Cloth Repairs
Cloth books have the same problems as any other book. Over the years they sustain great degrees of wear and tear. Cloths used on books became very common in the 19th - 20th century and unless looked after with exceptional care become torn and tatty very quickly. The repair of these books to a good quality largely depends on the skill of the restorer. To reproduce by various methods or find in his stock, which should be vast, cloth of matching age and style and make repairs as required. Mainly to hide the joins of the replaced spine edges corners or parts repaired this takes a great deal of skill and knowledge of materials used as in all parts of these processes of restoration. It is also common for quarter and half leather bindings (books with leather back or books with leather back and corner of the covers) to have cloth sides which often need repair or replacing with cloth of the same age. Changing styles by using the wrong age material or repairing with the incorrect age and type of materials can and often does leave what was once a valuable item totally worthless for collectors or antique book dealers.
