Question:

I’m interested in having my great grandma’s big Family Bible restored. What are my options?

Answer:

The words “Family Bible” often bring to mind the large, deeply-recessed and highly decorative Bibles of the 19th century. These Bibles were once very beautiful, and a common adornment in American homes. However beautiful, most were so big and heavy that they eventually tore themselves apart, and now the challenge is to get them back into a condition where they can be displayed and even used in a Christian home.

Our goal in restoring your family Bible is to do all that is possible to get it back into a functional displayable condition and at the same time do as little as possible so as to preserve and restore the antiquity and hidden beauty of the original binding.

 

We can replace spines, which are often missing, with new leather, antiqued and color matched to the original boards. We include the wide raised bands often found on period Bibles.

We prefer not to attempt imprinting on these if the printing type available to us does not match the period or the size needed. Our goal is to draw attention to the beauty of the original boards.

If the original spine isn’t too far gone, we can attach it to the new leather as a cap.

(Request a quote for your family Bible.)

Beyond that, we can repair torn pages with acid-free materials, repair breaks in the text block, apply new durable hinge cloth, replace head and tail bands, and recondition the leather on the original boards.

Sometimes, we can take something that looks hopeless and bring it back again.

For the family Bibles that pre-date the gaudy Victorian era, we offer complete rebinding in calf or sheepskin with an antiqued finish to replicate what your Bible should have looked like with years of careful use.

We are always careful to preserve any personal notes, even on the pastedown end pages. If we can save the original decorative end pages by applying a cloth patch along the inner hinge, we will. When replacing end pages that aren’t salvageable, we use archival quality hand-milled cotton rag paper specially made to match the period.

Often the biggest challenge in family Bible restoration comes with the mid-20th century Bibles. These Bibles with decorative front covers and sometimes color paste-down illustrations were made of acidic cardboard with a pressed-in leather grain. Restoration without total recovering is nearly impossible, but we have had success in re-covering these using genuine leather, saving a portion of the original cover art and embedding it into the new leather.

Here are some other examples:

Go ahead, request a free quote.

The cost may not be as much as you might think, and your cherished family heirloom will be ready to pass on to the next generation.