Condition

Paper Body

The first page and signature had separated from both the cover and textblock. The surface of the exposed pages were dirty, with some of the corners folded. On a page with an older document adhered to it, the edges of the additional page were no longer held in place.

Cover and Spine

The front cover had completely detached from the textblock and spine. The corners had rounded, with the layers that make up the boards delaminating, and the leather cover was partially detached and heavily scuffed. There was originally an illuminated border but only fragments of gold remain within the indentations.

The marbled endsheet was dull due to dirt, and the leather name plate had a waxy deposit across part of the surface.A corner of  this had also started to lift.

The main body of the book otherwise appears to be in good condition, requiring minimal treatment, allowing the main focus to be on the repairs to the front section.

​

Treatment Aims

To clean the book, and return it to a condition where it can be stored and used as a book with minimal negative impact, while retaining any evidence of use and history.

​

Treatment

The book was first dry cleaned using a soft brush to remove loose dirt, followed by a smoke sponge.

Paper Body

The folded corners were unfolded and gently flattened using a bone folder and parchment paper. Fragile sections of the older document were consolidated and readhered with wheat starch paste to prevent them from being lost.

The detached pages were reattached to the textblock spine using strips of 22gsm Okay and wheat starch paste. The tissue paper was colour matched using watercolour paints.

Cover and Spine

The delaminating corners were consolidated using wheat starch paste and clamped until dry to help reshape them. The corner of the nameplate was also secured using wheat starch paste.

The leather on the spine was faced with tissue Okay tissue paper soaked in a dilute solution of wheat starch paste, which had been allowe to dry. This was gently dampened to allow a weak bond to the leather. The spine was then mechanically removed using a spatula to reduce the amount of moisture introduced to the leather. This allowed the reattachment of the loose pages directly to the textblock spine. The leather on the hinge side of the front cover was mechanically lifted so that the attachments could be hidden below it. Strips of linen were attached on the inside and outside of the front cover, and secured to the spine using wheat starch paste and Okay tissue. Where the linen tabs were visible, they were covered with two layers of Okay tissue and inpainted with watercolours, to prevent them from distracting the eye from the book.

The leather was reattached to the spine using a high viscosity wheatstach paste. Once the facing had been removed, the spine and inpainting on the front cover were treated with SC6000 to protect the leather, and match the texture and appearance.