r/bookrepair • u/Board-Limp • 1d ago
Water Damage Heirloom Book got wet and now pages are stuck
My grandma kept this book of days with all the important births, dates, & marriages in our family going back to the early 20th century, and when she died it passed to me. Unfortunately it was stored on a shelf in the kitchen and it looks like a kiddo spilled liquid on it and didn't tell me because now it's dried and most of the pages are stuck together :( Trying to gently peel them apart page by page has already resulted in some tears and damage. Is there any way to salvage this??
1
1
u/No-Low-8266 2h ago
Given you use the term "Heirloom " I would STRONGLY suggest finding a professional.
If you are absolutely hell bent on doing it yourself you might try lightly wetting the stuck pages with distilled water from a spray bottle then slowly and with absolute care working them apart with a microspatula. I would still expect at least some colour transfer. Any damage done is likely to be difficult if not impossible to reverse.
2
u/FairEbb2909 14h ago
If you haven't separated the pages yet and the book is dear to you, invest in a very thin teflon bone fold / spatula. They're around 10$ and you can slide it towards the sticking parts and very carefully wiggle them apart. Sadly, a lot of tears will still occur and there's nothing you can do against the print being stuck to the opposite page, as No-Bluejay said.