Book 356 - "Motor Boys" Recycled 1906 Book Journal - Coptic Binding

This recycled book journal is made from a fabulous find--a 1906 novel for boys called "The Motor Boys in Mexico" by Clarence Young. It was part of a whole series of books about the Motor Boys, apparently playing off the idea of the then relatively new motor car as a source of adventure. Apparently there were a whole bunch of these series of boys' books--the back pages of this book had ads for many of them. In fact, I liked those pages so much, I incorporated several of the ad pages inside this journal.

As usual, the covers were sliced off the book, the spine carefully removed and the raw edges tape bound. I lightly waxed the cover to preserve and improve its finish--although it is in wonderful condition for being more than a century old. I punched holes for sewing stations, folded sigs and punched holes in those too and covered the spine fold with the same green tape as the spine edge, incorporating a few illustrations and other pages from the original book. The book was bound with a chain stitch binding--a single-needle coptic stitch--with white waxed linen thread.

I made a bookmark from the book's spine by folding back the cut edges and covering the entire backside with green paper tape.

This is really a lovely journal.