Book re-binding, part II

(My last 'beta' edition. You'll see the final edition later.)

I ended up finding a shop in Centre City that would fix my main breviary for about $60.Unlike most o their orders, mine was'nt a restoration. I just needed the covers repaired, some pages attached, and new endpapers added. Those they did well. The new leather binding was my own work. And you'll get to see it. 

I went through three 'beta' editions, to see what I wanted (The last one is pictured above.) The leather is real leather from an old, out of style jacket given to me for materials. I cut two large pieces and washed the leather. I removed the remains of the paper spine that were still attached to one of the covers, cleaned the covers, and added a piece of cardboard to serve as the backing for the new spine. (I know, I could have used a thick paper, but a good thin cardboard, besides being stronger, is less likely to warp after the glue is put on it and let to become tacky.That's what happened with my last beta edition.)I took five strips of leather from my second piece and glued them onto the cardboard , and left it to dry. 

I'll post part III (With the attaching of the leather,the tooling of the spine and the gilding) later.