Replicating Old Books

[FlamesAddiction]

One of my aunts in Bosnia sent me a box of old books to read. I'm involved in Earth sciences and she had some old science texts that I guess have been in the family for quite some time.

Anyhow, I was shocked when I got them to see that they date from the 1870s to the 1940s and they are in incredible shape. I want to read them, however I don't want to damage them because to me, they now have value as an heirloom and antique. I don't do a lot of reading at home, so my books tend to get tossed around and damaged a lot.

I thought about using my handheld scanner to scan each page, print them out, and then bind them, but it would be painstaking and time consuming.

Does anyone know if there is anywhere you can take them to have them replicated professionally without damaging the books?

[drewboy12]

googled this

http://members.shaw.ca/inabind/index.htm/Welcome.html

sure they can point you in the right direction if they cant do it them selves

edit: yes they can
Digitize archival materials
•Make facsimile copies of an original

[CMPunk]

Buy reprints?

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

http://www.calgarythesisbinding.com/

Check out these guys. They do a lot more than thesis binding, last Christmas I got them to print and bind a book for my mom, and they did a fantastic job.
I'm not sure if they'll do the scanning for you, or how much it would cost, but at the very least they can print your scans and then bind them.
Might be worth giving them a call.

[Northendzone]

Any time I want something to do with old books, I cook up some hot dogs

[Hack&Lube]

Books are the one item people often think have a high value but do not because so many copies are printed that the have no value as a rarity despite age. If they are not falling to pieces (old paper and old leather bindings dry up and crack), I would just go ahead and read them while wearing gloves to avoid getting finger oils on them.

[Northendzone]

am i the only person who considers penthouse to be a book?

[tete]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Books are the one item people often think have a high value but do not because so many copies are printed that the have no value as a rarity despite age. If they are not falling to pieces (old paper and old leather bindings dry up and crack), I would just go ahead and read them while wearing gloves to avoid getting finger oils on them.

Very true. As well, books are extremely tough to scan because you don't want to put any extra pressure on the spine. There are specific book cradles for scanners, but they're costly - most libraries just don't bother.

Although white cotton gloves are the "standard" for handling fragile items, a pair of latex gloves would work better if you want to go this way - cotton gloves can catch on the edges of pages and are a bit more cumbersome to turn pages with.