Serious question, is it wrong to mix old and new leather on a restoration?

I recently fixed a family bible and used new leather for the spine but kept the original covers. Some say this ruins the book's value, others think it keeps the history alive. What do you all think?

3 comments

3 Comments

simon_mitchell883mo ago

That part about handling it without falling apart really hits home. @anderson.jason's story makes me wonder, does the "ruined value" idea mostly come from people who see books as display items? For something used often, a solid fix seems like the only right choice.

nguyen.dylan2mo ago

My grandpa's 1923 copy of The Sun Also Rises has a spine held together with packing tape. It looks awful, but that tape let him read it to me for years. Simon_mitchell88, I get the "use it" side, but sometimes a bad fix does ruin the thing itself. That tape is now fused to the cover, and a pro could have saved it better. If you only care about function, any repair works. But if the book as an object matters, a clumsy fix can wreck its history just as much as letting it rot.

anderson.jason3mo ago

Actually, a buddy of mine went through something similar with an old farm ledger from his grandpa. He had to replace the entire back strip with new leather because the old stuff just crumbled. Some book collector told him he'd "destroyed" it, but his mom got teary-eyed because she could finally handle it without it falling apart. It really comes down to whether you see it as an artifact or a family piece. For something like a bible that gets touched and read, making it solid again is more important than keeping it perfect for a shelf.