Conservation of Books and Library Materials
Condition and Treatment Report
TITLE
Farn Island
PUBLICATION
OWNER
JOB NUMBER
0367
SHELFMARK
1SS 15
Early 19th century
Admiralty Library, Jenny Wraight
PROVENANCE
Hydrographic Office stamp “12 MA 32”
CONSERVATOR
Avery Bazemore
DATE
09/01/15
JOB NO. 446 PAGE 2 OF 9
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION
Dimensions
Type of Binding
Board &
Covering
Materials
Endpapers
Gatherings
Image & Media
Width: 380mm
Height: 270mm
Depth: 30mm
Half leather split board case binding
Straight-grained red sheepskin with red paper in embossed straight
grain pattern over millboard. Inner board overhangs outer by 3mm at
spine. Leather label on left board. Gold tooling on spine, label, and at
edges of paper. Red and white endbands with front bead over single
laminated parchment cores. Extended cloth patch lining.
Blue and green Spanish marbled endpapers made onto white folio and
tipped onto first and last sections.
Thick off-white wove paper, watermarked “J W Hatman 1825”. Sewn
all-along over three green parchment tapes. All edges gilt.
A6(-A5), B4(-B1,B2),C–F8, G8(G1+1) H12(H8+1.2.3.4.5.6,7)
Made endpapers, charts inserted opp C2V, G1V, two charts opp H8V
(See collation diagram.)
Manuscript in brown-black ink with pencil line rulings and annotations
in pencil and red ink. Table on very thick wove paper in brown ink
between pages 8 and 9, one between 60 and 61, two between 108 and
109.
DETAILED CONDITION
Binding
The leather and sides are abraded, darkened, and skinned, mainly at the tail and foredge. The
headcaps at both head and tail are worn and skinned, with the fold missing from both. The
board edges are exposed at head, foredge, and tail, delaminating and eroding throughout but
primarily at corners. The leather at the corners is lifting, in some areas up to 5cm, with
skinning and large losses. The right joint is broken, but the case is intact. There is a coarse
cloth patch lining, with the patches at the head and tail attached to the case but not the
spine, and the center patches adhered to the spine but split at the joint. The endband cores
are split. There is a 2cm stain at the tail of the left board, and a 1cm dent at the foredge of
the right cover.
Text Block
The textblock is discolored as if by smoke or pollution, with flecks of something resembling
soot, primarily at the foredge and where charts were inserted. The right flyleaf is detached,
and the first folio is split. Pages 7 and 8 are glued together, although this seems intentional,
because the page numbers repeat on the following page. The charts are more darkened than
the textblock paper. The flyleaves are brittle. The pages to which the flyleaves are tipped are
cracking near the tipped area.
JOB NO. 446 PAGE 3 OF 9
Before treatment:
Left board,
spine, and
tail
Right board,
foredge, and
tail
JOB NO. 446 PAGE 4 OF 9
Right joint
Discoloration
Headcap
JOB NO. 446 PAGE 5 OF 9
Sewing seen
from right
board
CONTEXT
Infrequent use in private reading room supervised by librarian.
TREATMENT GOAL
Stable for supervised use in a reading room.
PROPOSED TREATMENT
Surface clean boards and textblock
Consolidate leather with Klucel G
Minor tear repair with Japanese tissue
Rebuild corners with fiber paste
Consolidate boards and cover with toned tissue
Hinge single leaf around section, hinge endpapers to textblock.
Lift patch linings and apply tissue and extended cloth lining
Stabilize headbands with linen thread
Resew first and last two sections, including inserted gathering.
Rebuild headcaps with toned tissue
Slot boards and insert cloth as patch lining between tapes on left board, all along right
Apply tissue along inner joints
Recommend charts be stored flat
26 hours
Surface cleaning
2 hours
Leather consolidation 15 minutes
Paper repair
4 hours
Hinging
2 hours
Board consolidation 6 hours
Sew spine lining
3 hours
Rebuild headcaps
3 hours
Board reattachment 4 hours
ESTIMATED TIME
JOB NO. 446 PAGE 6 OF 9
Apply tissue to joints 2 hours
TREATMENT CARRIED OUT AND EVALUATION
Boards and textblock swept with goat hair brush and cleaned with chemical sponge.
Folded corners flattened by brushing with deionized water.
Leather consolidated with Klucel® G in isopropanol (4% w/v).
Repaired tears in endpapers and charts with 3.5gsm kozo.
Consolidated boards and rebuilt corners with wheat starch paste and cord fiber.
Covered corners with 40gsm kozo toned with acrylic adhered with wheat starch paste.
Rebuilt headcaps with cord and 40gsm kozo toned with acrylic adhered with Lascaux
Lined spine with 16gsm paper and aerocotton.
Fully resewed cloth lining, which stabilized the headbands enough not to require further
sewing
Inserted cloth lining into split boards, all along on right board, combed on left to
accommodate tapes
Readhered lifted leather with Lascaux
Applied 15gsm tissue toned with acrylics along joints with wheat starch paste
Applied 15gsm tissue along gutters of pages adjacent to endleaves.
Stabilized foredge of right flyleaf with 3.5gsm tissue with 16gsm infills of losses.
After treatment:
Left
board,
spine,
and tail
JOB NO. 446 PAGE 7 OF 9
Right
board,
foredge,
and tail
Right
joint
JOB NO. 446 PAGE 8 OF 9
Headcap
Sewing
seen
from
right
board
HANDLING NOTES
Boards should be supported on angled foam supports, and the pages should be turned
slowly. The charts should be stored flat, separate from the book.
MATERIALS & SUPPLIERS
Jin Shofu wheat starch paste from Preservation Equipment Ltd
JOB NO. 446 PAGE 9 OF 9
3.5gsm RK-00 from Conservation by Design
Klucel® G from Conservation by Design
linen cord from Conservation By Design
16gsm natural kozo (K145) from Paper Nao via Conservation by Design
40gsm natural kozo (K148) from Paper Nao via Conservation by Design
Akadamie Acryl paint from H. Schmincke & Co.
Aerocotton from GMW Gabi Kleindorfer
25/3 linen thread from Conservation by Design
Lascaux™ 498HV from Lascaux Colours & Restauro