How best repair gold gilding?

I have purchased a few EP books 2nd hand online over the past few months. Most are in excellent condition. But a couple have nicks/scraps to the gold gilt page edges. One that I just received last week has a large (~0.25” diameter) flake that apparently came off sometime ago that appears as a white spot on the bottom edge. No worries… the eBay seller was very up front about the defect and I bought it anyways because that was the only I could afford this particular title (The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe).

Anyways… this is a long preamble to asking if anyone knows how to best repair damage to the the gold gilding of our gorgeous EP books? Or is it best to just live with the accumulated imperfections?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

I know this subject/question has come up before but I don't have the LT-search-function skills to find any of the old threads in a reasonable amount of time. In short, though, the previous answer(s) have always been 'no, there's not much you can do about it'.

You'd have to find a way to buy or create your own supply of a gold alloy suitable for gilting paper. You'd have to practice the technique such that you'd be good enough at it not to over-soak the paper and probably more importantly, not burn it or catch it on fire. Even if you got past all those troubles, your fresh gilt would not likely match the original in color. Moreover, it wouldn't have the same luster or reflective properties. In other words, it would stand out just as much, if not more, than the original problem. I suppose if you got that far, though, you could re-gilt an entire side or the entire book but then the skill-effort and cost of gilting material would suggest a direct replacement still might be both easier and cheaper.

What I'm a little surprised at is that no one has ever come across a metallic marker (i.e., not actual gold or metal) that could provide a suitable color match, much like a furniture/wood marker. It wouldn't provide any of the protection that actual gold gilting provides but it might release a little serotonin in just the right spot.

>1 Neil_Luvs_Books: Check with book restoration place if it’s bothering you. They can re gilt all three sides. I think that what you have is minor and gives some character to used book that you purchased. I’m sure it still beautiful

>2 treereader: I suspected that might be the case - that meddling with the gilt may cause more problems than solve
>3 fancythings: Thanks, I may decide to live with it.

I’m thinking about this too. I have some books where the gliding has gone and have been thinking about finding a book repair shop in London that do such things and leaving it at that. Time is of the essence and I want to use my time reading rather using the time to learning this (although it would be neat if one had a workshop for auch printing, binding and restoring)

I too just leave it as it is. It may just make it worse. From 'bookgilding.com' which offers this service, perhaps more for books like family bibles. This sounds scary enough to me that I just leave the flaking as is and accept that the book has less monetary value, which can be a good thing for those who collect books.

"In order to regild a book, we must take the book out of its cover. This sometimes may destroy the cover, but we are willing to make an attempt. If we cannot save the cover, we can make another leather cover for you. We will call or email the options you may have. A new leather cover glued back on to your book may be in the area of $90 and up. Once the book is taken out of the cover, it may need some repairs or at least new end sheets starting at about $15 and up. Next, we will trim and sand your book for a gold or silver edge. This is around $65. We can also do 22k real gold for about $135. So, the absolute cheapest it would be, without replacing the cover, would be around $80 plus postage."

If one wanted to try it out as an amateur, without taking apart the book, This place looks like it will sell you some products.

https://www.goldenleafproducts.com/cat-gilding-supplies.html

One could try it out first on a cheap book and see what it looks like, then decide if it should be done on one's collectible books.

Hmmm 🤔

I’ve thought about this too. The first thing I’m going to try is a gold fountain pen ink. My particular book has a small gash in the gilding that I hope I can fill in with the ink.