This book’s call number label has peeled away, but also took some of the spine’s decoration with it, leaving an interesting pattern on the underside of the label.
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Tag: book conservation
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Making paste on a Monday morning.
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Could you pass this dexterity test? If you interview for a job in my lab – as in many other library conservation labs – you will have to take a test like this to demonstrate your manual dexterity. This is just one example of a dexterity test that we used in the past. The test […]
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This is a page out of my library’s Conservation Manual, circa 1979. I literally gasped when I read the first bullet point about mending pages with Scotch Magic tape. This sure explains why so many of the books sent to the lab have just been absolutely COVERED with book tape. Taping our general collections book […]
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Today’s work: a brace of matching re-backs on a biography of architect Daniel H. Burnham.
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TGIF! This book has a LOT of problems, which I’ve helpfully indicated on its treatment flag.
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This book just arrived in the lab with this sad (yet hilarious) note attached. The note reads “Sad Bergey’s :(”, and the book is “Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology”. It is VERY sad indeed, as not only is the binding failing but students have marked it up with highlighting and pencil underlining almost to the point of […]
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uispeccoll: If you’re off to a fancy costume party during the late 19th century in France, then this copy of Histoire du costume au théâtre is perfect for you! Published in 1880 by G. Charpentier in Paris, this book gives the history of French theater costumes with the aid of splendid illustrations, both color and […]
Awwwww, poor little book!
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Paper curls from cleaning the spine of an old, big book in the conservation lab. I usually start out my spine cleaning by using a special dull knife to scrape away as much of the paper lining as I can, until I get down to the crash/mull/super fabric lining underneath. That’s when I switch to […]