Of Leather Supply and Flexibility

Question: Do you have a page with pictures of all your leathers and colors?

Answer: No. This is much harder than you would think.

If we did Bible covers in bonded leather as others do, we wouldn't have to worry about supply. Bonded leather comes in rolls like paper towels and there's no waste. It reminds you of Pringles, being formed out of leather dust and glue and made into precisely the desired, predictable shape. It comes in predictable amounts and can be ordered all the time, like your favorite brand of toilet paper.

But we see far too many bonded leather covers that are cracked, broken, chipped, and completely deteriorated to ever use the stuff. And real, genuine leather is harder to find.

Our stock of leathers is constantly changing -- at times we run out of a particular leather and find out it's no longer available, and at the same time, we receive beautiful new leathers, not previously available to us. Sometimes this is a little difficult if you received a price quote from us several months ago and have saved up the money gradually for a rebinding job. When there's a time lag like that, it's often advisable to ask for a new price quote. That will give you an opportunity to browse the current possibilities and maybe even change your mind.

For instance, we were out of buffalo grain burgundy pigskin for quite awhile, but have just gotten new hides in. This glossy leather with a beautiful criss-cross grain makes a very lovely Bible cover. We also have recently added a very cool soft chocolate brown sheepskin, good for smaller Bibles, and flexible purple cowhide. There are no pictures of these on our website, and it could take awhile before we are able to upload anything. But they would make great Christmas presents!

Question: In your opinion, is the mark of a good Bible binding the amount of flexibility in the leather?

Answer: (Answering this may get me into trouble with some higher profile Bible lovers, but I'll do my best.)

No, it's more complex than that.

Personally, I don't have a whole lot of appreciation for a floppy Bible. The "butter melting in the hand" model is inconvenient for carrying and unless you're in the habit of twisting your Bible into a pretzel, too much flexibility makes a Bible hard to hold while preaching.

On our Bibles, we try to reach a happy medium in flexibility, something that flexes without puckering or creasing, yet lends support to the text block. This is a challenge with genuine leather.

Keep in mind, the softcover Bible is, for the most part, a 20th - 21st century thing. Great flexibility requires the right glues, the right leather temper, and the right liners, all of which have become more available in the last few decades. The weakest link is in the leather supply. Leather tanners just don't seem to consider Bibles on the top of their priority list. So most leathers are not suitable for Bibles, either because they're too heavy (thick), or too stiff, or because the layers of the leather are not firm, creating puckering when flexed.

So my case against floppy Bibles is this. To achieve it nearly always requires a very thin leather with no interior liner, and almost no glue to secure the end pages. Because it's so floppy, the reader is then tempted to fold the Bible over backwards while holding it. <wince!> This stretches the sewing, warps the spine, and/or breaks the glued binding. The end result is a short-lived Bible. Eventually, that result will reflect on the one who made it a floppy Bible in the first place.

At Leonard's, we will always strive to satisfy the goals of our customers. But we want to do that without sacrificing the quality you have come to expect from us.

~Eric

Leonard's Book Restoration Station
www.LeonardsBooks.com
Skilled bookbinding, restoration and repair services
P.O. Box 52***Burrows, IN 46916**U.S.A.
Phone: (574) 652-2151

The Value of Restoration and Rebinding

Question:  Am I depreciating the value of my book by having it repaired?

Good question!  First it has to be determined whether or not your book even has a value.  Contrary to what many people may think, most books do not retain their value or increase in value after publication.  There are relatively few books out there that have investment potential.  Those are the ones, really, that we're talking about.  A good place to find out if your book has any significant value is Advanced Book Exchange (ABE).  Keep in mind, the default on the search results is lowest price first, and the market is flooded with junk copies of many books.

In nearly all cases, a book that is worn and tattered can only benefit by quality restoration, rebinding, or repair.  The exception to this might be something that is very worn and tattered but it is a good example of a particular binding that is extremely rare.  If you were to have a book that, in pristine condition, is worth several thousand dollars, you might have to do a reality check considering the copy you own.  The understanding of "pristine" is that the book is as published, perfect in every way.  There is no way that even a moderately worn copy of such a book will ever be that.  So the value of that particular book starts with the condition of the copy.

A worn copy is what it is--a worn copy.  Good restoration work will only increase a worn copy's value somewhat.  But it will never be increased to the pristine value.

Question:  Can I have a common book rebound in leather and have it become more of a collector's edition?

Sure.  That works!  It's always best to start with the best edition you can find--in other words, quality paper, a sewn binding, maybe even a first edition, or perhaps a signed copy.  Rebinding something like this will always increase its value, assuming the value was originally low.

It's generally not a good idea to rebind a rare modern (20th-21st century) first edition.  While they're few and far between, this particular field of collectability could include books with values in the six figure range.  However, a missing dust jacket, a torn dust jacket, or even a fly speck in the wrong place can be devastating to the value.  People that collect these are very particular.  A dust jacket on a rare first edition could actually be worth many times more than the book itself.  But some of these copies with major flaws and no dust jacket would make good candidates for rebinding.

Let me give you some examples of what I've done with what we might consider pretty good books--but with major flaws.

1.  A first edition Laura Ingalls Wilder "On the Shores of Silver Lake"--a nice book with a nice market ... but a bad water stain on the front.  A perfect copy of this might be worth $250.00 without a dust jacket.  My copy was probably worth no more than $20.00  So I put it on the stack for rebinding, eventually got around to it, and did it in a 3/4 leather cover (green leather spine and corners, with rose print paper boards).  I sold it for $75.00.

2.  A book called "The Uncanonical Gospels"--weird stuff, probably not worth reading, even if I could read it. (It was all in Greek!)  Purchased with brown upholstery tape all over the spines of this two-volume set, very yucky-looking, for $75.00.  We put new leather spines in place of what was probably originally cloth and aged it to match the boards.  They sold for $800.00.  I have no idea what the books would have been worth with the original spines, but I doubt if it was significantly higher than the $800 price.

Sometimes the binding really should not matter that much, but when it comes to selling the book, it really helps to have a cover that looks nice.  When it comes to owning a book ... ditto!

--Eric

www.LeonardsBooks.com
Skilled bookbinding, restoration and repair services
P.O. Box 52***Burrows, IN 46916**U.S.A.
Phone: (574) 652-2151