I have just come into possession of two songbooks that were in the keeping of my late mother for nearly 70 years. They were published in 1933, they were probably cheaply made in the first place, and they have seen a lot of wear.

They’re assembled in 16 signatures, 256 pages altogether, and then stitched with two large staples that go through all the pages close to the spine. Over that a paper cover was glued; the cover has mostly come undone with time, and someone has mended it with heavy cloth tape.

The books never did lie flat. They were meant for choral singing, and the singers had two hands free to hold them. But I don’t sing; I played from them on the piano when I was a girl, and holding them open while playing was a problem—even more so now that they’re so fragile. I propped a book on each side, but they still tended to fall shut, and of course turning pages smoothly while playing was impossible.

Is there any way that I can salvage and protect these books now that they’re mine—and also, maybe for the first time, have them bound in such a way that they will stay open on the piano?