Hinge tightening

To keep books circulating (or books on the shelf of your own home from being read to pieces) there is some pretty remedial book repair that can correct damage. One of these repairs is hinge tightening. The hinge is where books (typically) start to break down first.

To get started, you will need a few things:

Adhesive (PVA)

Paintbrush

A bone folder

A knitting needle

Brick

Wax paper

Paper towel

 

1. Take a quick measurement of the length of the book with your knitting needle (this one was a size 4; it worked well). This will let you know how far up the length of the needle to apply the glue.

 

 

2. Apply a light coating of glue to the needle – you may want to do this speedily as the glue dries quickly.

 

 

3. Fan out the book covers so the spine is facing you and the text block is facing away; apply the glue along the inside of the hinges (note: this is between the endpaper of the book and the inside of the case); turn the needle around several times (and/or move the needle up and down) to make sure the majority of the interior hinge is covered.

 

 

4. With a paper towel, wipe any of the glue that may have spilled onto the endpaper.

 

 

5. Using a bone folder, work in (i.e. gently pull down) the hinge from the outside of the book.

 

 

6. Turn and work the other hinge.

 

 

7. With the book open, lay the board on the end of a table. Rework the joint in the hinge from the other side (i.e. the endpaper) – this has the added bonus of working in the glue from the other side of the hinge. Flip book; repeat.

 

  8. Square up the binding.  

 

9. Place sheets of wax paper between endpapers and the inside of the case (to prevent pages from sticking when the glue dries). Place a (cleaned) needle along the joint. Place a covered brick on top and let it dry under pressure.

Thank you to Anthony Penny for taking pictures, demoing and talking me through this process. Thank you also to Lorraine James for giving me this idea for a post.

For more on basic book repair see pp. 237-9 in “The Conservation of General Collections,” by Jan Merrill-Oldham and Nancy Carlson Schrock in Preservation: Issues and Planning edited by Paul N. Banks and Roberta Pilette (Chicago: American Library Association, 2000).