Have some old film books I would like to get refurbished. Help?

[GishFan]

Anybody know about how much it would cost to get old, fragile books rebound? I would love to look through a couple that I have, but they are very fragile and the pages would come out if I opened it to far. The books are 1929 Who's Who on the Screen, and 1932 Life and Lillian Gish. I have the latter in a recent tradeback release so that one isn't a priority.

[R Michael Pyle]

It's NOT cheap. I have books rebound all the time. One place to look is a place in town or nearby that binds books for firms or libraries. A good library binding - and that's a type - is much less expensive than a custom made cover. Starting price is usually around $95. If you're a library and having 50 copies bound, then the price CAN, but doesn't always go down. Sometimes down to even as low as $25. For the public at large - a private person - no such luck - usually - again, usually. Good luck. Hope you prove me wrong and find a much less expensive way to get your books rebound.

[Jim Roots]

Gishfan, where are you located? I know of two places in southern Ontario (Canada), but I don't know if you live anywhere close enough to visit them for a consultation.

Jim

[GishFan]

Unfortunately, not close. I'm in Kentucky. Sounds like it's going to be too expensive for me to pursue. Thanks for the replies.

[boblipton]

Unfortunately, not close. I'm in Kentucky. Sounds like it's going to be too expensive for me to pursue. Thanks for the replies.

It’s been some time since I was in the Blue Grass State, but I’m pretty sure they have public libraries,there. Go over to your nearest one, explains your problem to one of the senior librarians, and I’m sure you’ll be told where you can get some rebounding done.

Bob

[Dave Pitts]

I have some fallback solutions that may not be what you're looking for -- but here goes.
1) For older hardcovers where the cover is close to detaching from the text, I use cloth library book repair tape. I bought a roll of it 20 years ago from Demco, a library supply co., and I'm still using it. It's not a solution if there are multiple sections of text coming loose -- then you would end up with more loose connections than book tape will solve. This tape fits on both sides of the inner crease -- you dampen it, press it into place, and let the tape dry and set for a few hours.
2) Demco also sells book glue, which I have used when the binding glue is so old that it's crumbling and falling out as you hold the book (sometimes you'll also see bits of backing paper falling out of the spine when the book is opened.) I have successfully fixed a number of older books with this problem. In some cases, there were visible cracks when the book was opened, and I squeezed some glue into the break with the book held open. In other cases, there was room at the top of the binding for me to hold the book closed and force some glue down into the binding. Sometimes it leaves a lumpy impression on the book's spine, but I put up with that if it fixes the breakdown problem.
3) My paperback of Psychotronic Films cracked into several sections, so I divided the book into 2 equal chunks, took it to a custom print shop that puts Velcro covers on manuscripts, and had the original book made into 2 volumes with Velcro bindings. I think it cost around $15.
Good luck. It's a bummer when books fall apart.

[Dave Pitts]

Gummed that up. Didn't mean to print it twice.