Super Size Me: The Book Conservation Variety, Part 3 (of 3)

In our final post of this three part series about this conservation treatment, we will review covering the book in leather, reapplying the original label, and blind tooling a panel on the front and back covers. Previously mentioned in Part 1, The Royal Commentaries of Peru (RCP) by Garcilaso de la Vega (1539-1616), published in 1688, arrived in Preservation Services having already received a number of repairs. For that reason, it was determined that the best way to stabilize and improve the function of this book was to remove it from the original binding and rebind it in a new leather cover.

The Royal Commentaries of Peru before and after treatment

And, as mentioned in Part 2, there are many steps to preparing a book to be covered in leather. In the case of RCP, those steps included mending almost all of the pages, resewing the text sections on cords, adding new endpapers, resewing endbands, and several other time-consuming tasks. (See Part 1 and Part 2 for those steps) This is the sort of work we very much enjoy doing but for which we do not always have the time.

The dampened leather is adhered first to the spine
and worked around the raised cords before
smoothing onto the covers.

One of the first steps for covering a book in leather, after the many steps mentioned in Parts 1 and 2 of this series, is to pare the leather. A piece of leather, in this case, calf leather, is cut to the size of the book plus about an inch extending beyond the head, tail, and fore edge of the book (top, bottom, and edge opposite the spine). The leather is then pared with a special knife to bevel or thin the edges to aid in turning the leather in around the cover boards. For a quick video on what leather paring is, click HERE to see conservator and toolmaker Jeff Peachey (to see Peachey's tools, click HERE) demonstrate on a scrap piece of leather. Once the leather is pared, paste is prepared and all the necessary tools are set out in easy reach of the binder. The binder needs to work fairly quickly once the leather is pasted out, so it is helpful to have all the appropriate tools at hand.


The leather is moistened with water using a soft sponge or cotton on the hair side (the side that had hair on it when it was sourced from an animal). On the flesh side of the leather (the side that faced the inside of the animal from which it was sourced), paste is applied, scraped away, and reapplied in stages. The moisture from both the water and the paste makes the leather more malleable as it is applied to the book. However, it also makes the leather susceptible to scarring or bruising while it is dampened, so the binder must take care not to damage the leather in the binding process.

The book rebound in new leather before the decorative panel was inscribed

The leather is first applied to the spine of the book and worked down around the raised cords. From there, it can be laid down on each cover. The binder then works at the head and tail of the book, with the covers open and the textblock upright and perpendicular to the table surface, to turn the leather in around the edges of the boards and form the endcaps (a bit of leather that protrudes at the head and tail of the spine and curves over the text minimally to protect the end band). It is difficult to document covering a book in leather while doing so as the binder must stay focused and work quickly. For a rough overview of the process, click HERE to watch a video of covering a book in leather.

The original label was readhered to the new leather spine

After the book was covered in the leather and had ample time to dry, the original label (that was lifted as the book was removed from its original cover) was reapplied. While the facing tissue is still on the label, the label can be adhered to the new spine leather. Once dry, the facing tissue was removed with a thin coat of Klucel-G (a leather consolidant that worked like an adhesive to hold the tissue to the face of the label without damaging it).

The final step was to create a panel pattern on the front and back covers similar to the design on the original covers. A simple way to create a design on leather is to take advantage of the issue mentioned earlier: leather is easily scarred or bruised when dampened. After determining the basic rectangular design, a cardstock template was created to simplify the process of keeping the design parallel to the edges of the book. The cover was dampened, the template laid in place, and a bone folder was used to impress the lines in the damp leather. Once dry, the lines appear slightly darker because the leather was purposefully bruised with the folder while damp. Once one cover was dry, the book was flipped over and the same design was applied to the back cover.

A template was used as a guide to impress decorative lines on the cover while the leather was dampened

After its extended stay in Preservation Services for stabilization and rebinding, The Royal Commentaries of Peru was returned to our Rare Books collection and will be available for use by researchers and classes for many years to come. To read more about the process of treating this book, visit Part 1 and Part 2 of this three part series.

The cover leather was dampened to impress the lines. On the left,
it was still very damp. On the right it was beginning to dry

Restoration of a Marbled Leather Binding

The Seasons contains a series of four poems written by British poet James Thomson (1700-1748). Thomson began the series with Winter, which was published in 1726. He published Summer and Spring in the two years following. The final poem in the series, Autumn, was published as part of the complete edition in 1730.

The Seasons by James Thomson, after treatment

This copy of The Seasons, held in the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives at UNCG, was published in 1837 by publisher Andrus, Judd, & Franklin of Hartford, Connecticut. It is a small binding of about 4 x 6 inches, which was easily held in the hand or tucked in the pocket of its owner. The book has a decorative leather binding known as marbled leather. The effect was created by pouring acidic solutions across the leather to create striated areas of color resembling marble. For more information about decorative leather binding terminology and techniques, click HERE.

We recently had the opportunity to treat this lovely little binding in Preservation Services. When we received it, the front board was attached only by its cords. The leather was split at the hinge on the front and back covers, a natural result of regular handling of an old, brittle leather binding. 

Both images are before treatment, on the right: the PVA-type adhesive
at the fore edge corner from a prior treatment

The fore edge corners and the hinges had previously been treated with a PVA-type adhesive (common examples of PVA adhesives are wood glue, white glue, or school glue), which created a clear, plastic-like coating that may have provided some protection but also may have contributed to further damage as the adhesive was stronger than the aging leather.

In process (L to R): mending the outer hinge with Japanese tissue, recreating a
missing endband, mending the endcap with Japanese tissue

Other than some water damage staining at the spine edge of the pages, the text block was in relatively good condition. A folio in the first section of pages was loose and the interior hinges at the front and back were split just as the leather was split on the outside of the hinges.

The split hinge at the front of the book allowed for access to the spine edge of the first section, so we were able to sew in the loose folio. The interior hinges were repaired with Japanese tissue and rice starch paste. The exterior hinges were repaired with brown Japanese paper and then further toned with watercolor to more closely resemble the original marbled leather. Once toned, the Japanese paper was sealed with a coating of Klucel-G/SC6000 which consolidates and serves as an added layer of protection as well as matches the sheen of the original leather.

After treatment: the outer hinge was mended and toned
to more closely resemble the original leather

This copy of The Seasons by James Thomson was returned to Special Collections and is now available to be shared with researchers and students interested in 18th century British poetry, blank verse poems, or perhaps marbled leather bindings.

Instructional Technology: A Game-Changer for a Hands-On Workshop

In early October, Preservation Services Staff had the pleasure of teaching a pre-conference workshop for the North Carolina School Library Media Association's (NCSLMA) 2018 conference in Winston-Salem, NC. 

NCSLMA Pre-Conference Workshop in Winston-Salem, NC

"Book Repair on a Budget" is a hands-on workshop we developed to teach basic book repair techniques to school media specialists who often have very little time or funding to tackle book repairs, yet have an important need to preserve the life of their collections for as long as possible. After providing the workshop for several groups of Guilford County Schools Media Specialists in March of this year, we were invited to teach an extended version at the NCSLMA conference. (To read more about our partnership with Guilford County Schools Library Media Services, click here.)

Audrey Sage, Preservation Manager,
demonstrating how to reback the spine of a book

In the three-hour workshop, we addressed a variety of book repairs including paper mending, repairing loose covers, and repairing book spines. We focused on treatments that were relatively quick and easy to perform and that required materials media specialists likely have on hand or could acquire inexpensively. 

Lumens DC125 Ladibug Document Camera

Thanks to a Lumens DC125 Ladibug Document Camera (click here for more information), each step of the repairs we taught could easily be viewed by participants from the comfort of their seats. The document camera allowed us to easily alternate between demonstrations and hands-on work with participants to facilitate learning and improve their performance of each repair technique. At times, instructional technology can be a distraction from learning, but in this case it was a positive game-changer.

Suzanne Sawyer, Preservation Technician,
demonstrating how to tip in a loose page

Sawyer demonstrating a book repair with
the aid of a document camera

Participants of the workshop received a bag of sample materials that were used in our demonstrations as well as a link to our libguide, an online resource we have created (click here to view our libguide). It includes our PowerPoint presentations and videos, along with other digital resources about book repair, and a list of vendors for book repair supplies and equipment. It is our hope that the libguide will serve as a manual of sorts for school media specialists to return to for their own reference or as a guide for teaching book repair techniques to older students or library volunteers.

Paper Grain: Enhances or Impedes the Function of a Book

There are many steps to designing and constructing a book that functions well in the hands of a reader. Considering the properties of each component used in the book’s construction will have a significant influence on its performance. In Preservation Services, we are most often repairing books rather than creating new bindings, so we inherit the bookbinding decisions made by a book’s original creator, whether good or bad. As we determine the best method of repair, we consider both the aesthetic outcome (how a book will look) as well as the function of the book.

Photo by Brandi Redd on Unsplash.com

The type and quality of paper used in the binding can affect how long a book will last over time. One of the recurring issues conservators face are brittle books. Between the 1850s and 1980s, the publishing industry sought ways to produce large quantities of books that were cheaper to manufacture. Books printed on wood-pulp paper were among the ill-fated results as the process of making the paper left it destined to become more acidic over time which causes the paper fibers to break down and become weak. Surprisingly, a book made during the Renaissance era might be in better condition than a book printed in the 1950s due to the type of paper used.

Brittle book
(Image: https://psap.library.illinois.edu/collection-id-guide/paper)

Additionally, the way the paper is used in the binding has a substantial influence on how the book will operate, such as how the book will open and close or how easily the pages will turn. Just like wood, paper has a grain direction to it. As paper is made, whether handmade or machine-made, the fibers generally align vertically or horizontally due to the motion of how a papermaker forms the sheet or how the fibers are extruded from a machine.

Making paper by hand
By Hahnemühle PR (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

It is usually a simple task to identify the grain of a sheet of paper, though in some paper it is difficult to determine. If you have ever tried to tear a coupon out of a newspaper, you have likely experienced the blessing and curse of paper grain. In one direction, the paper is easy to tear straight but in the other it has a mind of its own. When tearing with the grain direction, it is much easier to make a straight tear.

Left: Tearing with the paper grain, Right: Tearing against the paper grain
(Blue arrows indicate grain direction)

Another method of determining the grain of paper is to bend it as if you are about to fold it. When you bend against the paper grain, the paper is more resistant to the pressure of your hand. When you bend with the grain, the paper seems much more cooperative with the folding process. 

Testing the paper grain

Similarly, folding and creasing with the paper grain creates a much tidier fold than when the paper is folded against the grain.

Left: Folding against the paper grain, Right: Folding with the paper grain

So, how does paper grain affect the function of a book? The rule of thumb with grain direction in bookbinding is to make sure the grain of all your materials (book board used to make the covers, book cloth covering the book, and any other material with a grain used in the construction of a book) is running parallel to the spine of the book. Not only will the paper fold more easily and neatly if the grain direction is parallel to the spine, but it also affects how well the book opens and its ability to adjust to environmental changes like humidity.

Pages do not drape properly because the grain direction
is perpendicular to the spine of the book

Pages with correct grain direction drape open more easily

As a book is fully opened, the pages should easily turn and lay down without extra effort from the reader. In bookbinding, this is referred to as the drape of the book. If the pages drape nicely, the grain direction of the pages is likely parallel to the spine. If the pages must be held open or even stand up on their own, the grain direction of the pages is likely perpendicular to the spine.

When grain direction is wrong, a book exposed to humidity ripples
and dries because it is restricted by sewing or adhesive at the
spine and cannot swell and shrink freely.

If the grain direction is wrong, the pages are not allowed to shrink and swell with changes in humidity. Paper swells when it takes in moisture from the air. Perhaps you have noticed ripples in the pages near the center of a book where the pages are sewn or adhered at the spine. Usually, this is a result of the book experiencing increased humidity. The paper swells but has nowhere to go, so it ripples and dries. If the grain direction is parallel to the spine, the pages can swell outward from the spine when it is more humid and shrink back to normal in drier conditions.

Rippling along the center of the pages indicates
the paper grain is likely perpendicular to the spine,
which impedes proper function of the book.

Though we can’t change the grain direction in a book that arrives in Preservation Services to be repaired or restored, understanding its impact on the function of a book is helpful as we determine the best solution for its repair.