Many Questions of Various Papers for Book Repair

And actually, I opened this paper up and it’s really thick and not suitable for the project I think. :-(

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027ACE7S/

These are all such good questions. I really want you to succeed in preserving your dust jackets so lets do this.  Remember less is more with dust jackets. Only work from the verso (back) side of the paper (there are exceptions but in general this is so.) The goal is to do the least possible to get it back together and then put it into an archival polyester film cover  (Brodart cover).

Pracising by ripping paper and then using different kinds of tissues and adhesives is a good idea. The magazing paper will be too shiny/slick for paste to work well. You would need Archival glue such as Jade 403 but you would only need to put it on the scarf (bevel) of the tear. However, your dust jackets will work with the paste and using a reversible adhesive is crucial for dust jackets.

The Sekishu is a little heavy just to close tears although it is fine to use. You only need a very thin strip of it. 1/8th inch or so. I would typically use the Sekishu when I am filling in a loss (hole). Just tear it to the proper shape to match and paste just the edges. The Page Repair Kit has the shadow tracer but you can make your own with black paper and plastic to trace the shape with a water pen or brush.  However, filling in holes is not even necessary unless it is structural. You can place a sheet of paper behind the dust jacket (not attached) to "fill in" holes. 

The hinging tissue will be good for reconnecting tears and strengthening rough edges. 

I see that you caught that the paper you suggesteded is too heavy to use for attaching to a dust jacket.  I recommend not filling in losses with paper in general. Do not connect the sheet of paper that you put behind the dust jacket to fill in color. Just put them both into the dust jacket cover. The paper I recommend to use behind a dust jacket for coring purposes is archival end-leaf. They come in several colors. Antique end-leaf is a favorite. 

I can see that I must make a course on this. All of your questions will halp me make the course even more useful to people. Stay tuned. I will get one done as soon as I can! 

Awesome, this is very helpful and a class would be great. I’ll be away for the holidays so waiting to get back to use the code anyway.

Some more questions if you want to include, I’m having trouble keeping the recto side lined up. I get it lined up when I start but after the work is dry on the verso side, I’m finding I’ve offset the recto side and have gaps between the pieces. I thought of lining the ends against a ruler but I found my jacket is so tattered that wouldn’t be a feasible option. How do you keep things lined up?

What do you do when a piece is ripped on multiple sides? For “Pinocchio” I feel like connecting piece two on both sides seems more stable but I also feel like adding the extra step is more prone to error and damage. For “Brownyboo,” all that’s left of the spine is one small piece that is not connected on either side. I’m going to get some of Antique endpaper in dove grey to put behind the missing area but would you even try to preserve the remaining piece and connect to the larger pieces?

What about wrinkles and tattered areas? “Pinocchio” has been sitting under a pile of heavy books for over a month. It still has a lot of wrinkled areas that will make it hard to keep flat when putting it in the protector. On top of that, some of the wrinkled areas are tattered and the paper is very weak. Would you do anything to flatten and strengthen them?

Hello again, a couple more things I’ve thought about as I’ve been covering my jackets that might want to include. Hope it’s not overwhelming. ;-)

• The info from our earlier conversation, about how when coloring to fill in blank areas, it's best to use a separate piece of archival paper to color on, apply a archival fixative spray, and then placing it between the jacket and the back of the Brodart protector.
• Following on that, when you have something like a small area near the top, and only want to use a small piece of the separate archival backing, how do you keep that piece from slipping? Is it ok to connect it to the back of the Brodart with Nori paste? Are there ever times you'd directly color small areas on the back of the protector and then spray that with fixative? Or would that damage the protector?
• Sometimes jackets were originally wrapped with the lettering on the spine offset from the book (examples below), I’ve assumed I should keep them with the same orientation when putting them in protectors but have thought it would be nice if they were lined up so you could properly view them on the shelf. What do you do? Keep the orientation as-is or readjust/re-bend the paper so the jacket and book spines are properly aligned?