As you can see books can be in all sorts of condition when you get them in. This large family Bible is heavy but the owner carries it and uses it at church. Both the front and back boards were separated from the Bible because of inadequate joint material, with the spine section of the cover only held to the front board by strapping tape. The original boards were covered in black cloth and slightly padded. Thankfully the book block itself was in fairly good condition. It actually is a "perfect" bound book with side stitching that goes through the entire thickness of the book. I removed the side stitching to replace both the endpapers and cloth for the joint. These were then sewn back onto the book as I replaced the side stitching with new linen thread.
Above I have pictured the black cowhide used to cover the new boards. You can see the leather was cut to size and the edges pared just enough to make a smooth transition under the endpapers. You can see the new spine liner with fake raised bands of leather in place. These raised bands give the spine a nice look and feel. You also see a bit of elaborate work on the front cover board. Rather than have one large expanse of plain black leather I decided to put some design work in place that will show through the leather and give it a nice look. I'm currently unable to do the fancy gold work typical of many family Bibles so decided this would be a good way of making it look a bit nicer. It will produce the opposite affect as the raised bands on the spine since these are recessed areas.
The picture above is of the case after it had been put together. You can see the affect of the raised bands on the spine and the recessed areas on the front cover.
This picture shows the finished Bible. It turned out pretty good! This new leather cover should last a very long time.
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