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Treatment Report

Call #: Rare Books US Tex 02 T 132
Temporary I.D. #  PCS 03-86  
Click here to view treatment photographs

Author: Texas. Supreme Court. Library
Title: Catalogue of the Supreme Court Library at Austin, TX
Imprint: 1880

Condition/Description:

General Description
The item is a small paper-covered catalog of the Texas Supreme Court Library, dated 1880.  

Covering/Binding
The textblock is covered with a limp paper wrapper. Paper fragments on the spine indicate that the wrapper originally covered the spine, and probably wrapped around to the back of the book. All that remains of the wrapper is a single sheet (front cover) that is affixed to the title page of the textblock with pressure sensitive tape. The wrapper is brittle and abraded, and there are areas of loss along the spine edge. There is also a small area of loss on the fore edge.  

Textblock
The leaves of the textblock are gathered into sections, but are stab sewn with a pamphlet stitch. There are holes punched through the pages that indicate previous storage in some kind of ring or post binder. There is no spine shaping. There is no evidence of endbands or spine linings. The pages of the textblock are brittle and there are several small edges tears throughout.    

Treatment Proposal:

  1. Remove paper wrapper from textblock
  2. Mend and fill tears and losses on wrapper
  3. Hinge mended cover to textblock with Japanese paper.
  4. House treated item in four flap box.

Treatment :

The main objective of this treatment was to remove the damaged and tape mended cover and reattach it in a way that will not cause further damage, without removing the sewing. A secondary goal of the treatment was to provide proper housing for the slender pamphlet, which is used frequently by the curator of the collection.

Treatment Materials:  

Wheat starch paste (Colophon) mixed 4:1, cooked for 20 min.
Methyl cellulose (Fisher) - 4000 cp 2.5% mixed in hot, then cold d.i. water
Wheat Starch Paste/Methyl Cellulose mix (50/50)
Kizukishi toned with acrylic paint 
                        

Housing materials:      

3M Double stick tape
Single-ply white corrugated board (Talas)  
20-pt board (Hollinger)

  1. The front of the tight-back printed paper wrapper was removed from the text block by cutting through the released areas of pressure sensitive tape with a scalpel. As there were areas of tape that had already released, it was possible to place a piece of Mylar under the tape to protect the textblock during cutting. 

  2. The tape extending past the edge of the wrapper was trimmed once the cover was detached from the textblock.

  3. Edge tears and losses on the cover and last page of the textblock were mended and filled with toned toned kizukishi and wheat starch paste.

  4. A kizukishi hinge was attached to the front of the mended cover with straight wheat starch paste.

  5. The hinge was wrapped around the spine edge of the first section and adhered to the back of the section with paste.  

  6. The completed treatment was housed in a four-flap wrapper. The wrapper was constructed with a 1-inch corrugated board base in order to make the spine large enough to accommodate a label, and to prevent loss or damage of the slender item on the shelf.

 

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