Two first editions of Bleak House 1853.
Here are two first editions of Bleak House, which I bound in two contrasting styles. Both books were disbound when I received them. The boards were either detached or missing and the spines were either damaged beyond repair or completely absent.
Version 1: Half leather binding in tan.
All the engraved plates were very stained and had to be carefully extracted, washed and replaced. The boards were missing and the spine was badly damaged so I completely re-bound the book in half-leather using marbled papers which I salvaged from another large 19th century volume.
The pastedown papers are also reclaimed from disbound 19th century books.
Hablot Brown's "dark plates" were printed using a revolutionary new technique, enabling him to create atmospheric blended shades. After washing, the plates have been returned to their former glory.
The binding itself is in the 19th century hollow back style, which enables the book to open flat. The spine is decorated with leather title labels which I blocked in 22 karat gold. I put gilded designs directly on the spine using heated tools as well and added a blind stamped design in the centre of each compartment. The boards are decorated with fine gilded lines.
The original head bands were intact as you can see from the open hollow spine.
Version 2: Half leather binding in green.
In this copy of Bleak House, the engraved plates were in much better condition than the previous copy but the frontispiece and engraved title page were badly foxed. I just had to wash these two plates and and re-insert them. I used a really nice green leather which I dyed to a suitable colour. Again the binding is half-leather so marbled paper was required. This time I used some of the fantastic traditional paper made by Dirk Lange in Germany. This binding used wide bands rather than simple strings so more ornate gilding on the bands is possible. I used the same tool as before for the central pattern in the compartments but this time I used gold rather than a blind stamp.
Again a hollow back binding. The head bands needed to be replaced.
I found some matching antique paper for the paste-downs.
Here are the cleaned plates at the front of the volume. For this book I put in a tissue guard to protect the plates against any future staining.
Gilding the spine is the most difficult part. And mistakes are hard to rectify!
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