No Boundaries in Preservation - Preservação sem Fronteiras - Preservación sin Fronteras

No Boundaries in Preservation has completed its project awarded by last year's University Libraries grant. It has accomplished its initial educational purpose, which was to provide equitable access to basic, relevant preservation and conservation information to a wider and diverse community of libraries and archives in the United States and abroad.

It was quite a journey through the year of 2015/2016 for those who participated in this project, directly or indirectly, doing research, filming, editing, translating and creating five original videos and posters, in three different languages. Not to mention the generosity of others in proof reading the materials, creating the website and collaborating to the content.

The result is a total of thirty educational resources! The theme of each original video and poster results from the answers of an online survey regarding preservation and conservation of books and documents.

Our mission to assist others has not ended and we ensure that the continuity of guidance in the field of preservation of books, documents and family heritage will be kept alive.

Website at http://library.uncg.edu/preserve/

Follow us:

FACEBOOK UNCGPreservationServices

BLOG    http://uncgpreservation.blogspot.com

TWITTER   @UNCGPRESERV 

The Dove Bindery and The Ideal Book

“This is the supreme Book Beautiful or Ideal Book, a

dream, a symbol of the infinitely beautiful in which

all things of beauty rest and into which all things of

beauty do ultimately merge.”

The Ideal Book - T.J. Cobden-Sanderson (1840-1922)

The Special Collections and University Archives, at the University Libraries, UNCG,  is the holder of the Book Beautiful or The Ideal Book. A limited edition of three hundred books, printed by Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker, at the Doves Press, in 1900, and bound at the Doves Bindery. Our copy has been previously restored and arrived at the Preservation Services for minor repairs and infills on the leather, which  is becoming very brittle.

 Before

Cobden-Sanderson opened the Dove Press in the late XIX and by the turn of the twenty-century, Emery Walker joined him for a period of eight years, when Cobden-Sanderson continued his printing career.

The press used a single type designed under the supervision of Walker and was based on a type from the 1400’s, by Nicolas Jenson, also a printer. The break of their partnership lead to bitter discussions about the type ownership and finished with Cobden throwing them into the River Thames, in 1916.

Detail of colophon

The ultimate goal of the Doves Press and the Doves Bindery was the “beauty” of all elements that were part of a book, including the text itself. They influenced the Arts and Crafts movement and worked close with William Morris and his Kelmscott Press.

 A custom clamshell box was designed and now holds this precious volume after restoration.

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doves_Press

http://www.typespec.co.uk/doves-type/

https://www.facebook.com/DovesType 

A FOUR FLAP ENCLOSURE AND A PAMPHLET BOOKLET IN A BOOK FORMAT

The University Libraries has a broad collection of items ranging from books, art books, scrapbooks, pamphlets, photographs, manuscripts and maps, all them in a variety of formats and accessible to the public. When they arrive at the Preservation Services for treatment, consideration is given to where it will be housed and who will be the final user. In some instances there is a need for unique and creative design, within a conservation mindset, in order to treat that object for our students and patrons use.

The Soil Survey and Maps of North Carolina Counties collection, with dates ranging from 1900’s to 1935’s, are individual pamphlet bindings with a map attached  with a hinge at the back. The pamphlet sizes are around 6 in. x 9 ¼ in., originally bound with metal staples, with the maps varying in size approximately 60 in. x 60 in.. They are all folded several times to fit into the back of the pamphlet. When they were originally processed by the library many years ago, they were assembled using commercial pamphlet binders with an interior cloth hinge impregnated with water activated animal glue.  

These large maps were difficult to open due to the manner in which they were attached to the pamphlet. Through the years and the usage in the library, some of these pamphlets and maps were badly damaged, showing several signs of paper stress, large tears, small losses and weakness on their folded areas, especially close to the gutter where they were attached.

As part of their restoration, heat set tissue was the medium used to consolidate the text folios and Japanese Paper Matsuo Kozo 16 g. was used on the covers. They were sewn together in a pamphlet style through a folded hinge using the same cloth that was used to cover the outer boards.

In order to make the maps more easily accessible by our students and patrons, they were separated from the back of the pamphlet, treated with heat set tissue and housed in a four flap enclosure, custom made for each one individually. We decided that this procedure would  better preserve the integrity of each map, allowing it to be opened, on a large surface, rather than keeping it in it’s original format, attached to the back of their original pamphlet.

Thinking beyond this point, and having in mind the final binding structure, we opt to have the four flap structure made to the same size of each pamphlet, as you can see below.

The final result is a solid case construction, in a book format, covered with conservation book cloth, with a laser printed paper protected with Klucel G, one on the spine and another one on the last fold of the four flap enclosure. Giving stability to their content as well as being preserved in a friendly user way for our patrons.

Special Items = Special Boxes

Preservation Services receives some quite unique and interesting items that beg for special housing.

We gladly comply.

We recently received this wonderful panorama of London, produced as a scroll and needing support and protection.

A Good Start

To a New Year.  Building. Designing. Enjoying.

In the Preservation Department we enjoy creating enclosures for unusual and interesting items that need protection when housed on the shelf.










 This recent acquisition needed a box to help contain the straps and protect the image attached to the front.  Its structure leaves it open at the top and bottom so this clamshell will keep particulates in the air from landing within its interior, giving this item a micro environment for extended preservation.

Twiggy.

A lovely paper binding with a small stick holding everything together
presents an interesting design challenge.

Because it was so wide I was unable to get a nice photo of the entire box.
Here is a detail of the recessed channels in a custom clamshell box enclosure by Audrey.

Turkey day.

Another handmade artists' book from Special Collections. This time with the very interesting choice of turkey-foot leather for the binding! The unique shape offered a challenge and a custom-fit clamshell box was created to make shelving easier.

Turkey Trot by Lois Morrison
Custom clamshell enclosure by Audrey Sage

The cleanest book.

Earlier this year Bill Stewart from Vamp & Tramp Booksellers came to Jackson Library and gave a wonderful presentation on art books. One of the books he brought with him is called Soap Story which consists of two packages wrapped in archival copies of pages from a 1950s woman's magazine. One package contains 6 cubes of soap that the reader is meant to wash with. Inside of each cube is a page of linen paper screen-printed with part of the story. The other package contains a blank album. The reader is instructed to dry and press the pages after they have been released from the soap cubes and insert them into the album to create the finished book.

Jackson Library purchased a copy to be housed in Special Collections and Audrey created yet another lovely custom clamshell enclosure for it. Somehow we managed to resist the urge to tear into the packaging and furiously wash our hands so we could read the story.

Soap Story by Angela Lorenz
Custom clamshell enclosure by Audrey Sage

Miniature book launcher.

This miniature volume is called A Victorian Garden and has little line drawings of various garden plants. I thought it would be fun to make it "grow" up out of the enclosure so I made this box--when the reader gently opens it a ribbon lifts the book.

A Victorian Garden from Dawson's Book shop in Los Angeles
Custom enclosure by Stefani Hobbick

Berries and bird binding + custom clamshell box = the most adorable book ever.

This cute little volume arrived with a front cover that was completely detached from the rest of the book block. Rice-starch paste and a thin strip of Kozo (handmade paper from Japan) were used to reinforce the interior hinge. I selected a color that would blend well with the original marbled endpapers. Rather than cut the Kozo mending strip I tore it for a smoother transition.
More Kozo was used to build-up and cover the exterior hinge. Watered down acrylic paints and a light coat of wax help to give the paper a leather-like appearance.


For the final step I made a custom clamshell box to protect this rare book. I covered it in espresso and cherry-red bookcloth to match the gorgeous binding.