Book damage

[Peak53]

I recently offered to loan a book to a new neighbor who expressed interest in local history. The book is "The Gunnison Country" by Professor Duane Vandenbusche, a local history esteemed historical scholar. It is 500 pages of unequaled history and vintage photographs. I last read it maybe 8-10 years ago and it was in fine condition at that time. Published leather bound in 1980.

It is now severely damaged with many pages stuck together. This is a very dry climate, although cold. The bookshelf is in a room that averages 50-60 degrees in the winter. Average indoor humidity is probably 15-25%. The book looks like it got left out in the rain and many pages are stuck together. I am certain this valuable book was never left outdoors. None of the other books on this shelf appear to be damaged.

What happened? How can I restore this book?

 

[Rustyt1953]

From the omniscient web...

Access to this page has been denied

 

[Onomea]

Very irritating to loan a book, or anything else, to someone who then returns the item in poor condition. Especially one who doesn't have the simple sense of decency to explain the condition and ask how he can make it good.

Sent a PM. Good luck/best wishes,

Edit: Rereading your post, I think I misunderstood, and that you discovered your book's poor condition prior to lending it out.

Mysterious but: Sounds like water or humidity to me. Why? No idea.

Best wishes.

 

[mtgianni]

Go to the local library and ask to speak to the person in charge of restorations. They should be able to explain to you the process and what details you need to know. [they may be able to do a repair themselves after working hours].

Many are able to repair spine problems and re-glue inside pages but it is quite difficult to unstick the pages without loosing some photos. I am assuming that the book is long out of print.

Antique/Rare Book Restoration | Leonard's Book Restoration This came up on a google search. I have had no dealings with them but a phone call may help.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Might be easier to replace it.

The Gunnison Country. by Vandenbusche, Duane.: (1998) First edition, fifth printing. | BookMine


Sent from my motorola one 5G using Tapatalk

 

[Peak53]

Yeah, I may just replace it. The damage is pretty severe. Have no idea how that happened as I am very careful with stuff. Somebody must have left it on the picnic table in a light rain. Thanks for the advice. However, the freight for a new copy located by Bigwheelzip seems pretty high. However, this is an important book for this cabin, and I may have to do it. What a great place for advice on out of the way stuff!

 

[DWalt]

You can find about any book, new or old, sooner or later, on Amazon, eBay, or Abebooks. Restoration is costly.

 

[Jeff423]

This probably won't help, but when I worked in a medical library we had a leak and many valuable books were damaged. We were able to have them sent to a facility and freeze dried. I think one of the big aerospace companies donated their lab to do it. It's probably too costly or not available for one book.

 

[BillBond]

If you have kids in the house, I would suspect them for messing it up.