Take an anger management class, dude.

This book was run over three times, on three separate pages.

Better is the enemy of good.

1) Underline with red pencil.
2) Use white-out to cover up red pencil underlining.
3) Use a pen to write the words back in that you painted over with the white-out.

ARRRRRRRRRGH BOOK TAPE AAAAAAAAAAAARGGH

Before (with tape on spine):


After (with tape on spine):




Conclusion: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!


And the pain continues here on their book-repair business website. A terrifying example of fail-binding follows:

"REPAIR YOUR BOOK YOURSELF ONLY IF YOU DON'T CARE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE

I know, we all want and need to save $$$$

Packing tape is ugly, but it can hold a book together. That way all the notes you wrote by the recipes will not be lost forever.

White school glue is not flexible. Using it will make the pages stiff. But if this does not matter to you, go ahead and use it. I have a friend who owns a used book store and he uses "Tacky Glue". He swears by it."

How NOT to fix books...

Ugh. So there's a couple of these videos on YouTube about "How to Repair Flaws in Used Books" that are absolutely wretched from a conservation AND personal-safety standpoint. In the first one, the woman douses the corner of a poor book with Ronsonol Lighter Fluid...aka NAPTHA, a dangerous, carcinogenic, flammable solvent (click for a PDF of its MSDS). Yes, go ahead and risk your health (not to mention the condition of your book) just to get that annoying price sticker off the book you're going to sell on eBay for $20. Also, fire safety be damned!

In a second video, the same woman shows us how to remove an inscription (i.e. somebody's name) from the fly-leaf or title page....WITH TAPE. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH. Provenance be damned!