1-1/2 Inch Vinyl-Coated Cotton Cloth Bookbinding Repair Tape, 15 Yard Roll, Brown

I’ve been repairing and restoring antique Hawaiian books. The two pictured are both over 170 years old and neither had a spine. I used book cloth and fussy sub-structure for the larger book, but the rougher, smaller book was easily reassembled using the BookGuard tape. I intended to cover the taped spine with book cloth but the finish on the tape was actually much nicer. So I affixed the leather title labels directly on the tape for a great look. Asterisk Books in Hoboken will make leather and foil labels that add polish to any repaired book. And the BookGuard tape looks amazing with them.The smaller book has both the spine and the cover corners done in the BookGuard tape. The larger has a wide 4.5″ book cloth binding, but the edges of the old cover have been protected by the Bookguard tape.There were some partial remnants of the original foilwork on tattered cloth on the the smaller book which is perfectly preserved under some acid-free paper – under the BookGuard tape. This is only possible because of the strong adhesive that has a perfect balance between adhesion and the ability to remove the tape without destroying the fragile surface.