A good pasting machine will cost about ten dollars, but it is a great time saver. There are several on the market. In the Wilmington Library the "Universal" is used and gives satisfaction in all cases when a machine can be used.
CUTTING-BOARD
A small-sized cutting-board, such as is used by photographers, is useful in the mending room as well as in other parts of the library.
CLEANING
A part of the duty of the mending department is to remove such dirt or stains as can readily be removed without injury to the books.
PAGES
Various materials may be used for cleaning books which show soiled pages here and there, but which are in the main fairly clean. A red rubber or a sponge rubber is much better than an India rubber eraser. The latter should never be used unless the paper is excellent in quality. Bread crumbs rolled in a ball or powdered pumice stone put on with a dry cloth will often give good results. If the book is much soiled, or has mud stains, it may be advisable to use ivory soap and water with a few drops of ammonia, applied with a piece of cheesecloth well wrung out.
If the paper is of good quality it may be washed with Javelle water, a preparation used in French laundries. This may be made by the following recipe:
To one pound of chloride of lime add four and a half pints of water, and put in a jar with tight cover. In a separate vessel, dissolve 20 oz. of ordinary washing soda in four and a half pints of boiling water, and immediately pour it into the first mixture. When cold add enough water to make eleven pints in all. Strain through muslin, settle, and pour off the clear solution. After using it care must be taken to rinse the paper thoroughly with water, as it tends to rot paper.
In the cleaning of pages care should be taken not to erase any marks made by the cataloging or accession departments. Rubbing must be done slowly and the pages held flat to prevent tearing. Rub from the inside outward. All traces of pumice stone, rubber, etc., should be carefully removed. If water and soap have been used, it may be necessary to put a pressing tin under the leaf, placing blotting paper on each side.
Fox marks may be removed by immersing the leaves in a weak solution of chlorine water and then transferring to a hot bath of very weak hydrochloric acid.
To remove creases from leaves accidentally folded, place the leaves between moistened blotters enclosed between dry blotters and press. This can be repeated until the crease is entirely removed. Sometimes creases may be ironed out with a hot iron.
Ink stains can be removed by any one of the standard eradicators (oxalic acid followed by chloride of lime). Stains from pad ink used for dating stamps can be removed with benzine.
The edges of leaves on very soiled books may be sandpapered. In this case the book should be held very firm, if possible in a vise.
To Prevent Mildew or Mold
Occasionally books are accidentally soaked with water. In many a fire more damage is done by water than by fire. In such cases it may be a waste of time and money to reclaim ordinary books which can easily be replaced. It is a different matter when it comes to rare books and especially to ma.n.u.scripts which cannot be replaced. Mr. J. I. Wyer, Jr., director of the New York State Library, in his annual report for 1911 describes as follows the method used in that library after the disastrous fire of that year.
The first step was to remove all covers. Each volume was then taken apart leaf by leaf, and each sheet was laid between print paper for drying. After twenty-four hours every leaf was again handled and placed between heavy blotting paper; after twenty-four hours here, each leaf was again removed to a second blotting paper. At all of these stages pressure was applied to facilitate the drying and keep the doc.u.ments from wrinkling.... When each leaf had thus pa.s.sed through these three drying processes, those belonging to the same volume were collected and carefully tied up in boxes or separate packages to wait until all the ma.n.u.scripts were thus treated....
When all were dried, the ma.n.u.scripts were arranged in volumes....
The rarest pieces will in time be mended, nearly all will be covered with crepeline, all will be mounted on fresh paper and carefully bound into new volumes.
COVERS
Covers may be cleaned by the same materials as those used on pages, but the best method is to wash them with soap and water. For this reason the use of a washable cloth for covers, such as keratol, durabline, or fabrikoid, is an advantage. Miss Margaret Brown, in her pamphlet on mending, Library handbook No. 6, advises the use of a wash as follows: "Two parts good vinegar and one part water. Apply with a clean cloth and rub hard until dirt is removed, then place upright to dry. This should not be used on leather."
Grease spots may be removed from both leather and cloth by covering with a blotter and ironing with a hot iron. The same method will partially remove paint or varnish.
For a great variety of cleansing receipts see Coutts and Stephen"s "Manual of library bookbinding," Chapter X.
Covers that have warped must be dampened and put under pressure.
Sh.e.l.lacking of covers has been advocated by some librarians, but it is doubtful if it pays. It may be used in the interests of cleanliness on books bound in light colored cloth and on books in towns where the atmosphere is very smoky. It is a process which takes some time since two coats of sh.e.l.lac must be applied, and it does not increase the wear of the cloth to any great extent. As a regular part of preparing the book for use it takes more time and material than it is worth.
Sometimes a book becomes wonderfully rejuvenated simply by having its cover and edges cleaned and a new pocket pasted in the back.
MENDING
It is very desirable that mending should not be done by inexperienced a.s.sistants, for an uninstructed beginner may do as much harm as good.
TORN PAGES
Torn pages may be mended in any one of the following ways:
1. If the tear does not affect the printing, cut a strip of thin, tough bond paper one-half inch wide, a little longer than the tear to be covered, put through pasting-machine and cover the tear, tr.i.m.m.i.n.g the overhang even with the page.
2. If the page is torn into the text, and the book is not valuable commercially, use ungummed onion skin about one-half inch wide and apply as above. If onion skin is not available a very thin, tough bond paper will do very well. Use a thin coating of paste, first putting a piece of white paper under the page to absorb extra paste.
3. If torn in the text and it is desirable to make as good a job as possible, use the following method:
Rub a very little paste on the torn edges, and place them together. Then take a rather large piece of ordinary tissue paper and rub it gently along the tear so that the tissue paper will adhere to the torn edges.
Put under the press; when dry the superfluous tissue paper should be torn off, taking care to pull always toward the tear and from both sides at the same time. The delicate fibre of the tissue paper acts as an adhesive in such a way that it is almost impossible to discern how the mending was done.
4. If the margin of the leaf of a valuable book is torn in several places, take two sheets of paper the size of the leaf, cut out from the middle of each a piece a little larger than the letter-press of the book; trim the torn leaf so that it remains somewhat larger than the s.p.a.ce cut out of the blank leaves; place it between these two leaves and paste down, thus forming new margins.
Books that have torn leaves mended may be put into the press, but it is not strictly necessary. When very much of this mending is done pressing is impossible unless a standing press is at hand.
A few books such as Granger"s Index and some of the Poole"s Index volumes should have the first few pages entirely reinforced with cloth.
The best cloth for this purpose is crepeline, through which the text can be easily read. When applying it put a thin layer of paste on the leaf and then put on the cloth. The book should then be pressed, first protecting adjoining pages with paper.
LOOSE LEAVES
Loose leaves may be inserted in several ways:
1. Lay a piece of white paper over the leaf, allowing one-eighth of an inch of back margin of the leaf to project. Paste this exposed surface and attach it to the adjoining leaf in the book, pressing down firmly.
This can be done only when adjoining leaves are firm.
2. Sometimes the leaf when inserted will extend beyond the fore edge of the book. Tr.i.m.m.i.n.g of either back margin or fore edge is inadvisable. It is possible to turn over about one-eighth of an inch of back margin, using some kind of straight edge for this purpose. Apply paste to turned over part and press the fold well down into the book. This will give more freedom to the leaf than if one-eighth of an inch has been cut off and another eighth of an inch pasted.
3. Fold strips of thin bond paper cut with the grain, three-fourths of an inch in width, through the center. Paste the outside. Attach the loose leaf to one side and attach the other side to the adjoining leaf in the book. It will be necessary to work quickly because the paper strips when wet will cause a wrinkling of the leaf. This method can be used only if adjoining leaf is firm, but can never be employed with overcasting.
4. If necessary to use as little paste as possible, apply paste to a piece of common soft string by drawing it over a board covered with paste. Then draw the string through the book at the back. The leaf may then be inserted.
LOOSE SIGNATURES
Ordinarily when one signature becomes loose others speedily follow, and the book must be sent to the bindery unless it is withdrawn absolutely.
Sometimes, however, one section will become loose when the rest of the book is firm and solid, sometimes also the use a book will receive does not warrant binding. In such cases, if the book has a loose back, open the section in the middle and place it in its proper place in the book.
Thread a darning-needle with Hayes" No. 25 thread (or Barbour No. 40), pa.s.s the needle through the hole at top of the section (the kettlest.i.tch hole) in such a way as to bring it out at the top of the book between the book and the loose back. Draw thread through, allowing a few inches to remain inside the section. Drop needle through the loose back, insert it from the back through the kettlest.i.tch hole at tail of the book. The thread can then be tied to the thread projecting at the upper kettlest.i.tch hole. This is a makeshift, but may answer if the book is not to receive hard usage. If the back of the signature is badly worn, mend it by guarding with jaconet on the outside, or by pasting a strip of bond paper down through the center of the fold.
_Tight Backs_
For tight backs cut a guard of firm, thin cloth, such as cambric or jaconet, about three-fourths of an inch wide and as long as the book.
Sew the section to the middle of the guard, and paste the guard to the book, one-half to each of the adjoining leaves. Press this guard well back into the book. This can be done only when the adjoining pages are securely held.