The purpose of this blog is to show a relatively easy long-term solution for strengthening and protecting the packaging for shallow banker’s box enclosures. There are two notable benefits to using this solution. The first being that in some cases little to no repairing needs to be done to damaged parts of the box and the second is at no time does any adhesive come into contact with the original piece. I have developed this system down to a science. If I make my measurements correctly, from start to finish, the lid and base jacket can be made from the custom stencils in about 180 minutes.
Ultimately you’ll be cutting 2 pieces of 4 mil Mylar to the following dimensions (W+thx4+4inches x H+thx4+4 inches) with the help of stencils.
To make a stencil I just place the lid in the center of the wastepaper and adding about 1mm all around, trace the width and height. Add 1 wall thickness all around followed by 1 wall board thickness all around then another wall thickness all around. Draw each of these added lines all the way to the edge of the paper.
You may notice little adaptations to the tabs that will be cut out of the Mylar. I make the tabs on opposite sides to create symmetry. Here is a close-up of one.
After scoring and cutting out the Mylar to match the pattern, fold on the lines using either a ruler and bone folder or your fingers.
When you are all ready, place the box in the center of the Mylar sleeve and place double stick tape where the tabs will secure the corners. Start with the outside corners first.
One of the great qualities of this protective wrapper is that it can cut out repair time by the virtue of the strength of the wrapper itself.
Secure the rest of the outside, then inside corners, and we’re done!
Now it’s time to enjoy the music.
Chris Voynovich (CHPL) — Senior Conservation Technician
Poisonous Book Project
In the Victorian era, textiles were colored with a green copper aceto-arsentite, used from 1814 to the late 1800’s. (Side note: this green is sometimes referred to as Paris green or emerald green and was widely used by impressionist painters.) And since books were bound in textiles, it’s no surprise that these vivid green cloths were used to bind publisher’s bindings. Therefore, it’s entirely possible that these copper arsenic covers are lurking within our library collections dating to the 19th century. In 1855, Viridian green was invented which eventually replaced Paris Green; therefore, green cloth bindings from the 20th century to today are of likely no concern.
When faced with the question of how to ID these textiles in the past, I’ve referred researchers to textile conservators who may be more familiar with this subject – as well as paintings conservators since they deal with pigments on a regular basis. The best resource on the subject I could track down was an adjacently-related conservation study on Navajo Textiles, titled, Coping With Arsenic-Based Pesticides on Textile Collections by Jae R. Anderson, Nancy Odegaard, Martina Dawley, Delana Joy Farley, and Werner Zimmt from the American Institute for Conservation ‘s Objects Specialty Group Postprints, Volume 21, 2014.
However, new research being conducted by Melissa Tedone and researchers at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library shines new light on the subject. They provide helpful recommendations on ID, handling, and storage. Please see https://www.iiconservation.org/content/poison-book-project to learn about the Poisonous Book Project being performed by Winterthur Library.
While our lab does not currently perform x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to confirm whether a book is poisonous, there are some visual clues to be aware of. When handling a copy of Rustic Adornments for Homes and Taste (1857) Melissa Tedone notes how “the bright green colorant flakes readily from the bookcloth with even the gentlest touch of my porcupine quill.” This pigment seems to be impregnated into the cloth rather than dyed, and therefore prone to brittleness and flaking.
Recommendations to those without the ability to ID pigments: If you suspect that your book may be bound within the Victorian era of the 19th century, treat the book as though it may contain arsenic.
Place it in a polyester or polypropylene jacket and house it inside an enclosure.
Handle it with gloves that are disposable or are washable
When handling, lay it out on a table with paper liner that can be disposed of after use (or clean the table after use)
If you are in need of a box for storage, University Products and Talas are great resources for purchasing archival housing supplies.
Additional recommendations for libraries by Melissa Tedone and the Winterthur crew include:
Digitize bindings to provide researchers a non-toxic option of handling these texts
Identify and store these books together in one location within collections storage. If these materials are affected in a potential flood or disaster, this will help to streamline handling and containment of these dangerous materials.
Curious to know if there are specific titles of books that have tested positive for “poison?”Check out this link for a table of books identified by the Poisonous Book project and compare against duplicate titles in your collection:
Since testing continues, the Winterthur research team has created a color swatch bookmark to assist with identifying potentially arsenical green bookcloth. The library asks for the consideration of of $5 or more to help cover printing and mailing costs. Email reference@wintherthur.org for more information.
To learn more, check out the 2023 Connecting to Collections (C2C) Care Webinar The Poison Book Project.
Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer (CHPL) – Rare Book and Paper Conservator, Lab Co-Manager
Last month, I showed you how to make a corrugated clamshell. At that time, I mentioned some alternative strategies for special situations, such as considerations of working space, collection size, etc. Pre-made boxes may be the way to go here. They’re generally non-adhesive, and excellent if you have a large collection that needs help, but can’t be worked on right away, for pieces going to off-site storage, or if you’re in a situation where box building space is at a premium, such as many of our work from home setups (I’m currently working at my kitchen table, which is definitely a squeeze sometimes!)
There are multiple ways to obtain pre-made enclosures:
Many commercial binderies offer custom economy boxing. Our Lab uses HF Group (http://www.hfgroup.com/) when needed. Their work is excellent, and their enclosures can be created from sent measurements. This is wonderful for housing items in our collection that require storage, but we feel are too fragile to be shipped.
A pre-made enclosure can also be a great option for very small items, to keep them from becoming lost on the shelf.
Under normal circumstances, a box created in the Lab for a small piece would be lined with foam to keep it from moving around in the larger cavity, but when the pandemic hit, we thought it might be a good idea to find ways to do this that didn’t require foam, which might be expensive or difficult to source or store.
Enter the Kyle Insert. Developed by Kyle Olmon, it is an answer to the ongoing question of new ways to store smaller items that will keep them safe and prevent them from getting lost. It works well for things like artist books, which are often incredibly small. It’s also a time saver in lieu of foams. I don’t know about you, but cutting foam is not my favorite thing. An alternative is always welcome when it is appropriate, and we (and the books!) can always benefit from having multiple ways to solve problems.
Written instructions from Kyle Olmon are available on-line at https://kyleolmon.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/kyle_insert_v2_instructions.pdf . I found that the insert made more sense to me when I had a visual representation. It’s a surprisingly simple structure but may not seem that way on paper. In light of that, I did something a little different and put together a video of my assembly efforts, interspersed with instructions and diagrams from Kyle Olmon throughout. Hopefully the video combined with Mr. Olmon’s excellent instructions will help you get started with this form!
Admittedly the title of this blog is a bit dry, but whenever I see the phrase stationery binding my eyes dart and the corners of my mouth start to move upward. Since trying my hand at an accounting book at Paper and Book Intensive 2017 in Chela Metzger’s workshop Early Modern Record-Keeping Book Structures, I have enjoyed learning more about their variations, creating historical models, and using the form as an inspiration for artist’s books.
After digging into Katherine Beaty’s essay Tackets, Buckles, and Overbands: Italian Stationery Bindings of the HBS Medici Family Collectionthe in the latest volume of Suave Mechanicals (http://www.thelegacypress.com/suave-mechanicals-vol-6.html), I decided to attempt a model of the second largest laminated archival bind. Beaty’s essay provides excellent descriptions of the various accounting books within the Medici collection, helping guide me in the construction of the model and filling in large gaps in my knowledge.
Katherine Beaty’s essay is not a “how to” manual, so all the errors and false assumptions that present themselves in the final model are mine alone. Making this at home with materials I had on-hand provided some challenges, so there are some missteps in terms of historical accuracy. But, in the end I’ll give the final product solid B for effort! And I had a great time making it.
Laminated leather archival binding with buckle fastening, size 34 x 27 cm.
