Antique Book Restoration, Repair and Binding Services

     Let’s face it…you would not even be considering book restoration or rebinding if the book in question was not special or important to you for some reason.  Your reason may be emotional, if the book came to you from someone who meant a lot to you or if the book itself was your companion during important times in your life, or practical, if the book has become a touchstone for your own growth due to specific content or even contains notes you have made for yourself as an aid for study and learning.  You need to make sure that anyone you choose to take care of your book understands just how important it is to you.

      At C. Dickens, we have been providing the special treatment that a special book deserves for customers just like you for nearly 40 years.

Although the comment we hear most often when a restored or rebound book is returned to its owner is that it is even better than expected or hoped for, the greatest compliments are the smiles on our customers’ faces.   Regardless of the service needed, our binder performs that service by hand with individual care, the way it should be done, and not as part of an assembly line.

       We also feel that it is important to do the requested work and return your book to you in a timely manner.  In the binding industry, the most common quoted turnaround time is 6-8 weeks and we know personally of simple binding jobs that took more than 6 months to complete and return to the customer.  At C. Dickens, our typical turnaround time is 2-3 weeks.  Although there can always be extenuating circumstances, such as the normal increase in work requests around Christmastime each year, we always do our best to deliver the best quality in the shortest time possible.

       Please contact us via phone or email and we will be glad to discuss your particular needs.  Books can often be restored in their original binding or, if that is not an option, we rebind books in cloth, buckram and/or fine leather in a variety of colors.  Prices are based individually on your choices of the work to be performed and the material to be used for your particular book.  When time constraints exist, it is often possible to speed up the turnaround time for a small fee, but we will never sacrifice any of the quality.  Our promise to you is that we will always care for your books as if they are our own.

An example of a two volume folio set and what our bindery did in restoring it:

An example of a Family Bible restored: In this case, the book was literally torn apart. The distraught owners brought the heirloom to us to have salvaged if at all possible. They thought they would have to have it completely rebound in new leather but our binder was able to reattach the front section which had been torn out, as well as restore and repair the spine. Even the bible's bookmark was salvaged and reattached.

No matter where you are located you can use our repair and restoration services. Call or email us to make arrangements to ship you book(s) to us for evaluation. We will discuss in depth the details of this process. A process we have performed hundreds of times to the universal delight of our customers.