Books that Bind
Ruth Wood of Penn Township has been piecing together the fragments of her family's long history.
That's why Wood has turned over a priceless piece of that history, her family's mid-19th century Bible, into the hands of restoration experts at Mechling Bookbindery, Oneida Valley Road, Oakland Township.
The worn German Bible will be repaired, rebound and restored to its original beauty. Much like a genealogist fits together bits of family history, bookbindery specialists Stella Chiappini and Jane Rekich bind together the scraps of worn leather and tattered paper to create an heirloom that can continue to be handed down through generations.
"It's a German Bible that lists all the births and deaths of the Zitzmann children, which is my great-grandmother's name," said Wood. "It's been in the family for a long time."
Wood said the Bible was presented as a wedding gift when her great-great-grandmother, Ida Zitzmann, who was born in Germany in 1869, married William Wagner in the late 1800s. It was passed down through the family to her grandfather, Herbert Wagner, and had belonged to her father, the late Roy Wagner.
Wood's mother, Luella Wagner of Saxonburg, gave the Bible to Wood.
"It was old," she said, "and I knew I was going to lose it if we didn't have this done. I know when it was new, it was a beautiful Bible."
Although it seems unthinkable, bookbindery owner Al Mechling said it's not uncommon for people to toss away such family treasures when they seem to deteriorate beyond salvaging.
"A lot of people just throw these out because they don't realize that they can be rebound," he said. "Or they try to fix them themselves," he added, wincing.
"Don't put duct tape or any tape on them. Never, ever. That does more harm than good."
Chiappini agreed, holding up a book covered with sticky silver tape. "We can't repair this one, so we will just have to completely recover it."
Besides family history and scriptural verse, Mechling says they often find mementos tucked between the pages.
"We get all kinds of things," he said. "Butterflies, locks of hair.
"We've never gotten any money," he chuckled. "They always say people put money in books, but we've never found any."
Chiappini recalled one family Bible which held a surprising secret for years. "We've found love letters — hidden love letters," she said.
After the book's restoration was finished, Chiappini said she "put them back in the book, but I also put a note in for the family to find them, because it was pretty racy."
According to Mechling, large and elaborate family Bibles reached their peak from just after the Civil War until about 1900.
"The big family Bibles were very popular to give as wedding gifts at the time. You could buy one of these from the Sears and Roebuck catalog for around $4. It seems inexpensive today, but then it was probably a lot of money. And they were also sold door-to-door."
"We sometimes get in one from the 1920s or 1930s, but the really old and decorative ones are from around the turn of the century."
The restoration process can take up to several weeks. It's a slow, methodical and labor- intensive process, with each project requiring a different strategy tailored to the customer's desires. This could mean adding a completely new cover or salvaging and restoring as much of the original as possible.The cost, which ranges anywhere from $75 to $350, depends on the book's condition and what options the customer chooses."Sometimes it goes kind of slow in doing the restoration work," Mechling said. "I guess that's the fun part. You're not doing the same thing everyday."The Bible handed down to Harry "Kenny" Gibson of Cabot was showing its age when Gibson and wife Kathy decided to have it rebound. The Gibsons said the Bible had been falling apart and the front cover was off.The Bible records a partial family history, with the earliest entry dating to 1840. Mr. Gibson's mother, Josephine McKinney Gibson Atkinson, gave the book to the couple when the Gibsons first moved into their home some 40 years ago."When she gave it to us," Kathy Gibson said, "I felt like it was a real honor to have something like that. You can't top that. I wanted to have it redone so we can hand it down in our family. You hate to give someone a book that is in pieces and bits."The restored Bible is now proudly displayed on a period cobbler's bench. "Anyone who comes to the house, it's a conversation piece," she said.In addition to private individuals, Mechling said the bindery also does restorations for a number of historical societies, libraries and museums.Karns City United Methodist Church had two rare books rebound, according to church secretary Vonda Moore of Chicora. The church had a Bible rebound several years ago. Although the Bible, which was used on the pulpit, only dated back to the 1950s, Moore said the church wanted to save it rather than purchasing a new one because it had been given as a memorial.The second book, the church's 1915 record book, is an irreplaceable piece of the church's history."The church dates from around 1875," Moore said, "but the original church burned and the original record book burned with it. This is the record book that was started when the brick church was built in 1915. We've been in existence for longer, but this is the first record book we have in our possession. We had it rebound in conjunction with our 125th anniversary in 2000."Kevin McLatchy, library technician for the archival and government documents departments at Bailey Library, Slippery Rock University, says the main danger to historic documents and old books is humidity. Family Bibles should be kept "ideally in a dry location, away from anything that would even hint of having any mold or mildew," he said.McLatchy also recommends "a fairly consistent temperature. The ideal would be complete darkness, but if they want to have it out, make sure the sunlight isn't hitting it."McLatchy said a number of archival-quality boxes are available, and some can be custom fit to the specific Bible. The boxes are acid-free, which helps protect the Bibles."If you think of newspaper, how it discolors," he said, "newspaper has a high acid content. Anything with a high acid content, the acid will move over to the adjoining paper."He also noted that excessive handling can lead to more deterioration. "It depends on the age of them. You can go to the extreme and wear white cotton gloves. Even the oil on people's hands can discolor the pages." Although the bookbindery performs a variety of other services, the restoration work drew Mechling and his wife Marla into business."Marla and I went shopping one time," Mechling said, "and we found these journals where you write your father's name, your grandfather's name. ¿ We thought that would be a great idea for our kids ¿ so we bought those books and began to get interested in the hobby of genealogy."As their hobby grew, the Mechlings bought a variety of genealogy resource books and decided to purchase the equipment to publish such books themselves."At the same time, we were also buying other books for our collection and I was learning how to fix those, Mechling added.With such a specialized service, the bookbindery is completing restorations from throughout the country. It was a tip from a bookstore in Erie that sent Jim Parker to Mechling's. Parker, who lives near Erie, said his family Bible had been passed down from his great-grandparents to his grandparents to his aunts, and now is in his care."It was starting to go to pieces," he said, "so I wanted to have it redone so it will stay together and look good. I wanted to get it restored so it can go on to the next generation."Now completed after three months in the bookbindery, Parker said he is ready to pick up the book.Wood also said she can't wait to see her family Bible finally restored."I'm anxious to see it redone," she said. "There is a lot of history there."
