Recasing is another task I perform at the technical service department of the Fleet
Library. This is often for books in circulation, where frequent use or unsound
commercial structure caused the text block to detach from the hardcover.

My method is to use a sheet of repair bookcloth to rejoin the text block to the cover.
Key skills include separation of text block from cover, peeling endpapers, using a
book knife, removing old adhesives & applying new ones (pH neutral PVA), re-
establishment of sound book structure.


Repair bookcloth is glued to the spine of the text block, which will then be inserted
between the cover board and the endpapers to be invisible.



Here are two books after recasing. I have also replaced the tattered spine bookcloth
on Botanical Sketchbooks.