#toolsofthelibrarytrade

[librarycompany]

For this week’s #ToolsOfTheLibraryTrade challenge we bring you FOAM! Foam is the gentle support your books need in times of binding stress. Foam doesn’t make a sound and is perfect for a quiet reading room. Foam comes in many sizes and supports books from the miniature to folio. Choose Foam and you’ll also have a pillow for those research break cat naps. 

Book pictured:  Arndt, Johann, 1555-1621. Wahres Christenthum. Philadelphia [Pa.], : Gedruckt und verlegt bey Benjamin Fräncklin und Johann Böhm., 1751.

[hdslibrary]

One of our most used and beloved #toolsofthelibrarytrade is the foam book cradle. Here’s a pile of most (but not all) of our book cradles hiding one of our curators. We’re loving this #wednesdaychallenge and thanks to @uflib and @miamioh.spec for putting it on! @iglibraries #bookcradles #bookcradle #librariesofinstagram #ahtl https://www.instagram.com/p/B1bg7iIpUke/?igshid=1k7oywvgcfsjf

[librarycompany]

Conservator, Andrea Krupp is rebinding a collection of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper using a sewing frame. Here she is sewing a handy archival pocket for a foldout map to the binding. The bindery, by far has the best #ToolsOfTheLibraryTrade.

[librarycompany]

This week’s #toolsofthelibrarytrade highlights multiple facets of what we use in our library as well as a story of rediscovery. First, this library step stool was originally made for the Library Company’s Juniper building, which has since been torn down. When LCP left that location we did not want to take the step stool with us, so it went to antiques dealer. One of LCP’s donors, David Doret, found this stool and returned it to us. Now it is part of our Art & Artifacts Collection. 

The next step in this stool’s journey was to photograph the stool for the online catalog. As shown in the image, we could not accommodate the dimensions of the stool seamlessly with our studio, but a little Photoshop magic went a long way without jeopardizing the integrity of the artifact.  

OBJ-013. Library step stool. Gift of David Doret. 

[librarycompany]

We often think of temperature control when we think of housing special collections. What about our extra special and also, spontaneously combustible collections??  At the Library Company we house nitrate and safety negatives in freezers to keep them stable. To access the negatives, boxes must acclimate to room temperature for 24 hours before being handled. To return to the freezer, curators must bake the boards inside the box (I mean literally bake cardboard in the oven!) to remove humidity before storing.

[librarycompany]

It is week two of the #ToolsOfTheLibraryTrade and we couldn’t resist more content about bookbinding. This image is a compilation of illustrations from Edith Diehl’s, Bookbinding, its background and technique (1946). Originally this image was compiled as a design intended for a tote bag advertising our 2018 exhibition The Living Book: New Perspectives on Form and Function. However, the design was never printed. Who here wants a #ToolsThatBind tote?? 

Diehl, Edith. Bookbinding, its background and technique. New York, Toronto, Rinehart & company, inc., 1946.