Should you fix a falling-apart old book or just let it be? I had a 1947 copy of The Big Sleep start losing pages on me last week while I was reading in a park in Denver.

I found this old 1947 edition of The Big Sleep at a thrift store for $2. Halfway through chapter 3, the binding just gave out. Pages fell all over the grass. I taped it back together with some book tape I had, but now it looks kinda junky. On one hand, I want to keep it readable and not lose any pages. On the other hand, am I ruining the character of an old book by slapping tape on it? Some people say old books should be left alone, others say preserve them however you can. What do you do when a great find starts falling apart?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryanh7717d ago

Oh man, that's a tough spot. I once found a 1950s copy of Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest at a garage sale and the cover literally came off in my hands as I was paying for it. I went the same route with tape and honestly, it bugged me so much that I ended up hunting down a proper book repair kit online and learning how to do a basic rebind. Did the tape actually hold up for you or is it already peeling?

ramirez.caleb17d ago

Wait, you had pages falling out while reading in a park in Denver? That's a whole nightmare scenario I never even considered. @ryanh77 I've been using that same book tape and it holds okay but man does it look terrible, feel like we both need to figure out proper repairs.