Simple Book Repair Guide From Dartmouth College Preservation Services

Over 10 years ago Dartmouth College published a guide for in-house conservation and restoration for books in the school collection. Portions of this guide are now available on line for use by the general public.

The guide follows basic conservation methods such as all repairs must be reversible and to not further harm or diminish the condition of the book. Some of the section headings in the guide include, setting up the area, toolbox, parts of the book, practical guidelines, and identifying repairable material. Click HERE to review the Dartmouth College Book Repair Guide.

Now I am not advocating that appraisers go into the book repair business, but only to review the guide as an appraiser for value and condition points of reference. Then when a book appraisal assignment arises, you as an appraiser may have a better idea on valuation based upon the damage and condition. You will also have a better understanding of what is repairable, what might require minimal repair work with modest cost and what might entail major restorations efforts at a higher cost. Being able to identify, evaluate, make condition determinations and value adjustments is what we as appraisers do.

The more knowledge of the restoration process and the impact of damage we have, and perhaps more importantly understand, the better appraisers we will become. As appraisers we need to understand the restoration and conservation process in order to make value judgments, be it oil paintings, furniture, porcelains, prints or in this case, books.