{"id":8412,"date":"2014-08-26T01:00:52","date_gmt":"2014-08-26T05:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/?p=8412"},"modified":"2025-09-15T16:03:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T20:03:49","slug":"conservation-conversations-an-additional-form-of-documentation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/26\/conservation-conversations-an-additional-form-of-documentation\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ An Additional Form of Documentation"},"content":{"rendered":"

No one likes to think about all the little things (or, heaven forbid!, big things) that can go wrong as we work on our conservation projects. We are trained professionals. Our hands are steady. Our minds are sharp. And yet, as we work, any number of things could go wrong. A hand may slip as we lift adhered materials; a fragment may fall to the floor and crumble into a thousand irretrievable pieces. It\u2019s sometimes intimidating to think about, but we all know in the back of our minds the myriad things that could go wrong.<\/p>\n

This, of course, is why we take the preliminary photos so often considered as \u201csimply routine.\u201d With them, we preserve a record of what the book once was. Imperfect though they may be, photographic evidence is better than no evidence at all. But what if a photograph doesn\u2019t show just what we were hoping?<\/p>\n

I recently had the opportunity to fulfill the role of the William Reese Fellow<\/a> at Rare Book School<\/a> in Charlottesville, VA. The fellowship provided a week of class for a week of service to RBS. In my case, specifically, I acted as an on-site conservator for some of their most in-need collections. The class I took was Jan Storm Van Leeuwen\u2019s \u201cIntroduction to the History of Bookbinding<\/a>,\u201d which coincidentally was the same class attended by Erin Fletcher, the proprietor of this blog. The conservation projects were wide and varied, as RBS\u2019s large collection is intended for teaching students of the book with countless focuses and interests.<\/p>\n

One of the books I was presented with was a first edition of Joel Barlow\u2019s The Columbiad\u2014A Poem<\/em>. Of course, RBS\u00a0valued this copy not only for its edition, but for its binding. The binding was original; in full calf, decorated in gold and blind tooling, it was an exquisite example of early American deluxe binding.<\/p>\n

The upper board was entirely detached, and the bottom was in imminent danger of becoming so. The tight back spine was cracked and suffered redrot, and it was evident that a leather reback was necessary to preserve the book\u2019s utility to the school. The danger of this treatment, of course, is that, should anything go wrong with lifting the spine, its beautiful panel tooling might be lost.<\/p>\n

I photographed the book before commencing work, documenting individual tools as well as the overall patterns in which they were used, and then I began.<\/p>\n

First, of course, was consolidating with redrot cocktail, a combination of SC6000 and Klucel G. This in and of itself revealed a new element to the book. With the darkened leather characteristic of redrot cocktail, blind tooling was revealed on the spine where originally it had appeared as an empty intermediary panel. I re-photographed the spine to document this tool, but it was difficult to make out even with a naked eye, let alone through the lens of my camera.<\/p>\n

\"Documentation-LaurenSchott\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I then realized I could make use of one of the techniques taught to me in Van Leeuwen\u2019s class. This is something Van Leeuwen made use of frequently in his time as Keeper of the Book at the Dutch Royal Library in the Hague, and which I now hope to employ more regularly in my documentation. In short, he took rubbings of the decorative covers of the library\u2019s books.<\/p>\n

Van Leeuwen uses an artist\u2019s soft graphite pencil and a light wove paper he commissioned specially for the practice. He lays the paper over the area to be documented, plants one hand firmly to keep the assembly in place, and begins his work. Holding the pencil at a nearly 45 degree angle, he rubs gently horizontally, vertically, and to every angle. He changes the angle of the pencil as he works to capture the specific aspects he wishes to be revealed in the tooling, sometimes circling the pencil, sometimes pressing harder or softer. Varied depths and lacework lines reveal themselves in great detail as he works, rendering a copy in shades of black and white of the book\u2019s decoration. Van Leeuwen takes care to note the book being documented, to what portions of the book each image belongs, as well as the date and the taker of the rubbing to provide a good record for researchers.<\/p>\n

\"Documentation4-LaurenSchott\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was with great excitement that I was able to use this technique in a real-life situation so shortly after having learned it. I experimented with various tissues intended for repair. Their soft texture and flexibility offered a good medium for capturing the imagery of the tooling that the camera would not. It took several trials to find a suitable paper that would provide the suppleness to sink into the tooling, yet not tear with the use of the graphite pencil, but once the proper paper was found and the rubbing taken, the image of the tool was revealed in greater detail even than could be seen simply by the eye. A satisfying result indeed!<\/p>\n

\"Documentation5-LaurenSchott\"<\/a>\"Documentation2-LaurenSchott\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Having taken the rubbing, I faced the spine with solvent set tissue, lifted it in one solid piece, performed the reback, readhered it, and once again removed the tissue. In all, the added precautions of taking the rubbing were not strictly necessary, but it was a reassuring way to expiate the danger of losing this piece of early American tooling in its entirety.<\/p>\n

\"Documentation3-LaurenSchott\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No one likes to think about all the little things (or, heaven forbid!, big things) that can go wrong as we work on our conservation projects. We are trained professionals. Our hands are steady. Our minds are sharp. And yet, as we work, any number of things could go wrong. A hand may slip as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1353],"tags":[1884,1036,1524],"class_list":["post-8412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservation","tag-conservation","tag-lauren-schott","tag-rare-book-school"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Btis-2bG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9028,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/24\/conservation-conversations-doing-nothing\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":0},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Doing Nothing","author":"Henry Hebert","date":"December 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Action is often the\u00a0focus of conservation literature and it is natural to\u00a0discuss a\u00a0treatment as\u00a0a kind of narrative. Picture it: a cultural artifact, such as a book or painting, comes into a conservation lab in poor\u00a0shape. The condition may be a result of poor materials, improper\u00a0storage, or disaster, but the conservator,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Huguenots and Henry of Navarre, Vol. II (1886)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/treatment_hebert-1024x593.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/treatment_hebert-1024x593.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/treatment_hebert-1024x593.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10109,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/28\/conservation-conversations-the-continuum\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":1},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ The Continuum","author":"Henry Hebert","date":"October 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Typically very few of the items that come through a research library conservation lab are in their original or unaltered state. While library and archives conservation, as a field, is relatively young, many universities have had some form of bindery or mending division in operation for decades. We often find\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Newton's Opticks","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/opticks_before01-1024x351.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/opticks_before01-1024x351.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/opticks_before01-1024x351.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8781,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/15\/conservation-conversations-another-look-at-su-su\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":2},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Another Look at Su-Su","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"November 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this year, as part of the Conservation Conversations column, Lauren Schott wrote an article on su-su, which highlighted the steps to creating this alternative matter for toning materials as part of the conservation treatment. Also referred to as paper dirt or paper extract, I was first introduced to this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9855,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/28\/conservation-conversations-japanese-papers-and-tissues\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":3},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Japanese Papers and Tissues","author":"Becky Koch","date":"July 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Japanese papers and tissues are used extensively in book and paper conservation; they are used to mend tears, fill losses, back or line weak or brittle papers, line spines and perform innumerable other conservation repairs. These papers originated in Japan (as I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve guessed) and are mostly made from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_3687.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_3687.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_3687.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_3687.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8478,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/02\/conservation-conversations-about-spaces\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":4},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ About Spaces","author":"Jeanne Goodman","date":"October 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In the first Conservation Conversations, way back in January, Anna brought up the idea of working in a \"studio\" or \"lab\". There is another running joke that is very true about conservators always ending up in the basement. It's not because the PTB* don't like us, but when designing conservation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/uva-lab-copy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/uva-lab-copy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/uva-lab-copy.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7915,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/01\/conservation-conversations-book-conserva-binder\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":5},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Book Conserva-Binder","author":"Athena Moore","date":"May 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been asked before whether I consider myself a book conservator or a bookbinder, or whether I consider myself to be one or the other first. While I don't think you need to be both to be either, I find that for me the two are inextricably linked.\u00a0When I started\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/c6d18df0acbb11e397651270abe28de5_8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/c6d18df0acbb11e397651270abe28de5_8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/c6d18df0acbb11e397651270abe28de5_8.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/c6d18df0acbb11e397651270abe28de5_8.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8412"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12486,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8412\/revisions\/12486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}