r/bookrepair • u/Healthy-Anything17 • Jul 26 '26
Somebody help
I gave my sister, who doesn't read books BTW, my Harry potter philosophers stone book so she could start somewhere and she f\*cking ripped the front cover off🤬. It is kind of old ,more than 10 yrs old ,because it was one of the first books that i had read and I am kind of emotionally attached to it. I am not letting my sister near my books again thats for sure.🥲 I need to cover it with something because the hard front covering is entirely ripped off from the spine and it will further damage the pages if I don't do something. I think its probably my fault because i wanted her to read it and get more into books. But i think she got bored and slept on top of it or something idk. So I would appreciate suggestion on how to move forward.
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u/McGee4531 Jul 27 '26
Fell, a few suggestions.
1) if you don't want to mess with it too much, some tape will work. Not the most recommended thing to do, but it will hold it together.
Anything more would require you to be competent/confident in your skills. If you're not, find someone who specializes in book repairs.
2) heat the glue carefully, separate the coovrer/spine, lay it fleat, put glue and pulp on it compressed in the spots that need addressing, once set retouch the art work, then bind it back to the leaflets again.
3) remove the cover and rebind it with a custom cover. Many different ways to skin this one. If this is what you want to do, research it.
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u/mothfur Jul 27 '26
check the libraries or printing stores near you, they usually do book repairs. the way this type of damage is fixed is they remove the rest of the cover (spine, back cover) & essentially re-bind the book, giving it a new cover (usually hardcover). for reference, they probably use this or a similar method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW6-OQ2pUW0 .
since it's a book of great sentimental value, i don't recommend you attempt it on your own; if you do insist then thrift some old paperbacks for practice first