Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Restoration Project: Re-binding a Small Military Bible

My wife and I found this small Bible at a flee market in Boone, Iowa in early Spring 2011. We paid $1 for it, and had to leave the payment with the vendor next door because the booth where we found the Bible was unattended. The Bible was in need of repair; it needed to be cleaned and its covers were missing. We noticed that this small Bible is really the Catholic version of the New Testament, and it most certainly belonged to a soldier.



























The Bible has a copyright of 1918, and it also has the following inscription on one of the blank pages at the beginning of the book:

Frank H. McCourt
Camp Sheridan
Montgomery Ala
Father Lange
KC Chaplain


The restored Bible measures 4 1/2" X 3 " X 3/4" and it has now full-leather covers in orange-brown pigskin, additional blank pages were added to the front and back of the text block, the spine was reinforced with Japanese rice paper and hinged with cloth; book ends were also added to the head and tail of the spine.

Special thanks to Chris Kading who has taught me many restoration techniques throughout the years.