Zoe Finlay Paper Conservation

I turned vegetarian when I was 9 years old, (yes, you read that right, 9)! As a child, giving up many of my favourite sweets and cakes was definitely the hardest part. Fruit pastilles and Cadbury’s Swiss Gateaux Cake, they all had to go.

So, it isn’t without a certain amount of trepidation that I use gelatine in the studio, however, when a document requiring repair contains writing in iron gall ink, needs must.

Introducing moisture into a repair, such as happens when using Japanese wheat starch paste or methyl cellulose, (two commonly used adhesives in conservation), can be extremely detrimental for the ink, causing it to deteriorate more rapidly and spreading the effects to the surrounding otherwise healthy paper.

Gelatine not only reduces the amount of moisture but it actually helps to prevent the spread of the detrimental iron ions, the culprits for spreading the damage. I use a method where the heated gelatin is left to set and when cool, it is sieved several times to a workable texture. The repairs not only physically stabilise the paper but it’s great to know that any potential damage to the ink has been avoided.

For more information on iron gall ink, take a look at an article on the front page of my April 2013 newsletter.

I recently bought myself a copy of a 1942 edition of Joseph Conrad’s, ‘A Conrad Argosy’,  a lovely edition complete with woodcuts by Hans Alexander Mueller. As it’s a large and heavy book, in an ideal world it would be stored lying flat on my bookshelf however, unfortunately I just don’t have the space.

My concern is that storing the book upright is not a safe option as the text block would sag over time, pulling at the spine and probably resulting in a text-block split. The answer? I’ve decided to make a customised book shoe, a brilliant way of supporting book text blocks. Shoes allow a volume to be stored upright whilst supporting the text block from below. They are discreet in appearance, (hence the reason why they are often used in old libraries), economical to make and are easily removable.

During my time at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, book shoes were used extensively in the 15th century Duke Humphrey’s library. If you are interested in finding out more about book shoes or feel they could be an asset to your collection, the Bodleian have available a great article which explains the many advantages of book shoeing and a guide to their construction: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:UBklYcVSaB0J:cool.conservation-us.org/iada/ta95_021.pdf+&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjLy1490UsY2Hr24-Qxwe-F19lV5zkLjnIvX340s_baYSnws1XlTy4HXkogOrtoTd-U3EcxuqDfdEQ9qlPEd4_MozP-g_LwWWDfGBIAV-aCvw_gsCmaCf4PamgiSJV-0gxOG9Ql&sig=AHIEtbQ4b1xiTjHq34gU5CQdoRqn-ayHxw

The US-based NEDCC also have the following excellent resource:

http://www.nedcc.org/resources/leaflets/4Storage_and_Handling/07BookShoe.php

Remember, always use only those materials which you know to be acid and lignin free, particularly as they will be in direct contact with the book. I used acid-free mountboard for mine and it’s proved strong enough, (you could always double up the thickness if necessary). Don’t skimp on details such as rounding the corners and sanding the edges as they are really important for protecting the text block.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.