If you collect old books, sooner or later you'll need to do some repair and restoration on your precious and ancient tomes. Knowing how to restore old books can help protect the value of your collection. Matching modern techniques to old book-making methods can be challenging, and if you want your book repair job to look authentic and seamless, you'll need to go about it the old fashioned way. Recently released is a reprint of a very old title on book repair and restoration that will teach you everything you need to know to get your antique books back into shape.

Book Repair and Restoration: A Manual of Practical Suggestions for Bibliophiles, Including Some Translated Selections From Essai Sur L'art de ... et Les Livres, par A. Bonnardot, Paris, 1858 was resurrected to see the light of day once more by General Books LLC this past January, 2012. Written by Mitchell Starrett Buck, the book covers all the basics of book restoration, from repairing to cleaning. How to remove grease spots on covers, special considerations for leather-bound books, and freshening a morocco binding are among the topics described.

The book is old, the reprint of an original from 1858, and it shows in the cumbersome and old-fashioned language. If you can get through all that, however, this book is really a great reference to repairing and restoring very old books.

Whether you collect old books of all sorts, or repair books from all eras, Book Repair and Restoration is a historic classic to add to your collection.