lining and re-attachment to the boards
- Attachment of the new leather spine with original labels, and consolidation around endbands
- New leather corners
- Re-attachment of the endpapers
- Light tinting of old covers
After restoration:
Suppl. n. 2 & 4
Before restoration:
The volumes need the full rebinding process. The book spine was originally made with too large spacing between signatures to accommodate leaves wrinkled by moisture when photos were glued. Therefore, the book spine should be replaced with a proper binding spine. The boards are curved as well.
During restoration
Treatment included:
- Complete disbinding and removal of old book spine, adhesive and fragments
- Sewing of additional paper guards between each signature to reach the necessary volume at sewing points (this replaces the original spine structure)
- Sewing and installation of new endbands
- Spine doublage and re-attachment to the boards
- Straightening out wrinkled sheets
- Tinting of the boards
- Attachment of the new leather spine and consolidation around endbands
After restoration:
Pioneers Art and Architecture, C.S. Buck, 1930 (a MA thesis held at Western Libraries), three volumes.
Before restoration:
The bindinga are structurally failed. All signatures are separated; the spine is severely damaged, requiring duplication on new leather; endbands are missing; the edges of the leaves are crumbling; and numerous leaves are detached. The book was originally sewn in Japanese stab style, with single leaves rather than folded signatures. Detached leaves therefore require the addition of paper guards to allow rebinding.
Treatment included:
- Complete disbinding and removal of old adhesive and cord fragments
- Attachment of paper guards to the detached leaves at sewing points: many were falling apart during disbanding because the paper was already broken along the sewing holes.
- Conservation of several leaves which were broken, with cracked edges or falling apart
- Rebinding of the book block (27 signatures each volume)
- Sewing and installation of new endbands
- Spine lining and re-attachment of cords to the boards for structural reinforcement
- Duplication of the spine on a new piece of leather, preserving the original piece
- Attachment of the duplicated spine and consolidation around endbands
AESOPI, Fables, 1641
before restoration
during restoration
after restoration
Man and Spirit, before-during-after restoration
Poems by Walter Scott, before-during-after restoration
Personal history of David Copperfield, before-during-after restoration
A.Lurie's Garibaldi, Moscow, 1938
A series of Turkish books on history