We made pastepaper in the conservation lab today! Pastepaper is an economical (and fun!) way to make decorated paper for use as book covering material or endsheets. You can also use pastepaper to make your own stuck-on endbands! It is a technique that has been around for quite a long while. Our library has examples […]
The edges of this book make a rainbow!
Making rice starch paste in the conservation lab, using our coveted Cook & Stir. That thing makes some darn good paste. (Source: https://vine.co/)
Sometimes my job feels a little surreal… (I’m repairing the inner hinge of this book, which has some very expressive endpapers)
This book nearly blinded me when I opened it because the mirrored endpapers reflected the ceiling lights when I opened it! #library (Source: https://vine.co/)
During a digitization project, I noticed this intriguing printer’s error in a 18th century herbal. Apparently, the paper had a fold in it when it went through the press, which accounts for the wide blank line, and the crookedness of the text. On the opposite side, it was clear that they unfolded the paper before […]
One of the library staff found this book in the stacks and brought it to me to see if we should maybe put it somewhere safer (like Special Collections). It was published in 1798, and I’m pretty sure that’s the original binding, based on the paste-paper cover and hand-written spine label. The paper is absolutely […]
Here in the lab there’s no issues,With using our tissues,Except when you sneeze,We ask you quite please,Use the Kleenex and not the Sekishu! There once was a company named Demco,Whose products were used with a gusto,On spines they would drape,The most marvelous tape,Removing its really quite slow, yo. I work in a book-fixing lab,this makes […]
Screenshot from our library catalog software, as I’m checking books back in after they’ve been repaired. Apparently, this book was quite delicious.
3 examples of original paste paper from the 18th century.