Category Archives: Conservation treatment

Wardrobes and Rabbit Holes

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by Michele Brown

A new exhibit: “Wardrobes and Rabbit Holes: a Dark History of Children’s Literature”   just opened in the Hirshland Exhibition Gallery in the Kroch Library at Cornell University. Utilizing Cornell’s rich rare book and manuscript collections, the exhibit explores  many themes in children’s literature.

The Division of Rare and Manuscripts Collections installs at least two major exhibits each year, and Cornell Library Conservation works closely with them to make sure the materials are displayed safely and look their best. Each exhibit takes many hours and fine coordination between several departments.

First, curators select and evaluate the materials for the exhibit. Eisha Neely (left) and Freddie  Loew discuss potential candidates.

 

These are then examined by conservators from the conservation unit. Michele Hamill will evaluate and, if necessary treat, flat paper and photos, whereas Michele Brown will treat books and other items, including broken game boxes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The exhibit coordinator, in this case Eisha, decides on the color theme for the exhibit. The supports for all of the materials are made from high quality board by Pat Fox, Assistant Book Conservator,  who also advises the coordinator on the amounts of board needed for the supports.

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rhea Garen , from the Digital Media Group, scans each item in the display.

 

 

 

 

 

The finished exhibit looks great! The materials are safe and supported. You can view the exhibit online.

 

 

 

 

Treatment of Caesalpini’s De Plantis Libri XVI, 1583

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Original condition of the book. Here the text block is separated from the boards

The treatment Caesalpini’s De Plantis Libri XVI, 1583, stemmed from concern about the presence of mold spores.  The book’s condition when it arrived was actually quite good. The sewing was still intact throughout the text block and it was still attached to the boards. Unfortunately, the fly leaves had separated from the text-block and were only just attached to the book’s cover.  Someone had repaired the inner hinge in the front and back of the book and it was this repair that was keeping the fly leaf attached. Finally, after it was determined that the “mold” was not actually mold but soot and bacteria colonies, treatment could begin.

First, I began with dry cleaning each page with an Absorene Dirt Eraser sponge, also known as a dry cleaning or soot sponge, which we purchased from Gaylord. This sponge is designed to attract any surface dirt that may be present, though not necessarily visible. As treatment progressed, I began to find that the sponge was not picking up much dirt. This seems to indicate that the pages are actually quite clean on the surface, and that the smudges of soot have become embedded in the paper over time.

Example of Worm Damage

The next step was to reattach the fly leaves to the text block. I used usumino,  which is a Japanese paper (from Hiromi)  and wheat starch paste (from Talas) to attach the fly leaf to the text block. In order to repair the inner hinge in the front and back of the book, I used a thicker Japanese tissue called sekishu (also from Hiromi). This will help protect the the board attachment.  As mentioned in the previous post, there was worm damage throughout the book. This was apparent on the fly leaves so I used a colored kozo Japanese tissue to repair any worm damage and to consolidate some areas where the damage was significant.

Reattached boards and repaired worm damage

Finally, we wanted to try to clean the vellum covers with something a little stronger than a dry cleaning sponge but not so invasive that it damaged the integrity of the materials. After consulting with Michele Brown, I used cheese cloth dampened with ethyl alcohol to gently rub across the cover. Both boards and spine were cleaned in this manner. Though the change was not visible on the surface of the book, the white cheese cloth did become gray with dirt.

Front cover after alcohol treatment.

With the treatment of this book complete, I constructed a custom-fit clam-shell box with Velcro tabs for this item to live in for the foreseeable future.

New custom made clam-shell box

Looks can be deceiving.

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by Michele Brown

The History of Science collection recently acquired Caesalpini’s De Plantis Libri XVI, 1583, which according to the Encyclopedia Britannica is the first textbook on botany. Our copy is bound in full vellum and is in good condition except for dark smudges, brown stains (thought to be foxing), and worm damage throughout. It was sent to Conservation out of concern for the smudges and stains, which looked like inactive mold.

We consulted with Kathie Hodge, Associate Professor of Mycology in the Department of Plant Pathology & Plant-Microbe Biology, and author of the Mushroom Blog.

 

 

Professor Hodge took tape lifts of the black smudges and foxing, and examined them under a microscope. Surprisingly, there is very little mold in the book. The black smudges are apparently soot, and the brown stains are actually colonies of actinomycetes, a filamentous bacteria. The annotated slide below shows  that  mold spores are present, but in small quantities. It was actually difficult to find many mold spores on tape lifts that were taken throughout the book and on the binding.

The last  slide shows soot particles mixed with a few linen fibers from a tape lift of one of the black smudges.

Professor Hodge’s verdict is that despite its appearance there is very little mold or bacterial contamination of this book. She was curious, however, about the staining that has occurred around the worm holes.

We decided to proceed with dry cleaning and minor repairs. Stay tuned for Mary Schoenfelder’s report on this treatment.

Rebinding Newton’s Principia

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By Michele Brown

This year, the curator of the History of Science Collections requested a new binding for Cornell’s copy of the first edition (1687) of Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton, generally referred to as Newton’s Principia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It had been rebound in the 1970’s in a way that was unsympathetic with the date of its printing.  This by itself would not normally be a reason to rebind it, but the sewing had broken, there were water stains throughout, and mold growth had damaged the edges of many pages.  As a whole, the volume was fragile.

It is used frequently for teaching, and its deteriorated condition made this difficult.

The curator was anxious for this work to have a more appropriate binding. Since the book needed to be resewn,  he agreed that washing the pages could improve their flexibility and increase their longevity.

 

Washing and paper repair

The pages were washed using filtered water alkalinized to a pH of 8.5. They were deacidified using a  calcium hydroxide solution, and then re-sized with 1% gelatin solution.  We were concerned with lightening the paper excessively and losing any of the manuscript notations. Washing  and resizing removed much of the staining and returned flexibility to the pages. In the photo above, the pages on the left have been washed.

Each folio was reinforced with thin usumino (from Hiromi) using wheat starch paste (Aytex P from Talas and filtered water). Paper edges damaged by mold were reinforced with thin usumino or tengujo tissue (also from Hiromi). It was resewn onto 5 raised cords, reusing the original sewing holes.

Binding

Unfortunately, there is no record of the original binding. The original endbands were also gone—replaced with machine-made endbands in the 1970s—but since a fragment of green thread remained I sewed on new green and white endbands.

It was covered as a tight back using fair calf (from Hewit’s) that was dyed using Hewit’s water-soluble aniline dye and Fiebing’s leather dyes.

We decided a Cambridge panel binding was appropriate for this time period. We found two valuable resources for deciding on the design. The Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies had several images of bindings for this period. English Bookbinding Styles 1450-1800 by David Pearson (British Library and Oak Knoll Press, New Castle: 2005) was also a good source.

Terry Buckley’s 1996 Guild of Book Workers presentation on leather staining and dyeing provided valuable guidance for dyeing the leather for the Cambridge panel design.

The new binding is more attractive and opens easily, making it more useful as a teaching tool. It is also in a better condition for digitizing, should that option be considered in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

An enclosure for a cypress sprig

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by Michele Brown

 

In addition to books and manuscripts, Cornell has a rich collection of unusual artifacts. Recently, a sprig of cypress plucked by Lafayette from George Washington’s grave  came into the Conservation Lab. It was housed in an archival envelope that caused damage whenever the sprig was removed for viewing.

 

 

I decided to attach the sprig to buffered 4-ply mat board using a flexible strip of polyester threaded through slits on the board. The polyester is held in place on the back of the board with double-sided tape. Another piece of polyester was attached to the bottom of the board and serves as a tab for pulling the sprig out of its enclosure. A second piece of mat board was glued (pva) to the back of the board holding the sprig in order to secure these attachments.

 

The mounted twig fits into a sink mat constructed from mat board and Volara polyethylene foam (from University Products). Utilizing a case binding structure, the board holding the sink mat was hinged to a board with a 4 mil polyester film window. I used Canapetta cloth from Talas for the spine piece.

You are able to view the sprig through the window, or you can open the window for closer examination. As mentioned above, you may also remove the sprig and its backing board.

Fragments of the sprig found in the envelope were encapsulated, and along with a letter explaining the provenance of the sprig,  also stored in the box. This whole structure might be overdone, but I’m pretty sure the sprig is now safe from further damage.