I used to think PVA was always better for book repairs until I messed up a 1920s novel

I was fixing up an old copy of The Great Gatsby from an estate sale last month and grabbed my standard PVA glue out of habit. Took me three days to realize the spine was turning yellow and the pages started warping. Turns out the 1925 paper had a different acidity level, and the PVA was reacting with it. Now I keep a bottle of wheat paste on hand for anything printed before 1950. Anyone else run into this with older books?

2 comments

2 Comments

wesleybutler16d ago

2 gallons of PVA through 15 years of book repair and never once seen a spine turn yellow in 3 days. That sounds more like the glue was old or stored badly. Paper acidity matters but PVA is pH neutral when it dries. I kept a 1910 encyclopedia set together with the same bottle of Lineco PVA for 8 years now and it looks fine. Maybe the Gatsby copy had some mold or water damage already and the glue just made it show. Lots of people blame glue when it's really the book that was already messed up.

ryanf6615d agoTop Commenter

So you really think all that fuss over some yellowing is overblown @wesleybutler?