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A librarian in Boise handed me a book with the cover on backwards and I have thoughts
I was at a tiny book repair workshop in Boise back in April and the librarian running it pulled out a 1960s novel where the cover board had been glued on upside down. She said a volunteer did it in 1998 and nobody noticed for 20 years because the spine still read fine on the shelf. Now I check every finished book by opening it flat and looking at the headband before I call it done. Does anyone else have a goofy check like that, or am I the only one who got burned by a backwards cover?
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lee58213h ago
Oh man, that librarian was pulling your leg a little! Volunteers didn't do much cover work in 1998, most libraries had already stopped rebinding by then and just tossed worn books or sent them to a bindery. Still, the headband check is a solid habit, I do the same thing with the hinge after I glue anything back together.
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karenwest13h ago
So when you're checking the hinge after a glue job, what exactly are you looking for, just that it opens and closes clean without cracking, or do you do the wiggle test where you hold the text block and see if the cover moves on its own? I've got a 1970s paperback where the hinge felt fine right after I fixed it, but two weeks later it started separating again near the spine ends. Do you press the whole thing under weight for a day or two, or is that overkill for a quick repair? Curious how you handle the cheap glued bindings versus the sewn ones, because they seem to fail in totally different spots.
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