Instead of being lost to memory, an old, tattered 1,000-page English-Japanese dictionary was given new life when its owner handed it over to Nobuo Okano, a Japanese master craftsman who has spent 30 years perfecting the art of restoring old books.
His process was detailed on a Japanese show called Fascinating Craftsman (Shuri, Bakaseru). The most painstaking part is probably when he individually unfolds every page’s corners with a tweezer and irons them! Read on for more about the process.
(h/t: rocketnews)
Nobuo Okano has been restoring books for 30 years
A guy brought an old, 1,000-page English-Japanese dictionary
He used it in his youth and now wants to restore it and give it to his daughter
Nobuo begins by shaving the old glue from the spine
The book had some maps of English-speaking countries. They suffered greatly, so Nobuo glued them to new sheets of paper
The color doesn’t match perfectly, but he can prevent them from degrading further
The most monotonous part is straightening out every page corner with tweezers…
…and then wetting and ironing the corners straight!
He even has a special tiny iron for the job
The owner wrote his high school sweetheart’s initials on the book in ink
Using a heavy-duty paper cutter, Okano removes the color from the edges
New, minty-fresh pages!
Last but not least, the cover, with the original title on a brand-new background
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I think it's an old job and it's wonderful. Definitely an art that I would love to learn.
Details matter. Sweating the small stuff allows the bigger stuff to shine.
Mon Dieu! It's amazing) I could not even imagine the old book to look like an absolutely new one!
Phenomenal art Mr. Okano has in his hands... I hope he leaves a trace of his skills passed down to someone else that could continue with it
I'm glad Mr. Okano recorded the process, there was a lot of history in that book!
I have a few books about mafia and organized crime that didn't survive my recent move very well. Ah, maybe Mr. Okano could fix them up!
That was amazing, wish I could find someone to fix my special books
Such a treat, and encouraging, to see such fine craftsmanship still in existence!
That's very impressive, you are a very patient and passionate man. Very good work.
So, destroy the entire history of the book's loving use, in order to make it look like something you could buy new? Ugh.
Um, why not buy a new dictionary if that's what you seem to want? This is depressing and destroys the history of the object.
I think it's an old job and it's wonderful. Definitely an art that I would love to learn.
Details matter. Sweating the small stuff allows the bigger stuff to shine.
Mon Dieu! It's amazing) I could not even imagine the old book to look like an absolutely new one!
Phenomenal art Mr. Okano has in his hands... I hope he leaves a trace of his skills passed down to someone else that could continue with it
I'm glad Mr. Okano recorded the process, there was a lot of history in that book!
I have a few books about mafia and organized crime that didn't survive my recent move very well. Ah, maybe Mr. Okano could fix them up!
That was amazing, wish I could find someone to fix my special books
Such a treat, and encouraging, to see such fine craftsmanship still in existence!
That's very impressive, you are a very patient and passionate man. Very good work.
So, destroy the entire history of the book's loving use, in order to make it look like something you could buy new? Ugh.
Um, why not buy a new dictionary if that's what you seem to want? This is depressing and destroys the history of the object.
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