Sympathetic restoration of old and valuable books in cloth or leather
We've been lovingly restoring old and valuable books for nearly thirty years. The
quality of our workmanship is first class and the materials we use are the very
best. Everything that can be saved will be saved, including old endpapers, headbands,
inscriptions, old boards and spines. Types of books we restore include:
- Leather books
- Sentimental books
- Family books
- Archives
- Albums
- Religious books
- Large family bibles
- Small personal bibles
- Old leather accounts' books
- Any book that's past its best
The restoration process
The usual place for a book to break is along the joint - this is the working part
of the book. When this happens the book needs
re-backing.
Re-backing is the process of lifting the old cloth or leather, re-binding the back
of the book in a matching material, then re-fixing the old material on top. The
old spine is then fixed to the new back.
That sounds easy but it takes a little practice, maybe thirty years! Corners are
treated in a similar fashion; if the old spine is missing, the book is re-lettered
in a sympathetic way, to match the age and style of the book.
National and international service
From our Berkshire premises, we take on restoration work from across the UK, Europe
and worldwide.