Hey folks,
As many people know, Oakeshott's Records of the Medieval Sword is a great book. Many of us have also seen Boydell's paperback versions of this title fall apart. The Boydell hardcover is great, but hard to find and very expensive (the cheapest copy I can find right now on the net is $278).

I've often thought that it might be good to take a paperback version and have it rebound as a hardcover. That should eliminate the durability issues, and while not a cheap alternative, should be much less than $278. :)

Is there interest in this route? I want to meet with a local bookbinder about shoring up a different old book of mine and if there is serious interest in this, I can try to get a price quote on rebinding Records. My guess is that it will be in the $100-125 range for book and binding plus shipping.

Let me know if this interests you and I'll see what I can pull together.

That's a great idea! It might also be good for just about everything printed by Laureate Press (though in that case buying replacements is still the most cost-effective option).

I'd be very interested in exploring this option, should it prove viable. Thanks! :D

I might be interested as well, if the cost came in at low triple-digits. The only foreseeable problem that some might have is actual sourcing of the book itself, as I presume it would require having a copy in possession, first?

I might be interested in this as my second copy is starting to fall apart faster then the first did. Who bound these? I guess on the bright side it means we're well studied. Really though you'd think they'd last longer. I'm almost afraid to open it as half the pages are falling out.

In this scenario, I would source the books, have them bound and send them out. I think it would be too much remembering who sent me which copy and keeping that straight when the binder has the book.... So I don't know if it's feasible taking copies people already own and having them rebound.

From what I have heard about the soft cover coming apart it interests me. Not that I am looking for a copy or anything. ;)

Sounds like there is some interest. :) My plan is to meet with the binder this week and see what the cost would be to rebind the book. If the cost is good, then I'll confirm people's commitment, and then try to find someone that actually has copies is stock (I'm open to suggestions, but the vendors I checked seem to be out of stock right now), order the book and get going.

You're probably doing this already, but make sure you shop around when it comes to bookbinders.

I've been looking into something similar (got an old novel by L. Sprague de Camp that's falling apart, few remaining hardcovers are ludicrously expensive), and the quotes I got to have that small paperback rebound ranged anywhere from $20 to $100.

In short, there's a lot of people out there looking to gouge you. Be careful.

P.S. It's exceedingly rare (it's only ever happened to two books in my extensive library), but hardcovers can still have durability issues, if it's a particularly well-loved or often-consulted book. Take that into account.

I met with a binder today and got a good feeling. He's confident there won't be the durability issues of the paperback. They take the book apart, sew in a new binding, and make the new cover with lettering on the cover and spine.

I'm buying a used copy and will have it rebound as a test. If it all looks good, I'll buy some copies when they're back in stock, have them bound and put them up for sale. $125 looks like the price (no more than that), plus shipping.

The test copy is being rebound as we speak. I did discover that they charge extra ($12 per copy) for stamping the title on the front page, though. Unless people want to pay the extra $12, I probably will leave that out of the other copies.

The spine will have the author and title on it, though.

I'd be interested in getting a copy done this way. I don't think the extra $12 for the front cover is necessary, but I'd pay it if folks wanted to standardize on that.

That is a good price, considering that the projected price is roughly equal to what decent copies of the cloth bound were fetching about ten years ago.

Another alternative would be a three hole punch and reinforments, then a ring binder. That method would suit anyone using a scanner or photo for a presentation.

I try to keep my cloth bound covered and clean but have thought of getting a shop copy of a paperback. A completely laminated three ring would be great for a shop copy but in the end probably as expensive as the proposal Chad mentions.

Cheers

GC