Restorations

Old books in full calf or morocco bindings can often be restored, rather than rebound. Our expert restorers will ensure your books are structurally sound and usable, whilst retaining as much of their original binding and character as possible.

The most common restoration work is re-jointing and re-backing. Often the joints of a book have weakened and we rejoin the boards to the old back. Where this has deteriorated, we construct a new back, laying the old leather on top if it can be preserved.

Rebinding in period style

If a book is in very poor condition and restoration is inadvisable, it can be rebound in an appropriate style. Calf leather is stained to match the original covers and period decoration can be reproduced from our unique collection of finishing tools.

Prices for restoration

Full restoration costs from £250. If some of the work is not required (e.g. staining, new corners or headbands) then the price is reduced accordingly.

Full restoration includes:

Re-backing in morocco or calf, stained to match the original sides.
Repairing the corners and sometimes the board edges.
Sewing head and tail bands.
Lettering and tooling the spine in an appropriate style.
Mending the inside joints or supplying new endpapers.