Conservation issues: Restoring bindings

When repairing book bindings on non-modern books, the first thing that must be considered is: Is there anything unique, unusual, or historically significant about the original binding, no matter how decayed it is, that merits conservation? In other words, by rebinding the text block of a book we may be making the content of the book accessible again, but we must first determine if doing so will destroy the true value of the book through the loss of a unique example of an early binding technique. For this reason, rebinding decisions for non-modern books should only be made by those knowledgeable of the history of binding.

Another consideration before a repair to book binding is made is how the book will be stored after repair. If the book will be stored lying flat, much less repair may be needed (and therefore the potential to lose valuable aspects of the binding is reduced). The minimum repair to restore the book to an acceptable level of use should always be preferred.

That said, what are some common book binding issues?

1800-early 1900th century books:

Eighteenth and early nineteenth century book bindings are characterized by high quality (non acidic) paper, supported sewing structures, laced-on-boards, tight joints, and leather bindings. Over time, these books are subject to the bindings breaking down along the outer hinge due to the tight joint. This problem results in the need to reattach the board of these books. Another problem 1800-1900th century books suffer from is the fact that the spines on these books are often too stiff due to over lining or being bound with tight backs. This stiffness causes cracks in the lining where the spine bends. This, in turn, causes cracked text blocks. Finally, the threads used to sew books of this era are often acidic. They have become brittle overtime, causing a need to resew the signatures of the text block. This condition is even more pronounced in books of lower quality binding that do not have a padding of vellum or paper between the glues on the spine (which are acidic) and the text block.

Leather bindings from any era:
A very common problem with leather bound books from any time period is red rot. Red rot occurs in high humidity in books that have been exposed to environmental pollutants that react with the materials used to tan the leather. A book suffering from red rot has a powdery decomposition of the leather binding. Red rot is not reversible. The Library of Congress recommends placing red rotted books in polyester (Dupont Mylar Type D or ICI Mellinex 516) dust jackets to prevent dry rotted leather from shedding on adjacent books and to protect the leather binding from further decay.

Another common problem with leather bound books is the mistaken notion that it is necessary to 'treat' leather bindings with oils or soaps in the hopes of preserving them or cleaning the bindings. This was long recommended as a 'best practice' but it is now known that the oils and soaps used do more damage to the leather binding than good by driving dirt particles and fats into the grain of the leather and by introducing chemicals that dry or darken the leather over time. Cleaning leather in this manner may even be the cause of spew ( or British English, spue) on leather bindings. Spew is a material, usually white, that appears on leather. It may be fatty/oily or crystalline/salty in nature. To properly clean leather bound books, including those exhibiting spew, is to brush, wipe off or vacuum dirt particles or spew. It is also acceptable to use non-ionic soap dissolved in alcohol, trichlorofluorethane and other hydrocarbons to safely clean leather.

Pickwoad, Nicholas. (1994). Determining How Best to Conserve Books in Special Collections. The American Institute for Conservation Book and Paper Group Annual. 13, 7-13. Available http://aic.stanford.edu/sg/bpg/annual/v13/bp13-07.html

DePhillips, Henry A. and Mader, Michele L. (1997). Identification of Spue on Leather Books at Trinity College, Hartford. Abbey Newsletter 21(2). Available
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/abbey/an/an21/an21-2/an21-210.html

St John, Kristen. (2000). Survey of Current Methods and Materials Used for the Conservation of Leather Bookbindings. The American Institute for Conservation Book and Paper Group Annual. 19. Available http://aic.stanford.edu/sg/bpg/annual/v19/bp19-32.html

Koninklijke Bibliotheek - National Library of the Netherlands. (1997). Guidelines for the conservation of leather and parchment bookbindings. Available
http://www.kb.nl/cons/leather/chapter2-en.html

Library of Congress. (1998). Leather Dressing. Available http://www.loc.gov/preserv/care/leather.html