The age old question... Repair or part out plates?

I just picked up a copy of Fredrick Morris's "Done in the Open"

I am kind of torn about what to do with it. I haven't taken it apart yet but it seems to have been made with 2 page signatures (seemingly unsewen althought I haven't take it a part to verify), which were then "stab bound" using staples.

The spine covering is just paper, but is disintegrating. It is an easy enough fix, and will probably replace with a paper that is as similar to the original as possible.

That is of course whether I bother fixing it at all. One of the larger plates has a rip that goes almost the whole length of the page, directly through the middle of the print. The tear is pretty clean (I susupect it was done trying to photograph it for the auction.), so I could repair with some nearly transparent japanese tissue on print side, and something more substantial on the back, which is largely blank.

Given that I am going to have to the book apart anyway to deal with the rust stains from the staples, and a little bit of foxing/mould. Should I bother putting it all back together? If I do, should I use modern stainless staples, or use linen in the stab binding holes?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

Do you mean Frederic Remington's "Done in the Open"?
You do not provide sufficient information for us to assess whether it is valuable enough to bother with repairing. What is the publication date? Is there anything inherently valuable about this particular edition? Because there are lots of copies of various versions available. We generally do not "break" a book if it is complete and repairable, but if it cannot be repaired to "collectible" condition it might be an exception. If there are undamaged copies readily available, there is little reason for someone to buy a repaired copy.

 

I'm probably one of the more liberal people when it comes to "breaking" a book, but I'm with @2manybooks on this one -- not enough info to make a call.

 

My apologies for the lack of details.
Here are some pictures of the book detailing its current condition.

I have posted more images here

 

Doesn't appear to be terribly rare. What edition is yours? And what is your purpose -- resale? personal library?

Debora

 

I am actually learning bookbinding and paper conservation, so this was bought mostly as a learning tool.

My plan is take the textblock apart, wash the pages to de-acidify and clean them.

From there I don't know. If I rebind it, I might fix the losses, and repair the two rips. Or I might resize and line a few illustrations to get my investment back.

 

Ah. Well, then you have a plan. Sure it will be an interesting project.

Debora

 

It does sound like a good learning project. I seriously doubt the value will be sufficient to compensate you for your time, but you will gain valuable experience.