I was able to visit the famous Ludu Library and Archive, which is located in Mandalay, Myanmar. One of the library staff knew I was going to visiting, so he showed me this Burmese-language bookbinding manual when I arrived. You have no idea how excited I was to look through this book!
Three green bookbinding books.
Back in 1977, one of our library staff literally stapled some replacement pages into this book. It got the job done, but the results are not that ideal, as it makes it hard to read those pages and could tear the original pages they are stapled to. But this was way before my library had […]
Since I haven’t had much time to take photos of my current work, here’s a throwback photo instead! These are some of the textblocks I made for my historical book models in grad school. The top is for a laced vellum case, on alum tawed thongs with a primary endband on an alum tawed core. […]
Today in the conservation lab…I’m evaluating books from our circulating collection, to determine if we should have them withdrawn or order replacements. These are books that, for some reason, cannot be easily or efficiently repaired. Many of them are brittle, but others are missing many of their pages due to vandalism, or cannot be rebound […]
“Treat books gently; for books are kind friends. We benefit by their advice, and they exact no confessions.” Most of this 100+ year old advice is still good! Some of my favorites are: -“Books are not intended for card-racks or for receptacles of botanical specimens.” -“Books should not be toasted before a fire or be […]
Disbinding a damaged book, so that I can resew it and then rebind it. It’s strangely therapeutic and relaxing to take a book apart, I’ve found. Putting it back together is the more stressful part for me.
Fancy book butts!
Edge decoration and marbled endpapers on an 18th century French binding.
More paste paper found on one of our library books. Red, black, and gold paint that’s still shiny!