Book Restoration Services from Hang Fire Books (Brooklyn, NY)

I recently made the acquaintance of William Smith of Hang Fire Books, located in Brooklyn, NY. So far I’ve picked up quite a few gems: Gold Medal originals of David Goodis’ Fire in the Flesh and Harry Whittington’s Fires that Destroy, as well as a couple of Whittington’s Westerns (Vengeance is the Spur and Wild Lonesome) and an Ace-double by Stewart Sterling. Not only does he have a great collection of pulps for sale, but he also offers another great service: vintage book restoration. He describes his process here on his blog.

I brought him a stack of my vintage paperbacks that were in pretty bad shape, including a signed Richard Prather that was so slanted it couldn’t be opened, as well as a Mickey Spillane that was literally in several pieces, none of which were connected to the spine anymore. Most of the books just had spine slants, tears or bends in the cover, or breaks in the spine. Within a few days, I received an email that all were ready to be picked up. And voila! The Prather now had a square binding, as did the Spillane and the others. The picture below shows the stack of books I brought him, and there is noticeable improvement in all of them. Tears were fixed and bindings were strengthened, which means that not only will the books now enjoy a much longer life, but also I’ll be able to enjoy them for many more years to come, as well.


So, if you have some vintage paperbacks in need of some restoration at affordable prices, Hang Fire Books is highly recommended.