Bookbinding Project

We’ve got three Bibles that are fairly frequently read and are falling apart in various places. I have a Crossway ESV Single Column Legacy Bible in ‘Trutone’¹ where the cover is flaking and the cover is separating from the end papers. I had taped it up with duct tape a number of years ago to secure the cover but the faux leather continues to flake off, make a mess and look unsightly.

My wife has a couple of Bibles with bonded or imitation leather covers. In one case the cover has separated from the text block at the front of the Bible, and the other is looking somewhat old and tired.

I have been thinking for some time about rebinding these in genuine leather. There are about four gazillion videos on line about how to rebind a Bible/book. Many are too complicated or too difficult for an amateur like me so I kept looking for a simpler approach that distilled the elements to something manageable, affordable and understandable. I eventually settled on a couple of channels whose work meets that criteria. I then assembled a list of materials and equipment. This is now complete. Total cost for the equipment was around $60 and another $150 for the leather. I bought two hides (vegetable tanned kangaroo) which should be enough for four or five rebinds (even though I’m initially planning on three) so the average cost should be around $50-60/Bible.

My wife recommended that I begin with my Bible. I hope to start this week. I’m taking photos on my phone so I should be able to provide a before-during-after series sometime. I don’t expect it to look like a work of art, but I hope it is serviceable.