The Restoration of Letters from New York

by Audrey Sage

The Special Collections contains a copy of Letters from New York by L. Maria Child, which was published in 1845 by C. S. Frances & Co. in New York. Other works by L. Maria Child include Philothea: A Grecian Romance, History of Women, The Mother's Book, and Flowers for Children.

Before restoration

After restoration

Prominent author and abolitionist Lydia Maria Child began writing her "letters" from New York in August 1841 as a response to the troubling realities marking her private and public life. In particular, she was preoccupied by her editorial duties at the National Anti-Slavery Standard and dismayed by the growing sectarian spirit of antislavery reform. Collected primarily from the pages of the Standard, her literary essays on women's rights, the preaching of African American minister Julia Pell, the Crosby Street Synagogue, animal magnetism, the engineering miracle of Croton Aqueduct, and countless other people, topics, and events capture the breathless and sometimes unsettling transformation of one representative hub of national life. - University of Georgia PressThis third edition of "Letters from New York" had become worn and in need of restoration treatment. I began the work by removing the covers from the text block in order to perform the mends necessary before I would be able to rebuild the cover.

The text block signatures were somewhat loose due to the poor condition of the original adhesives, as well as the unfortunate tearing of the backing cloth. 

I was able to remove the old glue and apply new starch adhesive and archival mending tissue to reinforce the spine, salvaging the original sewing.

Text block spine with new starch adhesive and new backing paper reinforcement applied. Once this was complete I was able to apply new linen cloth backing to replace the damaged cloth, and a sturdy japanese paper hollow.

The cover boards were repaired, the damaged corners were mended and moriki paper was used to cover the areas that were missing the original bookcloth. The original endpapers could be mended and lifted from the boards to prepare for the insertion of the new backing fabric.

Once the cover was rebuilt, the spine cleaned and rebacked, and the endsheets repaired, I was able to attach the original covers back onto the text block. With the original cover cloth lifted, I inserted a replacement spine exterior made from linen backed toned moriki paper that I was able to then further tone with additional pigments to closely match the color of the original cover material. Once this spine repair was completed and the restored book pressed, this special historical book, Letters from New York, is ready to be returned to the shelf, to be accessed and utilized by future historians, researchers and the curious reader.