18th century cambridge panel binding
This decorative scheme of nested blind-tooled rectangles, with alternating sprinkling (only faintly visible on the innermost and outermost panels) is called a Cambridge Panel. Shown here After Treatment.
Spine Before Treatment - the front board is detached due to breakage of the original leather joint.
Spine After Treatment - the front board is reattached by a textile hinge with a hand-dyed full leather reback.
Private client (uk)
This Cambridge Panel tightback binding, with laced-on boards, had suffered severe damage to the cover: the front board was fully detached. The front fly leaves were also detached and there were a few tears throughout the binding.
This treatment started with stabilisation of the textblock with tear and joint repairs using Japanese tissue. Loose leaves were reattached via hinges. The board was reattached using a textile spine lining. The original leather spine could not be salvaged, however the original labels were lifted and reapplied onto a leather reback.
Before Treatment
After Treatment