Tutorial - How To Repair Old Books

We receive a lot of wonderful vintage books and on occasion, they arrive at Bookishly HQ a little bit worse for wear. We hate to dispose of a brilliant book when it can be repaired so easily, all it takes is a little TLC and a splodge of PVA!

We thought we’d share our top tips on how to mend your well-loved books and get them back up to scratch. This particular tutorial applies to those books where the front cover has come loose.

What you’ll need:

- glue (any type of PVA will do)

- paintbrush

1. Open your book so the binding of the book pages is clearly exposed.

2. Using your paintbrush and a small amount of glue, begin applying directly to the binding of the book pages. It’s important not to apply too much as you don’t want any excess to spill out over the edges.

3. Pay particular attention to the top and bottom of the binding - make sure it has an even, full coverage.

4. Repeat these actions for the spine on the adjacent page, as seen in the photograph below.

5. Leave the glue for about thirty seconds in order for it to dry slightly and become more tacky.

6. Carefully line up the front cover and firmly stick it to the body of the book. Leave overnight to dry, before attempting to open the book.

There you have it!

Still not sure? Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below.