….. comes the dung-cart”, as my South London grandmother would say. So, after my very large box for a very large (and quite valuable) book, comes a small cheap pamphlet. The problem of what to do with ephemeral or disbound items faces every bookseller and collector. It may have little market value, but is too good to throw away. One such passed (quite quickly) across my workbench yesterday: “A Treatise on the King’s Evil, setting forth A New Theory on that Disease;…” by T Durant, Surgeon, London. 1762. 52 pages, small octavo. No covers or remains of endpapers.
Its bookseller owner simply wanted it to be made ‘presentable’, by which he meant saleable.
So, glue up the back of the sections to secure a little looseness in the sewing, cover with a piece of grey Daler Rowney Murano paper, 160 gsm, glued down the spine and well rubbed down; photocopy the title page at 70% and print on to old paper and glue on to front. Half an hour on the bench; £12 to the client.
The Rebindery 