TIL a library paste recipe from 1923 saved my rebinding project

I was trying to rebind a 1908 poetry collection for a client in Cleveland last Saturday and modern PVA just wasn't sticking to the brittle spine. Dug out an old bookbinding manual from the 1920s at the public library and found a simple flour-and-water paste recipe with a little alum. Mixed up a batch, let it sit overnight, and the adhesion was perfect - no bubbling or peeling after 24 hours. Anyone else mess around with historical adhesives for tricky old books?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowan_hayes12d ago

that stuff practically fused with the paper fibers" thats exactly what i was thinking with the flour paste, @ryan_kim63 it doesn't pull away like modern junk does. i let my batch sit about 14 hours and it got that tacky almost jelly consistency that just locked into the old paper. the alum was a shot in the dark honestly, i just remembered old recipes used it to keep bug larvae out of the starch.

ryan_kim6312d ago

Dude, that's awesome. Had the exact same thing happen with a Civil War era diary last year. Modern wheat paste just shriveled up and fell off the spine like dead skin. Tried an old hide glue recipe from an 1890s manual, that stuff practically fused with the paper fibers. Bet your alum trick kept the pH stable, that's a smart move. Historical recipes are just built different for this kind of thing.