I am trying to find a way to make a decent repair of small tears on book pages as well as tears on the books dustjacket. I had in the past used Scotch Tape, but read somewhere that is a no-no. The majority of my magic books are fairly valuable and would really like the repair to be profeesional looking if that is possible..Any suggestions at all will be appreciated.
Rennie

Look in the yellow pages for bookbinders/repairs. they can do the work. Ask a local magic book collector who they use. STOP with the Scotch tape!

As you have found, Scotch Tape is great for wrapping presents, but not so good for long-term repairs of paper tears.

A few years ago I took several books with deteriorating jackets and had them covered with Brodart, a clear heavy plastic protector (like the stuff that public libraries use). This has worked well and has prevented any further tears.

I'm not sure what you need for page tears, but I'm sure there must be something out there that will do the job. SETH

I'd also like to know what will work best for dustjacket tears.

And I second the suggestion of Brodart protectors - they work great and are fairly reasonable in price.

Dave

See my first post for answer.

Moistened rice paper.

How do you use this ?
Rennie

Here's a description Rennie:

http://www.ehow.com/how_116103_repair-book.html

Silverking,
Thanks I printed it and will now try rice paper. I appreciate the help.
Rennie

I read the book repair article mentioned above. Good stuff. They mention using the rice paper for torn pages, but I was wondering if anyone has tried it for a dust jacket. Dust jackets are usually on a heavier stock than the book pages. So I am wondering if clear book repair tape is the smarter way to go with a dust jacket. Thanks for any clarification or input offered,
Alan

If you try this, just use a bit of rice paper on the inside of the dust jacket. Use several layers.

You may want to check out http://www.gaylord.com . They offer archival library supplies of all sorts. I keep all of my books in clear protective jackets which I purchase from Gaylord. I do not attempt to repair torn dust jackets - I just straighten out the torn parts and put the jacket into the clear protective cover which protects it and prevents any further damage.

I've never tried to repair a torn page but if the above suggestions don't work for you I'm sure you could find plenty of ideas by Googling the subject. Good luck.

Thanks Bill and Epoptika. This is an old thread and I appreciate that you guys even noticed the post. I am going to try the rice paper and I am also going to try some archival repair tape intended for this use. I'll try these first on some books I don't care much about just to get an idea of the results, then move on to the books I am really trying to save. Thanks again,
Alan