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The Ancient Art of Book Binding Made Simpler with Adhesive Tape

Human beings have been constructing books for thousands of years. Recording our knowledge and history has been a priority for as long as mankind has existed. This is shown in early cave drawings, with early man using rudimentary tools and symbols to leave their mark for posterity. Early books became a way to do that that was more portable than other methods.

In very early times, books were made from leaves, thin slices of wood, or tree bark. However, these books weren’t the sturdiest items, as you can imagine. The materials from which they were made degraded easily, and they became difficult to read quickly. So, people moved on to more sophisticated materials, like vellum, papyrus, and other early forms of paper.

Books as we know them, with pages bound between hard covers, have been in use since the 5th century in the Western world, according to many scholars. To this day, books hold a great deal of value in many regards, from the information they convey, to sentimental value, to intrinsic value. Anyone who has ever purchased college textbooks knows that books are obviously fantastically valuable.

When books are often used, old, or poorly cared for, their structure may begin to fail. The bindings aren’t made to hold up forever. However, all is not lost when a book begins to fall apart. Particularly when you catch books in the earliest stages of disrepair, you can use something as simple as adhesive tape to repair your well-loved (or poorly loved, as the case may be) books. Here are some examples of preemptory repairs you can make to your beloved books to be sure they last so that generations to come can enjoy them.

• Cover repair- Use gaffers tape to repair the edges of your hardback book covers. Simply cut the tape to size, and apply carefully to the edges of the book covers, with the edge centered on the tape. Carefully press the tape down on the insides and outsides of the covers to act as a layer of reinforcement. This can help keep the cover from separating or fraying further.
• Stick down dust jackets- Many libraries use sturdy, sturdy packing tape or ATG tape to stick down dust jackets. Dust jackets have the potential to do a lot of good protecting your books, but they don’t work if they’re not on there. Make sure they stay put by applying tape.
• Repair bindings- While adhesive tape alone won’t allow you to fully bind a book, it will allow you to reinforce or repair minor issues in the bindings between cover and the actual book pages. Cut to size and apply across the seam between the two for a long-lasting connection between cover and book. You can also use bookbinding tape between sections of pages that are beginning to separate. Just be careful to cut the tape down to size if the full width of tape will cause any text to be covered up.