I’m currently working on repairing this Victorian book of floral symbolism, and realized that a couple of the plates were loose and not in the right place. Unfortunately there was no paginated “List of Illustrations”, and the titles on the plates didn’t match up with the flowers listed in the table of contents. So what […]
“From grave to gay; being essays and studies concerned with certain subjects of serious interest, with the Puritans, with literature, and with the humours of life” by J. St. Loe Strachey
The scars of oversewing and a Demco hinge repair. I seem to rescue one of these previously-repaired books about once a month. Sometimes the original sewing is completely gone, hence the stab-sewing, but in many cases it was completely fine. This kind of side-sewing is particularly bad for books with brittle paper, as the paper’s […]
From “Leather for Libraries”, 1905. Read it online!
Original collage by me. This was a page that was cut out of a library book by a patron, which was replaced by us.
From Reverend O’Conor’s “Facts About Bookworms”. New York, 1898.
Roses are red, Violets are blue, If you put tape on your books, I’ll never EVER love you.
Roses are red Copy-pencil is blue If you wash without testing, A naughty conservator is you!
A book bound in burlap! It’s as scratchy as it looks. The title and cover image were printed directly on the burlap. Saraswati, Baidyanath. Pottery-making cultures and Indian civilization. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1979, c1978.
A book with a hole drilled through it. I can’t make this stuff up, it writes itself!