The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde - An Adventure of Paper Repair with a Limp Leather Finish

I found a tiny leather copy of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in a used bookstore here in Providence. Gross and rusty green I thought this would look great in a different leather cover.

The paper inside, burned from the acid of the leather, needed a lot of repair. Because the few fragile sections were completely uneven, my first task was to take everything apart. Thread was cut, pages (folios) were separated. The rips and tears through the creases of the folios would need mending and new strength if I was to sew through them again.

I toned some Kizukishi (japanese tissue paper) to match the darkened paper and prepared some wheat paste. The tiny strips of tissue were applied carefully with tweezers onto the missing or cracking pieces of the pages. Everything sat for about twenty minutes or so under weight to ensure proper adhering.

After the paper had been repaired I found thread that matched the original thread used and sewed the sections back together. The story was ready for a limp leather case. If you scroll below you can read about the Limp Leather process.

While the book looked snug and pretty in it's new leather case, strong and true, it lacked something. A title. A gold title.

Hope you've enjoyed!