#book conservation

[conservethis]

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[u-mspcoll]

This Thursday! Conservation Close-up

Join us on the 6th floor of Hatcher this Thursday, 19 March, between 4-6p for our next Third Thursdays at the Library event of the semester! This open house will feature conservation work. 

Come chat with the conservators and technicians who care for the library’s rare and special collections.  The Preservation Services department is charged with caring for vast and diverse collections — from the world’s first atlas to (fake) blood-stained movie costumes. 

Projects on view will include structural repairs of bindings, complex paper washing, intricate custom boxes, and a large scale rehousing project. Some examples of projects involving technical analysis and multi-band imaging will also be presented.

While you’re here, pick up a Third Thursdays Passport and collect a stamp! Make it around to all four Third Thursday Open Houses — the Clark Library, International Studies, Asia Library, and the Special Collections Research Center — and win a prize!

[munkamouse]

So very ready to be mailing back this Bible I repaired on commission- what an overhaul! It arrived in literal pieces:

[megushie]

Once again lamenting the fact that I am not a book/paper/paintings conservator with an extensive knowledge of chemistry and fancy equipment at my disposal.

I feel like so much focus has been put on arsenic green pigments, with just minor discussions on yellow and red (chromium, mercury, lead), almost always talking about book covers (book cloth and painted vellum/leather) or decorative endpapers.

I’ve found ONE article that mentions testing ONE green edge-painted book. That’s not a great sample. I want more info. I’m curious about the green painted book I’ve got on a shelf, and now wondering about the red edge painted books I have too…and apparently lead was commonly used for a few different things aside from pigment coloring?

Any chemist book lovers out there need a journal article or thesis idea??? Because there really needs to be more studies on other toxic pigments/chemicals used in bookbinding.

[pumpkinpaix]

FHEJSKDKDJD the horrifying moment you realize the manuscript letters you’re working on are NOT in fact from the 1800s but from the 1600s SCREAM

functionally it’s not really different I just feel more anxiety now lmaooooooo

[inkyskye]

this type of fictional man🫠

Cardan Greenbriar (The Folk of the Air)

Morozko (The Winternight Chronicles)

Colton Price (The Whispering Dark)

[earhartsease]

hey book conservators out there - what's the best way to repair the dust cover (aka book jacket apparently) tear that you can see on the left? we used to work in a museum so we at least know not to use sticky tape of any kind, but we're at a loss as to the best way to preserve this

we just got this book in the post - note the illustrator Pauline Baynes who did the original artwork for the Narnia books and is the reason why we bought this book, though we will read it as well as share some of the pictures here

[blogearthbound]

After treatment - beautiful ledger from 1821. I repaired every signature, resewed it, replaced the leather spine and decided to put on a hollow tube, to help support the fragile pages as well as reinforce the cover/board reattachments. 121 hours of treatment