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Curious about the process of book conservation treatment? Be sure to visit UCLA Library Special Collections this week for a flash exhibit featuring a recently completed book treatment! The exhibit includes the book, its new protective box, samples of materials used in the treatment, as well as photos and descriptions of various treatment steps.
The book, Physica curiosa by Gaspar Schott, was published in 1667 (a second edition). Physica curiosa is one of two companion volumes to Schott’s work Magia universalis (the other being Technica curiosa). The book is a kind of inventory of anatomical anomalies and exotic creatures (both real and fantastical), and features numerous engraved illustrations.
This copy is notable for its binding, which has a strikingly Gothic appearance. The book was sewn onto three raised vegetable cords, which were laced through the shaped wooden boards before the book was covered in thick, alum-tawed pigskin, and finished with two clasps at the fore-edge.
The book was sent to the Conservation Center for treatment in January. A split had formed through the pigskin covering material along the front board joint, leaving the board precariously close to detaching. One of the clasp straps was also deteriorated and vulnerable. There was also significant damage to the first and last few leaves of the text, and many of the engraved plates had been torn and creased.
The goal of treatment was to stabilize damaged areas of the binding and the text in an elegant and restrained fashion, respecting the character of the book and preserving as much original material as possible. Textblock tears were mended with Japanese paper and wheat starch paste, and repairs to the binding were done using a technique I learned from conservator Karin Scheper at Leiden University in the Netherlands last summer. This technique involves filling losses in cover material using a laminate of leather (or in this case, chamois), sandwiched between layers of Japanese paper, creating a fill that is bulky, flexible, and strong. As a final step, new materials were in-painted with watercolors to blend visually with the surrounding alum-tawed skin. In all, the treatment took 60 hours to complete, not including time for written and photographic documentation, done before and after treatment.
Be sure to visit this flash exhibit soon to learn more about the treatment and see the results for yourself. It will be on view through the end of the week, April 21, 2017, in Library Special Collections on the lower level of the Charles E. Young Research Library.
Very special thanks to Octavio Olvera and Jane Carpenter for facilitating this exhibit. For more info about current and past LSC flash exhibits, please visit: https://web.archive.org/web/20...(opens in a new tab)
