Etherington Repair

Problem: Cover is totally ripped from the rest of the book.

Solution: Etherington tissue repair.

I've told you how this goes in a previous post. Same deal, same awesome results. Woot woot to toning tissue.

BEFORE AND AFTER

S'more Haverford Rebacks. Note: No Marshmallows Involved.

Watson's Annals of Philadelphia were in severe need of a makeover. I nipped, tucked, toned and trimmed. These better looking (and more confident) books are ready to mingle with the world again.

Or they might just stay in their boxes and remain forever young.

BEFORE AND AFTER

VOLUME 1

VOLUME 2

Mission: Tone It

Using a technique that Martha Kearsley taught me, which I believe was conceived of by Don Etherington, I toned tissue until I saw stars, filled losses and repaired the cover to this thin and rare gem. The biggest challenge was toning as the cloth on the spine and cover boards changed in color so drastically.

Welcome to Haverford College - Treat This, Please.

This summer I am a Conservation Intern at Haverford College. I hit the ground running a few weeks ago and have loved the fast environment. I was worried I wouldn't be able to apply my speedy ways to conservation, but I was wrong. While mending can be slow at times, I find the entire process of treatment exciting and oddly spunky. Never know what attitude a book will throw at me. Studying the objects, planning treatments and being in complete control of execution has been rock solid. Below, I share with you my first project here at the Magill Library in hot and humid Haverford, PA.

Love and Truth, by Luke Howard, a rare Quaker book from Special Collections needed a complete conservation treatment which included washing, de-acidifying, re-sizing, paper mending, re-sewing, rounding, and re-casing. Below are some photos from the epic process.

WASHING

PAPER MENDING - BEFORE AND AFTER

SEWING

COVERS - BEFORE AND AFTER

ENCLOSURE FEATURING COMPARTMENT FOR ORIGINAL COVERS

I'm proud.

An Awesome Tissue Repair

One of my instructors, the amazing and wonderfully talented Martha Kearsley, taught a simple and strong leather tissue repair. I toned a piece of kizukishi tissue paper to match the original cover leather and traced the appropriate shape to lie over the hinge.

BEFORE

AFTER