Answers to your questions

Cost

Each book is a unique project and pricing varies according to the book’s needs and customer’s requests. Consideration is taken into the size of the book, extent of repairs, time and materials when pricing a book. We are not a library repair shop and to properly restore a book, it takes time, precision and expertise. We pride ourselves on using the highest standards of archival materials and best practices.

Restoration Conservation Rate: $50.00/hour plus cost of material

Why the cost?

This is a rare specialized trade. It takes a considerable amount of time to slowly breakdown a book, removed the old adhesive, add new material and reassemble. During the process, we often discover more issues than anticipated. We do not compromise or shortcut any steps in the process to reduce cost. Our number one goal is to: restore books with the highest quality of standards.  This includes the binding process, the finest choice of materials and final presentation of work. Our work is meant to last a lifetime and longer.

can we mail our book?

Yes. We have many customers around the country who ship their books to us. We will average the cost of shipment into the price when taken into consideration.

i don’t want to mail my book. can we meet?

Yes. At no cost to you, we will travel up to a 2 hour radius outside of Columbus, Ohio.

average time to complete a restoration of a book

As we mentioned above, each book is unique. All repair jobs require down time when gluing and pressing a book. It is also common for us to run into additional issues after breaking down a book. We compare it to the renovation of an old home. You pull a wall only to find unanticipated damage. Because of this we cannot guarantee timelines. An easy repair can take about 2 to 4 weeks. Some projects can take 6-8 months depending on the condition of the book.

what materials do you use in the process?

We only use the best in industry. The goatskin leathers are imported from overseas. Only sumac and other natural materials are used in the tannage of this fine quality range of leathers. These skins especially prepared book leather, hand polished and finished to show the beauty of the natural grain.

As for other materials, we use scientifically proven archival materials popular amongst the conservation community.

Our papers are imported from Korea and Japan. The papers have a woven long grain for strength and durability while maintaining a historic look. All papers are acid free.

All spine linings are a fine Irish linen cloth. We find this to be superior to mesh or super for spine and hinge support.