The Philosophy of Mystery

Before Treatment

During Treatment

After Treatment

Treatment Report Microsoft Word Version Date Examined: 1/30/2006 Date Completed: 5/7/2006 Conservator: Brenna Campbell Instructor: Chela Metzger Author: Walter Cooper Dendy Title: The Philosophy of Mystery Imprint: 1845 Binding Dimensions (cm): H: 18.4 W: 12.1 D: 2.4 Textblock Dimensions (cm): H: 17.8 W: 11.7 D: 1.8 DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION SUMMARY Binding: Full straight grained cloth-covered publisher’s case binding, contemporary to textblock, has severely worn and dented edges, bent and delaminated corners, and stained and distorted boards. The spine piece of the case is frayed at head and tail, with some losses, and is worn through at many points along the joint, particularly in the front. Both boards and the spine are decorated with blind stamping. The spine and front board of the case are gold stamped. The boards are made of binder’s board, and are attached to the textblock by two sawn-in sewing supports and mull under the front and back pastedowns. The back board is attached strongly to the textblock, but the front board is beginning to loosen, particularly near the head. Textblock: Sewn two-on on two sawn in cords that appear to be hemp. Sewing is original and intact. Some page edges are abraded and dirty. The textblock has a moderate round and shallow shoulders, and is hammer backed. It has one overhanging textile lining and two paper linings. The flyleaves of the single folio plain endpapers (which are different from the text paper) have been adhered completely to the first and last leaves of the textblock. The machine-made wove text paper is a dark cream color, and is discolored and foxed with untrimmed edges and some stains and tidelines. The primary medium is printer’s ink and there are a few notes and markings in graphite and iron gall ink, which has burned through the paper in places. The type impression is visible throughout, as is an offset of the title on the verso of the title page, probably from being stacked with other printed folios before collation or from being printed wet. PHOTODOCUMENTATION Digital BT: Ambient Light Digital DT: Ambient Light Digital AT: Ambient Light TREATMENT PROPOSED Employ a modified Bradel-style reback without removing the boards or spine covering, using toned Japanese paper. Reattach the original spine covering and cloth from the joints to the new spine. Consolidate corners. TREATMENT PERFORMED Without disturbing the case-to-text attachment, separated the remaining 3 cm of cloth on the front shoulder, in order to swing spine covering out of the way. The attachment of the spine covering to the back board was not disturbed. Cleaned original paper lining from cloth spine covering, leaving paper in raised areas left by stamping to help ensure that they would not become flattened during treatment. Readhered lifting sections of original paper and cloth linings with paste. Using a microspatula, carefully separated the mull from the boards to roughly 2cm in from the board edge, without disturbing the pastedowns or lifting beyond the mull. Measured spine and shoulder widths. Constructed a replacement spine piece using Japanese paper toned with acrylics. Cut a Japanese paper spine insert to the width of the textblock spine and to the height of the boards. Adhered the spine insert to the cloth with PVAc. Adhered an additional double layer of Japanese paper at the head and tail (the width of the spine insert and roughly 5 mm wide) to add bulk. Beveled the turn-ins at head and tail. Adhered original turn-ins to inside of new spine strip, in order to help integrate the repair visually. Attached the Japanese paper spine replacement to the book boards with wheat starch paste, between the mull and boards, one board at a time. Using paste and methyl cellulose mix, readhered the boards and mull, with the replacement cloth in between. Emphasized the groove with a Teflon folder. Adhered the original cloth to the replacement spine with a mixture of PVAc and methyl cellulose. Consolidated corners with wheat starch paste. Mended partially broken inner hinge with toned Japanese paper and paste. MATERIALS USED Hiromi usimino kozo paper Hiromi usui-usimino kozo paper Acrylic paints PVAc 45675 adhesive (Elvace) Methyl cellulose (Fisher 4000 cps.) 2.5% dispersed in hot then cold distilled water Precipitated wheat starch paste (Colophon) mixed 1:4 with distilled water cooked 20 minutes