Repair of Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates (1881)

This once-beautiful 134 year old copy of Haydn’s dictionary of dates had fallen into sad disrepair. Both covers were completely detached, the spine was cracked, worn, and missing pieces, and at some point in its lifetime someone had attempted to reattach the covers with a few strips of tape, further marring the leather. I wanted to preserve as much of the ornate original binding as possible, so I chose to strengthen the text block and reback it in matching leather, attaching the old covers and using the old spine as a label.