That limited edition art book set cost me $120 and half the pages are stuck together

I bought the complete collector's edition of that retro mecha anime series from a seller on eBay last month for $120 and when it arrived the glue they used on the spine basically melted in transit, fusing every other page together. Tried carefully prying them apart with a spatula and now half the art is torn. Anyone know a way to fix stuck book pages without destroying the images?

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarh161mo ago

Freezer trick is a good call @alicecooper, I've heard that works sometimes. Had a similar thing happen with a hardcover manga I found at a garage sale a few years back - some kid had apparently dropped it in a puddle and the pages all dried into one solid block. Tried the steam method out of desperation and just turned it into a wavy mess, so definitely don't do that.

alicecooper1mo ago

Man I felt this in my soul. $120 for a book that basically turned into a sticky brick sounds like a rite of passage for collectors at this point. I once bought a signed art book that arrived with a half melted granola bar smashed into the cover, so at least yours was clean damage? For real though, maybe try the freezer trick if you haven't already. Stick the book in a ziplock bag and leave it in the freezer for a few hours. Sometimes the cold makes the glue brittle enough to separate without ripping. Or just accept that your art book now has a built in abstract collage aesthetic.