Gold leaf is carefully removed to reveal the finished spine

Tooling the spine with a handheld type holder

Spines ready for marking up and tooling

Gold leaf is carefully pressed on using cotton wool

Gently attaching pared leather labels

Using dividers to measure for labels

Headband and cap detail

23 half bound leather books ready for siding

Completed book... board, board edges and corners repaired with pared down and hand dyed calf

Delaminating calf and damaged board

Detached and warped board

Full calf binding with damaged paper label. Label to be removed

'Tryal of Wits'... original spine repaired and re-used

Completed 'Tryal of Wits'... rebacked with repair calf and leather dressed

Water damaged board, endpaper and fly leaf

'Tryal of Wits'... detached, water damaged and warped board

Repaired book with board reattached and corners repaired with leather

Removed, warped board, damaged corners

Damaged board, spine and joint

Detached and water damaged board

Painted and sprinkled edge detail

Bound in blue goatskin with gold tooling

Completed book and presentation box

The case is now ready for lettering.

Pressing the vellum

Choosing vellum to side the book

The spine is pasted to the boards and the egdes defined using a teflon folder

Edge paring the leather in preparation for binding

Selecting goatskin for the book

Applying adhesive to the spine

Sewn by hand onto tapes

The David Shepherd Archive Collection... sections secured with a kettle stitch

Completed restoration, bound in the original case with new ribbon ties

New acid free board linings

Repaired sections, sewn and glued

New mount paper with tissue & plate reattached

Text leaves ready for sewing

Acidic and brittle mount paper - crumbles to a powder

Damaged mount paper, detached tissue & plate

Damaged mount paper

Damaged binding & split first section

Original full vellum binding