Preservation Week With Guest Blogger, Vanessa Hardy

INCIDENTS ON LAND AND SEA

In the Preservation Department at the library, we are usually called on to repair a binding that is failing, but recently we were sent a book that had no binding at all. Since it is Preservation Week, we decided to take this opportunity to document the sequence of steps taken when a book is bound from scratch.

Well not completely from scratch. This book had been sewn, and the sewing was holding up well, so we decided not to undo it.

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Hardy

If the sewing had looked loose, or if any threads had snapped, we would have resewn the book completely, or at least reinforced the sewing, but that is a lot of additional work.

You would need to undo all the sewing and release the sections, then guard the folds with Japanese tissue, press them, and then resew them.

In the interests of efficiency, we decided to skip these stages. We have a constant work flow of material in the Preservation Department, so we have to consider how much time to dedicate to each treatment.

A little preliminary repair was necessary, however. The frontispiece plate was stuck to the title page at the margin, and so the page didn’t turn easily, and the bottom of the plate was obscured. 

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Hardy

 

In this state, the frontispiece was vulnerable to tearing if the page was turned carelessly, so we lifted the plate and then hinged it back on to the title page so it turns freely.

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Hardy

Now you can read the title of the plate: “Nonantum”, the name of the ship.

The book, Incidents on Land and Water, is Mrs. Bates’ narrative of her 1850 voyage from Maine to California.  She left Maine on the Nonantum, but fires on board sank that ship. Two more ships sank before her arrival in California, and her subsequent life in a mining town was no idyll either.

Reading this, I begin to feel this book really needs some protection!

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Hardy

New end papers are folded and sewn on to the front and back of the book. 

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Hardy

The new thread is attached to the old. 

The spine is first lined with a light but strong Korean tissue, to strengthen and consolidate the folds of the sections.

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Hardy

This tissue also provides a barrier between the spine linings and the paper. Anyone repairing this book in the future will be able to clean the spine easily.

The spine is next lined with a thin strong cotton, leaving flaps on either side, which in due course will be attached to the new boards.

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Hardy

While working on the book, it becomes evident that the sewing is not as robust as we thought. 

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Hardy

Time for Plan B: end bands at head and tail that are sewn through the lining, and will reinforce the existing sewing.

The core (linen cord) will eventually be trimmed.

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Hardy

                                                                                                                                                                                              

The outermost endsheet is cut in half lengthways, and the remaining half is folded back on itself, and glued, so that it sandwiches the cotton flap.

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Hardy

This flange is then trimmed, to allow room for the cloth to fold over when the book is covered. New boards have been made of thin card and thicker board glued together, leaving enough space to slip in the flange. The boards are then glued completely shut.

The spine is then lined with paper, protecting  the end band sewing, and the cord is trimmed.

Now all that is needed is the covering material. 

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Hardy

It’s always a visual surprise when the bare bones of the book, its spine linings and boards, are dressed up. Voila! We chose a a sturdy but elegant cloth, and attached a paper label, recessed into the front cover.

Photo courtesy of Vanessa Hardy

Mrs Bates is ready to go back to the History Room, her past adventures safely contained for a peaceful future.

If you’d like to learn more about the fine art of book repair and binding, please join us for Fixing This Old Book: simple repairs for your much-loved volumes* on Thursday, May 1st, at 6pm, in the Main Library, 1st Floor, Stong Room. Sponsored by the Marjorie G. and Carl W. Stern Book Arts and Special Collections Center and the library’s Preservation Department, and in celebration of the American Library Association’s Preservation Week (April 27-May 3.)