Getting an Old Book Repaired - Is It Worth The Cost

I had a very weird situation happen today. I received an old book from my father several years ago when I was helping him with his knee surgery recovery. 

I wanted to read the book, but the binding was off and some of the pages are loose. I worried if I read it, I will damage it more. It is from 1853. 

I read an article about a woman who restores old books, so I thought I would try and contact her. I looked her up and wrote a note asking her if I could visit with her about fixing this book. 

It has been a month or so since I wrote her, but she texted me today saying I could send her some pictures and give her a call about fixing the book. 

I called her and she was really friendly. I think we would be good friends. While having a conversation about cost, she said looking at the photos, it would cost around $300 to fix the book and keep the covers. 

I asked about the water damage and she said it can be fixed by taking every page out individually, and since the pages are in good condition and there isn't any smell, she said it would probably be fine leaving the pages as they are, and just fixing the cover and some loose pages. 

While we were talking, I mentioned something about my family and she said, "This sounds familiar, did you having another family member email me? I said "I didn't think so," and she went into her emails and said, "Do you know Princess One?" and I said, "That is my oldest daughter!" She said my daughter must have read the same article as she emailed her about a book belonging to my mother in hopes it could be repaired! 

I thought what a weird coincidence that was! I told the woman that maybe we need to be friends! So weird that the timing was so far from the article being published and that we both contacted her within a few weeks of each other. My daughter contacted her through email, and I contacted her through Facebook. The article was not recent as I had it sitting with the book for some time before finding time to contact her and find her on Facebook. 

I called my daughter after talking to the woman, and my daughter said that the book she wanted done would be $175 and she didn't think it was worth the price. It was an old hymnal belonging to my mother, but it wasn't a rare book. 

The book I want to get done is more rare, so the woman said she would contact a few rare book dealers and she would ask them if the book was rare enough to spend $300 to fix up. 

I contacted a university library asking if they would want it donated, but they already had a copy of the book. 

It will be interesting to hear what she finds out. 

Have a blessed day!