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Recently got a copy of the Horus Heresy Book II: Massacre and was really dissapointed to find when I opened it that the binding at the front was in really rough shape. A good 3-4mm gap ran between the pages where it appears that the book had come unglued. Now, FW has already resolved the issue with me, but I'm curious about a few things:

1. Have any of you had this issue with the binding on larger books in general? Is it common for books of this size, or was it an anomoly?

2. Is there any 'easy' way to fix the book's binding when it's like that?

Disclosure: I emailed FW a few photos of the book and the damage, and they're replacing it for me, so that was handled really well on their end.

My Pathfinder Core Rulebook, that 586 page monster, has the cover coming off. It's been that way for the past year. It started after only having the book for maybe 6 months, compare that to my DnD 3.5 Players Handbook which I've had for almost a decade now looks fine. My pathfinder book has been glued, super glued, and now I've finally just said feth, and duct taped the hell out of it.

I don't think this is uncommon with large, heavy books.

My copy of Campaign: Paradiso's binding is very disappointing. It started coming apart a bit after a really humid day when I left my windows open.

My copy of Waaugh the Orks! didn't come bound but I suspect that was intentional as it had ringbinder holes?

Wh40K: RT fell apart too but that's 25 years old now.

Other than that never had a problem, even with FoW books.

I've had it a few times with GW books and once or twice with other large ones.

All of those came from China, so I guess it can happen and is to be expected when you select the cheapest offer from your Chinese supplier, which I believe is the core of the problem (as most print products from China are just fine).

Rather unrelated, but still interesting: my GW books that stood the test of time best are not the ones printed in the UK, but those manufactured in Poland.

I always found the previous incarnation of the Space Marine Codex to be a bit shoddy. I know of at least 3 people who experienced pages falling out (4 if you count the fact that when I went to buy it for my dad for Christmas, the first copy I picked up off the shelf practically fell apart in my hand.)

In fact, one of the Space Marines players at my club disassembled his (or it dissassembled itself), laminated every page and stuck it in a binder!

For GW paperback books, I tend to just get the front and back page laminated, and the whole thing spiral bound at Staples.

But for hardback books that'd be quite a loss in quality so not worth doing, unfortunately (I did do it for Tamurkhan, but only because I was doing a small part of it, the chaos dwarf army list section).

I had the opposite with the new Eldar Codex. The first two copies I picked up in my local store had all the pages glued together...

My 6th ed 40k BrB binding has started to come undone, nothing a little duck tape couldn't fix though. All of books get heavily used, that is why I bought it.

 RiTides wrote:
For GW paperback books, I tend to just get the front and back page laminated, and the whole thing spiral bound at Staples.

But for hardback books that'd be quite a loss in quality so not worth doing, unfortunately (I did do it for Tamurkhan, but only because I was doing a small part of it, the chaos dwarf army list section).

Yeah. They actually already sent my replacement which came today, so I have the super damaged copy that I gotta figure out what to do with. We were thinking about deconstructing it and turning it into a PDF since me and my primary game play partner have physical copies and figured that wasn't too ethically questionable.

Would still love to know if anyone has any tips for repairing them if it's a prob in the future.

It is about the quality of gluing and also how much you use a book. I have books that are 150 years old and in great shape, but haven't been read for decades.

You can get books professionally rebound, however it is expensive and not recommendable for stuff like Warhammer books.

You can get bookbinding glues at most craft stores, it works pretty well, you just need to apply it thinly and then weight the book down overnight. Elmers glue applied VERY thinly (there's a technique to this, unscrew the tip the barest amount possible to facilitate flow, and the squeeze the bottle as you apply rapidly in a tight zigzag) also works quite well for adhering paper to paper/fixing endpage splits and the like. There's also this type of "tape" that I can't recall the name of, that is cloth-reinforced paper designed for fixing or reinforcing bindings and hinge areas.

I used to do book repair and tip-ins of errata for the university library. FilmoplastR is the only binding tape I have experience with (archival grade vellum), but it uses a thermal adhesive - not terribly useful if you don't have a tacking iron. There may be binding tapes that use PSA, I just haven't used them.

If the pages tore out without much damage, ideally you'd pierce new holes and re-sew the folio. Most wargaming books I've come across are "perfect bound," though - there's no sewing at all. For those, glue is generally your best option. Acid-free PVA is the weapon of choice - we got the stuff in 2-3 gallon tubs (it was the hub library, with five others spread across the campuses - a single bottle will do more than one book, generally).

For a tip-in (insertion of a single page) the method was as follows:
1. Open book to missing page, holding with weights on edges, if necessary. Lay missing page face down on table, with some scrap paper underneath the edge to be attached.
2. Cover all but the last ~1/8" on the right-hand side (the edge to be joined, since the page is face down) with a straight-edged scrap of paper, to act as a mask.
3. While holding the top paper in place, brush PVA (neat - don't want watery glue soaking through things) over exposed edge, working away from the masking paper, so as not to disturb the clean edge. Use a reasonably stiff brush, as you want to push the thick glue around, leaving a thin but even coat.
4. Flip page over to clean side and slide into book, working from the left (thus avoiding smearing glue on the surrounding pages). A slight sawing motion can help work the page into a tight binding, seating it as deeply as the surrounding pages.
5. Turn the page back, exposing its clean front. Burnish the seam with a bone folder (or any fine, smooth object that can substitute - back of a paintbrush, etc.).

For a series of several consecutive pages, you use the same gluing method to build a stack, instead of gluing them in individually. Once complete, you tip in the last page of the assembled stack, after also brushing glue along the thickened spine-side edge. Takes all of 30 seconds per page and gives a strong bond. I figure if it's good enough for ridiculously expensive textbooks and volumes long out of print, it good enough for my failed rulebooks.

Any FoW book will have issues with it's binding.

Scratch that, not too sure about the newest compilation books as I haven't picked up one of those, but every thing else from my Cassino to Eastern Front to the new mini rule book has issues.

The mini rule book was the worst. That thing never even made it out of the store before the pages were falling out.