The day I ruined a 1950s textbook with the wrong glue

I picked up this old chemistry textbook from a thrift store in Portland last month, must have been from 1953. The spine was completely detached and the pages were loose, so I figured I would try my hand at rebinding it. I used a standard PVA glue I had left over from a craft project, not thinking about the paper type at all. By the next morning, the pages were wavy and the spine cracked when I opened it. Turns out old books like that need a flexible starch paste, not modern PVA. Has anyone else learned this lesson the hard way with vintage paper?

2 comments

2 Comments

caseyrivera28d ago

Read an article about how modern glues can actually damage older paper over time because of the different chemical makeup. Makes me think twice before trying to fix any vintage books I come across.

leo56727d ago

@caseyrivera I get it, but I've used modern glue on old books for years with no issues.