Rebinds and repairsFig. 2
Rebinds and repairs
A repair keeps a book's own cover and mends what has worn through. A rebind takes it down to its sections and builds it again.
- Repairs 2 to 3 weeks
- Rebinds 4 to 6 weeks
- Leather 6 to 8 weeks
- 1Shoulder
- 2Spine lining
- 3Hollow tube
- 4Sewing thread
- 5Case
Fig. 2 A rounded and backed spine in section
Repair or Rebind
Most books need a repair. A few need building again, and the three photographs usually show which.
A repair keeps the original cover. The cloth at the joints is lifted, a new strip of cloth or thin tissue is worked in underneath, and the old spine is laid back where it was, with its title and its wear intact. For most family books this is the right answer, because the cover is often the part people remember.
A rebind takes the book down to its sections. The old glue is cleaned off the folds, torn folds are guarded with strips of paper, and the sections are sewn again on linen tapes. The book gets new boards, a new case and paste paper endpapers, and if the old spine label survived it can be laid onto the new spine.
Why the Bindery Sews on Tapes
A glued text block holds until the glue dries out, and then the pages leave one at a time. Sewing each section through its fold onto three linen tapes holds every page by its own thread. The tapes run across the spine and out under the boards, so the book is held to its case by cloth and thread, not by glue alone.
A book sewn on tapes also opens properly. It does not snap shut, and it does not crack down the middle when it is opened flat. The same sewing is what makes the blank journals lie flat on a desk.
Cloth, Quarter Leather or Full Leather
Bookcloth comes in eleven colours, from a deep green and an oxblood red to a plain grey linen. It is woven cotton backed with paper, it wipes clean, and it is the right covering for a book that will be used every day.
A quarter leather binding has a leather spine with cloth or paste paper sides, and suits an old book that was leather to begin with. Full leather covers the whole book in goatskin, pared thin at the edges by hand, and takes the longest, because each stage has to dry before the next begins.
Prices and Lead Times
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Assessment from three photographs
Free
Send the photographs and the height in centimetres. You get back what the book needs and a fixed quote.
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Joint or spine repair, original cover kept
650 to 1,400 CZK
The range depends on how much of the spine survives and whether the headcaps need rebuilding.
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Full rebind in bookcloth
2,400 to 3,800 CZK
Resewn on tapes, new boards and paste paper endpapers. The range depends on size and page count.
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Quarter leather rebind
from 5,200 CZK
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Full leather rebind
from 7,800 CZK
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Title stamped in foil on a spine
350 CZK per line
A deposit of 30 percent is due on any job over 3,000 CZK, with the balance on collection or before the book is posted back. Quotes are fixed once the book is on the bench.
What the Bindery Turns Away
None of these is a judgement on the book. They are simply jobs that would do it harm, or that belong somewhere else.
- Faking age. New leather is never distressed to look old, least of all for a book going to resale.
- Trimming the margins of an old book to make it look tidy. The margins are part of the book.
- Comb, spiral, wire or glue only thesis binding, and any job wanted in under a week.
- Repairs with self adhesive tape, or removing old tape stains to an invisible finish.
- Books with active mould. They are welcome back once they have been treated and dried.
- Breaking up an old book to sell its plates or maps.
After the Rebind
A rebuilt book wants what any book wants: a shelf out of direct sun, neighbours of about the same height, and a hand at the middle of the spine when it comes off the shelf, not a finger hooked over the headcap. Anything too fragile for an open shelf is better kept in a box made to measure, and those are on archival boxes.