I thoroughly enjoy these videos. They are so relaxing, it reminds me of conversations I used to have with my uncle Jim...you remind me a lot of him, actually :)
If I accidentally seal in air bubbles and can't get the air out from the edges anymore I use a very thin needle to make a very tiny hole in the bubble and push the air out. I used to do this for all my school books..not with packing tape though. The needle might not work in this case..you might make a hole through the paper trying that.
I like your repair videos. Feel free to throw one out there anytime you want. Do you know how to fix old hardcover books where the spine is coming away from the book? I bought an old copy of Our Mutual Friend to read along with Katie. It doesn't have a publishing date, but it was published by James Clarke and Company. It was fine when I got it, but as soon as I started trying to use it the spine just started flaking off. I have tried to glue it down with Elmer's glue, but I don't know if that will work or if there's a better way. The inside is nice and tight with no loose pages. It's just the outer layer of the spine that's loose.
The only success I've ever had with popped spines was when I briefly had access (through the bookstore where I worked at the time) to a hot glue gun! Other than that, my guiding rule is that the hardcover itself has to be physically sound or the thing isn't really salvageable.
What do you have on your desk? I can see that the something is helping so that the tape doesn't stick so much. I have a heck of a time with tape. Thank you for showing me how to fix dust covers.
I do all my book repairs on an extra-sized Justice League graphic novel called "Heaven's Ladder" - if I didn't, the tape and scissors would be stick and picking the actual surface of my ancient desk, which I certainly wouldn't want!
Highly amusing and informative video, Stephen. That book sure is a beaut. It looks so.. authoritative. :) I am a great admirer of Gore Vidal, having previously read two of his essay collections (the mammoth United States: 1954-1994 and the Last Empire). I am curious though: You mentioned you found Vidal started going around the bend somewhere around 1964. In what sense do you mean this? He got rather incoherent and rambling in his twilight years, but surely he was still spry and sharp in the sixties? Fantastic channel by the way. This 28 year old hopes he can become as great and incisive a reader as you clearly are. ;) Greetings from Belgium.
By 'round the bend' I meant less and less rational about the nature of the world and particularly the US government. Yes, he was spry and sharp in his sixties - but he was also by then calling his various historical novels "histories" and referring to himself as the greatest president the country never had. Things like that.
+Steve Donoghue Oh, I thought you meant in the 1960's not HIS sixties. Anyway,he did have a penchant for making generalised - sometimes even grossly exaggerated - statements, but I viewed those more as attempts at trying to shock his audience, to keep people interested in him. He was just a master provocateur and tease. Judging from his interviews and essays, I did see a noticeable decline in his mental acuity/clarity beginning from 2006 or so. He started to rant and rave more from then on. His viewpoints on American foreign policy I nearly always agreed with though, with some exceptions.
If there are parts of the cover missing in the middle of the cover will the repair still work? I bought a couple of used books from amazon and there are holes in the middle of the cover. I love your book anecdotes I learn a lot from them.
In a way you are completely mutilating the books by putting tape all over the dust jacket like that, not only does it look horrible, it will eventually end up causing parts of the cover to look off color from non covered parts... you are basically doing more damage to the dust cover... pointless..
