Paradise Lost & Found

1688 Edition with new label and outer joint repairs

Laced in and ready for leather

Tucking in a new inner joint

Drying after aging

Mended sections

An archival scanner

New frontis portrait

"Unaged" facsimile on right

Newly sewn textblock, after mending and adding in the missing plates

We've just completed restoration of 1688 and 1691 small folio editions of Paradise Lost, a complete first illustrated edition and a later printing missing the frontis portrait and most of the 12 plates that preface each "book". The 1688 edition needed only minor repairs but provided the source for our missing plates. We used a unique scanner where the book is hung over the edge, allowing us to capture deep into the inner margin without putting any stress on the binding. The scans were digitally cleaned, output on hand-made paper, airbrushed to lightly age, and sewn along with the newly mended text. Though heavily worn, we reused the original boards of the 1691 copy with their marbled paper sides, simply lifting the paper and inserting new leather for the spine underneath. The 1688 edition needed a new label and strengthening of both inner and outer joints.