Innovative Storage Solutions: A Clever Clamshell Box for a Fragile Binding

Recently, the Preservation Services staff had the opportunity to treat a copy of Henry Noel Humphreys’ A Record of The Black Prince, published by Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans in 1849. This volume is held in the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections of UNCG’s Walter Clinton Jackson Library. It is beautifully illustrated and has original molded papier-mâché covers, likely meant to mimic carved ebony. 

Before treatment - both covers are perforated to reveal red endsheets.

The book is full of colorful illustrations. For more detail about the binding, click here.

The item was in good condition but with weakened hinges due to the heavy weight of the covers and a broken and partially detached spine. The textblock is double-fan adhesive bound, meaning there are single sheets of paper adhered together at the spine as opposed to folded sheets sewn together at the spine. The original adhesive was quite brittle and had begun to fail, resulting in the textblock being in two pieces. 

Before treatment - the hinges were cracked and part of the spine was broken and worn.

Before treatment - the adhesive at the spine was so brittle the textblock was split in the gutter.

The original spine and linings were removed prior to consolidating and relining the spine. The original spine was remounted and restored using Japanese paper and wheat starch paste followed by a coat of SC6000/Klucel-G mix to consolidate and further protect the leather and Japanese paper as well as to match the sheen of the Japanese paper to the original leather.

After treatment - the spine was reattached and restored.

Due to the heavy covers, this binding is somewhat weak at the hinges by design. In order to allow patrons to view and enjoy this lovely volume, it was deemed necessary to construct a protective enclosure with an integral book cradle that allows both hands of the viewer to be free for turning pages. The book can now rest open in its cradle and is restricted from being opened too far so as to avoid putting too much stress on the spine or hinges. This clamshell box with integral book cradle was built according to a design by Jeff Peachy.

The clamshell box created for protective storage.

After treatment - the mended book resting open in its cradle.

Book conservation is often about finding creative solutions to unique problems. In the case of Henry Noel Humphreys’ A Record of The Black Prince, we were able to restore some of the original beauty of the book while also constructing a protective enclosure for storage that includes a clever support to more easily share this distinctive volume with library patrons.

After treatment - a clever clamshell box for a fragile binding.

Conservation Storage Boxes

Libraries and archives make use of protective enclosures to safeguard their collections. We are not different from any other library or archive. Through the years the Preservation Services has custom created several different types of storage boxes for a large array of items in our collections.

Going from a simple phase box:

To an artistic designed clamshell box, integrating conservation principles, design and the item format. 

Size and format is not a barrier to our creativity:

These archival storage are supposed to work as a barrier against acidic materials and to add extra support against further damage. Before buying your archival storage, carefully do research on their components. Make sure they meet conservation standards for the specific materials you will store. This will reinforce the durability and protection of your collection.

For more information on how to do your own conservation boxes, check our tutorials, in three different languages - English, Spanish and Portuguese, at:

http://library.uncg.edu/preserve

A New Drawing Book of Modes - Picart

This is a lovely small book on how to sketch the human figure and is part of the University Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives. It was printed for Richard Ware at the Bible & Sun in Amen-Corner, Warwick-Lane, London, in the late 1700’s, or beginning of the 1800’s.

  The cover received a traditional handmade marble paper design with a 24K gold stamping on a maroon leather title label. A clamshell box was created using the same colors found on the original cover.

Marble papers go back in time for centuries. This technique traveled from the Orient, Middle East and reached Europe in the 1600’s. Today we can find marble paper everywhere, but there are only a few places that are specialized on the making of marble paper in a very traditional way.

A brief history of marble papers can be found here:

http://www.payhembury.com/Payhembury_Marbled_Papers/History_of_Marbling.html