The headband with reading ribbons
Sewing the one core, two thread head band, fixing the six reading ribbons at the same time
Sewing the one core, two thread end band
While the cotton strips are not punctured, they are firmly fixed to the spine
The French link stitch is my favourite sewing method
The start of sewing both signatures and spine-strengthening cotton strips
Punching new holes
Cutting the end papers
Before and after
Now I have signatures that can be re-bound
I decide to go for reparation rather than restoration and use Scotch tape
Tests to restore the outer paper of the signatures in a traditional way fail
The old glue can’t be removed from the fragile paper
The cover has fallen apart
A 1950s edition of Jane Austen’s six novels

Don Quixote 1931 edition

The end result.
The top head band and reading ribbon.
The lower head band.
The top head band with the reading ribbon.
While drying, the sheets of baking paper function prevents the moisture of the glue to damage the fragile book pages.
The end papers have now been glued into the front and back cover and need to dry.
Fitting the cover around the book block.
The new cover and the book block.
The book block and the cover.
The front of the new cover and the book block.
The cover paper is glued onto the three parts of the cover.
Cutting the corners of the cover paper to make beautiful corners.
The new cover, spine and back board are reinforced with a light black cart board.
The upper and lower head bands are now glued onto the spine.
Reinforcing the spine with broad archival hinging tissue which is Ph Neutral.
Creating the upper and lower head band from a piece of string and some beautiful fabric.
Glueing the end papers to the first and last page.
The reading ribbon and the endpapers are now firmly fixed to the book.
I prefer to sew the reading ribbon to the stitches in addition to glueing it to the spine.
The end papers.
Choosing the colour of the endpapers and reading ribbon to match the dark blue cover paper.
The backside of the original cover.
Fitting the original cover into the frame of the cover paper.
Although the edges have been glued, I wanted to reinforced them with self-adhesive hinging tissue paper.
The front of the new cover with frame.
Folding the cover paper around the edges of the frame.
The cartboard frame put in place on the heavy book cover paper. Note that I have made the corners black as these cannot be covered by folding the paper around the frame.
Back, spine and front cover
Fitting the original cover in a new frame of book cover cart board
Cutting the original but damaged cover
All signatures sewn together
All signatures are sewn together
Sewing the signatures by using the ever-elegant French Link Stitch
All signatures now have a glue-free back and are ready to be sewn
Using an archival self-adhesive hinging tissue paper which is Ph Neutral.
Stabilizing the fragile paper of each signature.


Miniature book with classical Haiku’s

After the printing proces, the 5x6cm pages are folded into groups called signatures
Sewing the signatures and endpapers
The text block completed
The beauty of French link stitching
Glueing the spine with archival corn starch glue. Archival glue offers the bookbinder the opportunity to take the book apart without damaging it.
Sewing the one core headband with two beads of colours. As you can see, the core is just a plain piece of string. The reading ribbon has also been attached to the spine.
The headband is fixed in five signatures.

The head and endbands strengthen the structural integrity of the book in a highly ornamental way.

Wrapping the cloth around the cardboard covers and spine
Glueing the text block into the cover
The end result
The text block fits nicely into the cover
The end paper
he inside of the book with reading ribbon

Notebook

Stitching the signatures
Glueing the spine
Creating a head and endband from a ribbon wrapped around a piece of string
Glueing the reading ribbon and headband to the spine
Glueing the endband to the spine
Strengthening the spine with a piece of heavy black paper
Measuring the cover paper to fit the cardboard front and back cover and spine
Folding and glueing the cover paper around the cardboard parts
The end result
The end paper
A lovely looking notebook