r/bookrepair

This is the main book I care about, the others have some minor stains but are also coated and its mostly the pages that are a problem. Some of the pages are glued together but I fear the only way out is gently pulling them apart with a letter opener. The gel has hardened and if I melted it the pages would likely get damaged. I would mostly like to know if there is a way to clean the covers instead.

I have some books that are pretty old like 30 years old maybe a little older the cover is pretty brittle doesn’t take much to break and from opening and closing the covers probably gonna come off soon is there any way to soften them up so they aren’t so brittle?

I've noticed that some Spanish manga editions have matte dust jackets that are extremely easy to mark. Even very light contact with a fingernail can leave a visible line or shiny spot. It doesn't seem like an actual scratch, since the matte surface seems to get slightly burnished, making the area reflect light differently.

I've noticed this on several Milky Way Ediciones volumes, including:

• Undercurrent
• Stella, Stella
• Atelier of Witch Hat
• Ocean Endroll
• Skip and Loafer

But I recently noticed the same thing on Ivrea's Spanish edition of Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan, so it may not be exclusive to Milky Way.

Interestingly, I don't have the same problem with my matte Planeta volumes, such as Asadora.

Has anyone else experienced this with any matte manga editions? Does anyone know what type of coating/lamination causes this, or why some matte finishes are much more sensitive than others?

And most importantly: is there any safe way to prevent, reduce, or remove these marks without damaging the dust jacket?

I'd really appreciate any advice, especially from collectors who know about book printing or different types of matte finishes.

I've included photos under angled lighting because the marks are much easier to see that way.

So I was cleaning off my desk and found a bunch of water all over the place. I immediately realized it was coming from my air conditioner by the window. Most of the stuff was blank notebooks and old pamphlets, so they went to the trash. And this book was sitting on the desk and got soaked the most.

To me, it looks like its in good condition. (After days of drying in the sun.) However, I'm looking for ideas, techniques, even DIY methods to restoring this book to greater glory. Am I talking to the right community?

That's the last signature in the book and i think 2 out of 4 of these stitches are broken... Can I fix it somehow without recasing? Other signatures are fine. Second photo is intact one for reference

Hi! I recently noticed these yellow/brown spots on my book and I'm trying to figure out whether this is foxing, mold, or possibly some kind of old moisture damage.

The book is a Spanish edition published in 2024, so I'm a little surprised to see this much spotting. The marks appear on the page edges as well as on several interior pages. Most of them are small yellow/brown spots, although there are a few larger and more diffuse-looking areas.

The spots don't appear fuzzy or powdery to me, and I don't notice anything that looks like active growth, but I'm not sure enough to tell the difference myself.

I've attached several photos, including close-ups of the page edges and interior pages.

Does this look like foxing to you, or could it be mold/moisture damage? Is there anything specific I should check to tell the difference without damaging the book?

Thanks!

Hi so I have a manga that I’ve had for a min but never read and I noticed some of the pages were like sunken in does anyone know how I can fix this?

I bought the series for $100. In almost done with the first and the corners look like this. I carry it occasionally in my backpack because I travel somewhat often. How could I better preserve the corners and the outside?

Thanks in advance

This book has had coffee spilled on it at some point and the mold (?) is under the sleeve flap. Can I fix this? I don’t want it to spread to my other books. It gets on my finger when I wipe it.

Can anyone here recommend and antiquarian bookstore that does restorations? This is a possible first edition of the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. The binding is basically gone. I’m in Raleigh, NC but I’m willing to travel or ship the book.

This particular copy of this book is special to me. I had left it on the porch (covered) for a while. Just noticed yesterday this mold or whatever it is. How should I manage this? Also leaving for vacation tomorrow morning so time is limited.

Hello, I'm new to book restorations, my friend recommended me this place, the uni I attend to was giving away old books they'd throw away if nobody wanted. This one's amazing, but it was really poorly taken care of. Any tips? tutorials? I'm really not sure how to do it. Any help is welcome

I got a couple old books from an apartment clearance. Since some of them are over a hundred years old I think it would be kind of nice to preserve them as good as I can and some of them don't seem to be printed anymore, though their recell price doesn't seem high. I also plan to read them, though one or two of the books might fall apart if not handled extra carefully.

I hope you guys can identify the type of damage and how to treat it if neccessary and how to take care of them in the future, in case they need any extra care.

The following is just a little break down of what I noticed and what I suspect would be a way of taking care of it. You can ignore it, everything important is visible on the pictures!

As visible in the pictures some of the books got a damaged spine. I guess covering it with the right type of tape, as it has previously been done with the book in pic2, would be the easiest way to fix it. The book in pic1 has basically blank pages, does that change anything?

Some of the pages look like salted wood when closed. The discoloration doesn't seem to cover the rest of the pages. Is it a result of fungi as with wood and if yes is spaying the edges of the pages with an alcohol solution enough?

One of the books has some pages already ripped out and it looks to me as if some of the other pages are partially falling out already. I do not mind loose pages while reading though I would love if I don't cause more pages to come loose. Not sure what to do outside of taking them together or beeing super careful handling the book. What do you think should or should I do?

The spots on the pages are probably just from dirty fingers and spillage of previous readers. I just added them in case I am mistaken.

This is my diary/scrapbook. It isn’t even half full and looks like this. Is there a way to easily let this expand?
I was thinking of just cutting off the spine cover, letting it expand and then using duct tape to cover the spine again
EDIT Thanks everyone, so sounds like duct tape is a bad idea. Time to start watching YouTube videos about bookbinding