The Vespiary Book Binding & Book Conservation

A website that I spend WAY too much time on is the social blog, Metafilter. There are about 65,000 users who trawl the internet in search of (theoretically) the best of the web. What the best consists of is frequently a topic of dispute, but just yesterday someone posted a collection of Book repair links. This is fine and good, and there are some goodies in that collection, but another user had a marvelous comment that I’m reprinting here.

Sigh.

It’s a two-edged sword … and what keeps places like the New England Document Conservation Center in business.

I wasn’t aware of the Alaska manual, so on a lark I looked at the “Advanced Repairs”. I found this comment telling:

There are many older book structures that function differently from a case bound book. If a book looks or operates in an unusual way, carefully research the book structure or consult a trained book conservator before attempting repair.

Oh, yeah. Definitely. It suggests a “How to do trepanning at home” attitude.

While much of the hand work that conservators do doesn’t require a graduate degree in library science, there is SOOOO much more to it than simply “fixing the book”. And sadly, too many of the library science programs today have no component that addresses the issue of collection preservation and conservation (the hot thing these days is “digital preservation” … and yes, THAT’S important, but the physical collections are still waiting for the proper respect they deserve). Preservation work must, of course, deal with thousands upon thousands of such materials, so it is good that these manuals and sites are there to encourage an understanding of the task. But please be a little more Hippocratic about it: “First, do no harm.”

As the printed collections in our institutions grow older each year, and thus increasing in the possibility of their rareness, such attempts to locally repair may cause more harm than sending them out to trained conservators.

I must say that I am glad to see that the Dartmouth entry on wet books states that they should, ideally, be freeze-dried then treated. I can’t stress how important that little fact. Having seen and dealt with too many floods and wet books, this fairly simple approach is a non-invasive way of dealing with a huge problem and I’m glad that more people will now be aware of it. I never want to see the aftermath of a flood in the library again … I’ve had my fill (3rd link: scroll down to the section entitled “Libraries in Crisis: Accounts of the Houston Floods”). I know my comrades-in-bone folders would say the same about Katrina.

Support your local libraries and bookstores, support your local librarians …
posted by aldus_manutius at 7:35 AM on August 26

Thanks, aldus, for sticking up for all the professionals out there.

And, as promised in my reply to that post, here are some pics of the book (a classic Arabian Nights with lovely woodcuts) bound in suede and cat wallpaper:

Note the sequins and gold ink pen decor!

Imagine a whole room in this!