Caring for a Family Bible (and When to Call a Bookbinder)
Almost every week someone brings us a family bible: battered, spine gone, boards hanging by threads — and utterly irreplaceable, because of the names, dates and family history written inside. Here is how to look after one, and how to know when it is time to bring it in.
At home
- Store it flat, not upright on a shelf. Large bibles are heavy; standing upright strains the spine constantly.
- Keep it out of sunlight and away from heaters and damp. Light fades leather and cloth; heat and damp invite mould and warping.
- Support it when open. Never force a bible to lie flat — open it only as far as the binding allows comfortably.
- No tape. Pressure-sensitive tapes stain, creep and cause more damage than the tear they were meant to fix. If a page is torn, leave it for us.
When to call a bookbinder
Bring the bible in if the spine is splitting, a board is loose or detached, sections are coming away, or pages are tearing at the gutter. Early repair is always cheaper and preserves more of the original binding than waiting until the book is in pieces.
We restore family bibles with a conservation-first approach — preserving original covers, spine labels and tooling wherever possible — and we are always happy to assess a bible and talk through the options before any work is agreed.