To disbind or not disbind

We are transferring a 25-volume set of Bell's British Theatre (London,
1780- 1781) from open stacks to the Rare Book Collections.  Reviewing it
for conservation needed, I find that about half the volumes have been
rebound by the "New Method Bindery" (Lord grant they are no longer in
business) using highly acidic endpapers (pH 4.7).  The remainder of the
volumes have been re-backed with the original endpapers preserved.  My
instinct is to take the volumes that have been rebound out of their
acidic cases and have phase boxes made to house the text blocks.**
Another option is to place acid- free paper between endleaves and text
block.... But that doesn't seem quite adequate.  The books have not
received heavy use during the last 20 years, and I don't anticipate that
will change.  I would appreciate advice from conservators and librarians
who may have faced similar decisions.

**I don't have money for rebinding.

Elaine Smyth
Rare Book Collections, LSU Libraries

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 4:34
                 Distributed: Monday, December 24, 1990
                        Message Id: cdl-4-34-004
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