Stanley Gibbons Concise Binding Repair

A little while ago while flipping through my 2014 edition, I heard a cracking sound and discovered the cover had come completely loose in the back. The front is holding for now.

Any advice on the best way to repair this? I think I've read that this can be a problem with this particular catalog from SG.

Thanks in advance.

Dale

I've used Brodart materials of various kinds in the past. Sadly, their materials are rather better than my skills ...

http://www.shopbrodart.com/archival-supplies/

Mine is completely loose and has been for some time

If you post a few pics, I would be happy to advise.

Hardback or paperback?

mine is the paperback as most of the SG catalogs are. Covers are just glued on at the spine.

can you post an image of the problem.

thanks

joe

Here is one image

Sorry for the delay in replying. The image dutchman posted shows what happened to my copy, only in my case the back cover came loose.

Dale

Part of my day job is doing book repair (I own a used bookshop).

You want to use a book binding glue, like PVA. PVA stands for Polyvinyl acetates. Don't use Elmer's glue --it will crack when dry.

What makes it so good and why it's recommended in all sorts of projects is this:

It's pretty much acid-free which makes it ideal for archival work...In other words, it has a neutral PH.

It's pretty flexible -- which is what you want. The spine will flex as you use it, so you want a glue that flexes when dry.

It is milky white when wet, but it dries clear.

It cleans ups, while wet, with soap and water.

You might need to rough up the old adhesive. Sometimes it is hard to get anything to sick to some glues that is used in perfect (paperback) bindings.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Dutchman, I examined my Concise catalog and it is a modern, perfect bound book...meaning get that it is single sheets/leaves glued together on the spine. The glue used in this process is flexible, but not reversible (not water soluble).

Your book can most probably be easily repaired. You can do the repair with some flexible PVA glue, and a flat (artist's style) brush.

You can search online for flexible PVA glue. I believe you can get it at Michael's, or Hobby Lobby. Do not use Elmer's glue, or any similar NON-flexible PVA glue. It dries brittle/stiff, and is not suitable for book repair.

If it were my book, and I were doing a simple repair like this, I would do a simple test first. I would take a tiny strip of paper and paint it with the PVA glue, and affix it to the spine. The reason for the test is to see how well the paper becomes affixed to the spine. Let the test piece dry for at least an hour, and if it sticks as well as I believe it will, you are in business. If it does not stick completely, you need to use a different glue, or perhaps the spine a bit to get a better surface for adhesion. My experience is that the glue used by commercial printers/binders tends to adhere adequately to what I apply...in the rare instances that I have glued over it.

To put your book back together, you simply paint the spine, and the spine of the cover with the glue, and carefully put the book back together. Also you will need to paint the book about 1/8 inch near the spine, where it was done by the commercial binders. You don't want to use much glue here, or it will bleed further out.

After the gluing, rest the book on a flat surface and put a heavy weight/another book on top for several hours.

This is not the ideal method of repair, but it will work as long as the original glue remains flexible. So, it should work for some years because the Concise is not a heavy book that will put a lot of stress on the adhesive.

Thanks for the recommendation on the PVA glue. I just ordered some from Amazon and it should arrive later today.

Dale