Gore and More discussion

I have an old copy of and, well, it was in need of restoration badly. It deserved to be in better condition to belong in my collection.

This is the Before vs After photograph; I restored it with water + white vinegar, and fine grade sandpaper. :D

Is the top photo the "after" photo?

The top half is the before, the bottom half is the after

Were you just trying to get rid of the yellow? I don't understand. I have a lot of old books and often the sides are a yellow or orange-ish color, but they were made that way. Why would you want to get rid of it?

Because the book is 30+ years old and it was dirty..? It stunk of smoke and was foul.

Tanning of the book edges is common. I wouldn't restore books without the proper knowledge on how to do so. Even then it's a slippery slope you tread. It looks like you caused water damage to some of the pages, this could definitely hurt the value of the book.

The mass market paperback is worth anywhere form 20.00 - 50.00 USD, depending on the seller.

I have a group for book collectors if you are interested.
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

Wolfrott wrote: "Because the book is 30+ years old and it was dirty..? It stunk of smoke and was foul."

I see! I actually couldn't see the smell in the photo, so thought you meant visually restored. Having said that, the pages in the restored version are a little moisture warped, so I thought that was the before version.

As a side note, you can put a book in a ziploc bag and then in the freezer for 48 hours and almost all smell will disappear...with no damage!

That's a fab tip, Kandice! It's good to know as I buy quite a few seconds hands books, but I've always retired to avoid those with smokey smells.

I use baking soda to absorb smells, and you're correct on the moisture, it was still drying when I took the photo :)

I don't want to know how the book was stored by its previous owner(s), it was nasty.

Valancourt Books does this with out of print books. They take them, restore and republish them just as they were back when they were originally published. They restore old classics dating back to the 1800's.