The Dibner Library received a newly transferred collection of Deutsche Farber-Zeitung, a 19th century periodical on textile dying that includes color samples on wool, cotton, and silk. A summer intern discovered insect carcasses within the gutters of some while organizing, so they were sent to the Libraries’ Book Conservation lab for freezing.
A few were in poor shape, missing their boards and leather spine coverings. After freezing, a decision was necessary regarding their return to the Dibner for reshelving. Creating boxes was my first thought, however, the leaves are so brittle that I was afraid of damage to them if handled without further protection (above).
An initial step was creating new boards, attaching them to the textblock using toned aero linen placed over a hollow-back spine. I chose to take it a step further by creating a kind of papier-mâché spine covering for these books in order to be visibly consistent with the remaining collection. I decided to use a variation on the molded japanese paper spine developed by conservator Andrew Honey.
Since the former spine coverings used false raised bands, I re-created these with sewing cords fitted in a template for each book. The toned aero-linen linen and cords were covered with plastic wrap to protect from moisture and adhesive during the process (above).
Over the plastic film, several layers of mid-weight japanese paper covered the panels, alternated by those covering the cords using a mixture of wheat starch paste and methyl cellulose thinned in deionized water (above).
Once dried, I toned the covering with acrylic paints to match as closely as possible to the original leather (above).
The new spines were attached to the aero linen lining. The final result on the far right – awaiting it’s spine label (above).
—Vanessa Haight Smith (and photos)
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