Library Association Record Volume 2, No. 1 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1900 edition. Excerpt: ...a mixture of bees wax and turpentine be any good, or would it be liable to injure the gold-leaf? I should like to hear, if possible, of something which has been put to the test of actual use, as one does not like to experiment with valuable bindings. Yours truly, Comzx. In reply to the above question, I cannot do better than to reprint from Mr. E. Gordon Duff's Early Printed Books, London, 1893 (pp. I99zoo), his remarks upon the methods of treating and preserving old bindings: " A binding should never be touched or repaired unless it is absolutely necessary; and if it is of any value, it should be kept in a plain case. These cases should always be made so that the side opens, not, as is more usual, open only at the end, for then every time the book is taken out the sides are rubbed. If they are made in the form of a book with overlapping edges, they can be lettered on the back and stand on the shelves with other books. " Ifit is necessarythat a binding should be repaired, nothing should be destroyed. If, for example, a portion of the back has been lost, what remains should be kept, and not an entirely new back put on. In repairing calf bindings, morocco should be used, as near the colour of the original as possible, and the grain should be pressed out. The old end-papers should, of course, be retained, and nothing of any kind destroyed which affords a link in the history of the book. No attempt should be made to ornament the repaired portion so as to resemble the rest of the binding; it serves no useful purpose, and takes away considerably from the good appearance and value of what is left, for a binding which has been ' doctored ' must always be looked upon with some mistrust. " An old calf book should never be...