In cases of repairs like the foregoing, a piece of unpasted tissue paper may be laid on the repaired place and rubbed down, so that any paste exuding cannot do harm, and besides, it will serve to strengthen a weak place. It may be used, however, only on condition that the tint is exactly the same as that of the other paper.
Tears at the margin are repaired by pasting on strips of the same paper or of a kind as near as possible in texture and tint. To make the mend less noticeable, the paper should be torn beforehand, that is to say, by tearing one side of the paper the edge is less sharply defined and appears more like part of the sheet and is hardly perceptible.
Tears in the back (if outside) leaves are mended by pasting them down on to the following inner leaf; afterwards the glue makes this place still stronger. If the middle leaf is likewise torn, a narrow strip is pasted into the back. This may be cut true by the straight-edge if a very narrow strip suffices, but if the tear is here also sideways a piece of torn paper must be pasted on. If there are backs, torn off corners, or the like to be put in, a suitable paper is selected, a piece a little larger than the missing piece cut off the edge of the damaged leaf neatly pasted, the patch laid on slightly overlapping, and well rubbed down under a piece of waste paper. When thoroughly dry, the loose edges of the patch should be carefully torn off so as to slope and taper off nicely.
When all parts are repaired and the sheets again in proper order, the book is pressed for a while between boards.
It is thus that good books are treated, and although it would be better to return books of no special value as not worth the labour, still it does happen that cheap books--mostly school books and periodicals--have to be repaired. A quick way of getting through such work is as follows:--
A larger piece of similar paper is well pasted and laid upon a clean cutting-board, and from this piece strips of the required width are cut, laid down in their place, and cut to length with the shears, and well rubbed down under waste paper. If the pasted piece becomes dry before it is used it must be coated again.
All repaired sheets must be laid between mill-boards to dry.