before you give an archivist an altered book, politely ask their opinion on the art form.
In case anyone was wondering quite why I had detached pages of Gone With the Wind enough to use as gift wrap, this is a gift I've been putting together for my favourite femme archivist, after being inspired by a pinterest post last year (tutorial link now defunct, sadly, or I'd share). The shell is a damaged hardback found at Goodwill and the handles of a clutch purse also found there for a pittance.The lining is satin fabric remnant, and a magnetic clasp hides my ineptitude at lining up the halves of it.
The book purse is over four months late as a gift because I had issues matching the original, dry-rotted bookmark ribbon with what now holds the handles on, and I just today finally finished the thing. It was a lot of fun, but it was also a lot more handsewing and epoxy than I expected, so I'm probably never making another one of these again. Also, to be honest, if I get into the habit of making these, I'll want one for myself and given how hard I am on my things, that way leads only to disaster.