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Appreciation post: The old library in Beacon, NY has a display of 19th century binding repairs
They had a book from 1872 with a spine rebacked using what looked like handmade marbled paper. The hinge was reinforced with a super thin, almost translucent leather I've never seen before. Anyone know a modern supplier for that kind of material?
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troysanchez6mo ago
My grandpa used to do book repairs as a hobby. He'd get that thin leather from old glove linings or sometimes cut up a worn-out wallet. The grain was always super fine, almost like tissue paper.
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wendyc536mo ago
That's such a cool memory from @troysanchez. My own grandpa saved all the thin leather from old baseball gloves for the same thing. He'd use it to fix the spines on his mystery novels. The leather from a well-oiled mitt was already soft and perfect for bending around a book's corner. It felt like giving the story a new life with a piece of another story, you know?
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rowanc294mo ago
Used to think repairing books was a little fussy, honestly. But what @wendyc53 said about giving a story new life with a piece of another story, that really hit home. Never looked at a worn-out mitt the same way since.
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