Paper. Different kinds of book paper, to be obtained from any printer, will be needed for replacing end sheets, also thin bond paper for guarding leaves. Rope manila of the best quality will also be found useful. Get also some of the rolls of adhesive paper sold by The Dennison Manufacturing Company, 11 Dey St., New York (¾ inches wide, per dozen spools 40 cents), for mending torn pages. It is very convenient.
Paste. Buy this at a bindery, if you use much. For occasional use it can be thus made: stir flour in cold water until smooth, add hot water, let it boil for a few minutes, and add a little salt and alum as preservatives. Good paste can be bought in jars. Higgins’s is the best. The cost is 25 cents per 8-ounce jar. Almost any stationer carries it, or it can be ordered of Charles M. Higgins, 168 Eighth St., Brooklyn. A convenient thing for paste in small quantities is the tube. The several makes are all about equally good.
Paste made of starch is best for work on fine books, as it is more transparent and shows less than other paste.
Ruler. One with a brass edge is handy, but not essential.
Scissors. Slender, 6-inch blades, good quality, 75 cents.
Sewing bench. This can be made as follows: Take a board 24 in. long and 10 in. wide. On the side of it and 14 in. apart nail two uprights, ¾ in. square and a foot long. Across the top of these nail a stick ¾ in. square. Tacks can be driven into the board and into the cross stick above where needed, and cords or tapes stretched between them. This gives you all the essentials of a sewing bench.
Thread. Some of Hayes’s best Irish linen thread, smaller size, say No. 18. Or Barbour’s linen, No. 30.