RESTORATION OF A POCKET BIBLE WITH PAINT ON COVER

This little leather pocket Bible has been doing some DIY painting that required removing with minor repairs to head and tail. Our main concern in adding any repairs is the tight-fit of the existing leather cover. If the repairs are too much or bulky the cover would not fit or work.

Rear board showing further paint embellishments. Question is what type of paint is it?

Spine view shows the joints are solid apart from some wear to the head and tail of the spine. Below is a gallery of the restored product. We used a blend of special chemicals to remove the paint, re-dyed the scuffed areas and finished the surface with a micro-crystalline beeswax. The slightly degraded head and tail spine areas were strengthened with a thin black cloth. Overall the main leather cover joints were in very good condition so were left alone, but the inside paper joints were replaced with matching black archival paper.