{"id":2080,"date":"2018-08-21T20:21:25","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T20:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/?p=2080"},"modified":"2018-08-21T20:21:25","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T20:21:25","slug":"two-ways-to-compensate-for-loss-textblock-loss-that-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/2018\/08\/two-ways-to-compensate-for-loss-textblock-loss-that-is","title":{"rendered":"Two ways to compensate for loss. Textblock loss, that is."},"content":{"rendered":"

Before the age of endless digital writing space, it’s easy to forget that blank paper was a commodity. Below are two fun examples of writing ledgers that remind me just how precious paper was.
\nWhile it’s possible that salacious writings were once written and removed from the back of these bindings… another theory is that the blank pages were no longer needed for their original intended purpose, and since they were going to waste… an opportunistic writer hastily cut and ripped out pages, seizing the goods for use elsewhere.
\n

\"Two<\/a>

Half leather binding with cloth boards, Registry of the Leonard Hotel, 1886 – contains a page that features Grover Cleveland\u2019s signature. Pages are lost from the back of the textblock. Fragments of pages remain sewn along the gutter where pages were removed.<\/p><\/div>
\nSo what does that mean for the ledgers left behind whose guts have been partially removed?
\nThe covers no longer fit the pages inside.\u00a0 The spines sag or pop off, and the covers extend beyond the fore edge of the book\u2019s textblock \u2013 making both handling and long-term preservation problematic.
\n

\"Two<\/a>

Registry of the Leonard Hotel, 1886, view of the head<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Two<\/a>

Registry of the Leonard Hotel, 1886, view of fore edge and head<\/p><\/div>
\nIn order to relieve stress, conservation treatment can be undertaken to compensate for loss.\u00a0 For extremely important bindings, treatment may entail replacing lost pages with new paper, resewing the sheets into the binding.
\nHowever, in the following two examples below, the textblocks were otherwise in fairly good condition, so the Lab explored a lower cost route by inserting foam spacers.
\nThe Leonard Hotel registry (which contains Grover Cleveland\u2019s signature from 1885!) was treated overall to reback and consolidate deteriorated leather.\u00a0 A closed cell polyethylene foam was loosely inserted as a placeholder for the missing text. In this case, the foam can be removed at any time and the jagged edges of the page fragments can be observed.\u00a0 Simple, yet effective!
\n

\"Two<\/a>

After treatment, foam is loosely inserted in the back of the binding to help the textblock fit inside its covers.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Before treatment images are displayed on the left, after treatment images on the right:<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a>
\n 
\nA similar treatment taken a step further builds upon the treatment solution above. \u00a0The following ledger contains early Cincinnati baptismal, marriage, and funeral records that predate city records, dating to 1838-1885.\u00a0 A large section of lost paper in the back of the binding has caused the stiff spine to pop off.\u00a0 The loose covers no longer support the textblock pages.
\n

\"Two<\/a>

Volume 2 of a collection of \u201cThird German Protestant Church of Cincinnati Records\u201d. Full suede leather springback binding with stiff board spine. Sewn on cloth\/linen tape supports. Receiving stabilization treatment in preparation for future digitization.\u00a0 A large section of the textblock is lost in the back of the binding.<\/p><\/div>
\nTreatment was conducted by our senior conservation technician, Catarina Figueirinhas, to stabilize the ledger for digitization out of house, as well as long-term storage.\u00a0 Rather than insert foam loosely, this book was in need of a rigid support that would not be in danger of becoming lost. \u00a0Therefore, foam was sewn into the back of the binding as if it was a gathering.\u00a0 This was achieved by wrapping the foam in an archival e-flute cardboard.\u00a0 Essentially, the blue cardboard was folded into a “u-shape” with sharp corners and treated as an outer folio.\u00a0 The corrugated cardboard was then sewn through each fold onto the original sewing supports, as though the cardboard was two gatherings.\u00a0 The foam was adhered inside the cardboard with adhesive.
\n

\"Two<\/a>

Volume 2 of a collection of \u201cThird German Protestant Church of Cincinnati Records\u201d after treatment.<\/p><\/div>
\nBecause this condition issue is unique – it’s part of the object’s history, yet presents us with preservation challenges – treatment solutions are not one-size-fits-all.\u00a0 Each book calls for solutions based on how it will be used and interpreted.
\nIn these cases, the foam gatherings, both sewn and loose, functioned well in the back of the bindings while also retaining the history of use. The constructed gatherings helped to improve handling and support the bindings in a cost effective and reversible way (with differing levels of reversibility).\u00a0 I imagine this will not be the last book to come across my bench with chunks of missing text; I am excited to be armed with these simple solutions.
\nAshleigh Ferguson Schieszer (PLCH) —- Book and Paper Conservator<\/strong>
\nPhotographic Documentation by Jessica Ebert & Ashleigh Schieszer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before the age of endless digital writing space, it’s easy to forget that blank paper was a commodity. Below are two fun examples of writing ledgers that remind me just how precious paper was. While it’s possible that salacious writings were once written and removed from the back of these bindings… another theory is that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37,72,99,288],"class_list":["post-2080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book","tag-ashleigh-schieszer","tag-conservation","tag-digitization-prep","tag-stabilization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}