Literature

Conserving and Preserving Library Materials (Papers presented at the Allerton Park Institute, sponsored by University of Illinois, Graduate School of Library and Infornation Science, held November 15-18, 1981, Urbana). Kathryn L. Henderson and William T. Henderson, eds. Urbana-Champaign: Univ. of Illinois, GSLIS, 1983. Papers are by Robert Patterson, Pam Darling, Carolyn Clark Morrow, Carolyn Harris, Gerald Lundeen, Louise Kuflik and Bill Anthony, among others. There are other books of collected papers, for preservation librarians; and other published proceedings of conferences on preservation in libraries; but few of any length (this has 207 pages, with the index) have the combination of characteristics one sees in this volume. It is the published proceedings, with discussion, of a conference sponsored by librarians, for librarians. Nearly all the speakers are from the same profession as the audience. The main purpose of the conference was educational, so many of the contributions are on an elementary level, but in general the quality of the contributions is good.

Henry Wilhelm's forthcoming book, The Stability and Preservation of Contemporary Photographic Materials, is expected in early 1984 from Preservation Publishing Co., Box 567, Grinnell, IA 50112. Its 31 chapters will cover three main subject areas: color, black and white, and storage. There will be 32 pages in color and many pages in black and white. The hard cover edition will cost $49.95; perhaps there will be a soft cover edition later. It will not be an elementary introduction, but presumes familiarity with photographic conservation.

Marbling, A History and a Bibliography, by Phoebe Jane Easton. Los Angeles: Dawson's Bookshop, 1983. Limited edition with six samples and 12 illustrations. $100. Colophon Hand Bookbindery, 1902 North 44th St., Seattle, WA 98103.

The Coalition to Save our Documentary Heritage: An Important Lesson in Archival Advocacy. By Charlene N. Bickford, with preface by Senator Ira S. Shapiro. MARAC Occasional Publication No. 3. 43 pp. $3.00 to nonmembers from Laura Grotzinger, Mid-Atlantic Regional Archival Conference (MARAC) Secretary, 1509 Country Lane, West Trenton, NJ 08628 (609/771-9405). Presents the 2½-year history of the Coalition and its work in defense of the National Archives and the NHPRC.

Adhesives and Coatings, the next volume in the Crafts Council's series, Science for Conservators, is expected to appear in December. Suggestions for possible reviewers of each volume in the series would be welcomed by the Newsletter office.

Preliminary Guidelines for the Conservation of Leather and Parchment Bookbindings. Jointly compiled by the Central Institute for Conservation in Amsterdam and the Royal Library in the Hague, 1983. 10 pp. T. Stambolov (Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science, Gabriel Metsustraat 8, 1071 EA Amsterdam, Netherlands) says in a recent letter, "We are ... able now to send anyone, who is interested, a copy of [this] publication in Dutch, German or English. The copies are free of charge but the subscribers should enclose 3 x coupon response international per each copy, to cover the mail postage."

Restaurator, Vol. 5 No. 1-2, 1981-82 (mailed February or March 1983). Special issue: Restoration of Book Paintings and Inks: Symposium at the University of Bremen, 28-30 May 1979. Gerhard Knoll, ed. (Annual subscription $37.20 from Munksgaard International Publishers, 35 Nörre Sögade, DK-1370 Copenhagen K, Denmark, or through booksellers.) 176 pp. Thirteen articles in German (10), English (2) and French (1). Tables, half-tones, color photographs, bibliographies, but no English abstracts.

Topics of the papers include restoration of faded inks, destructive copper pigments, restoration of parchment and miniatures, and electron radiography of watermarks and miniatures. Margaret Hey's paper is on deacidification and stabilization of iron gall inks. Gilbert Ouy, author of the other paper in English, wrote about obliterated texts.

The April issue of Fine Print has an unusual number of items about bookbinding in it. It announces the availability of the catalog of the major Canadian bookbinding exhibition last fall (write Art Gallery of Hamilton, 123 King St. West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8P 4S8); a letter to the editor tells what became of Donnelley's training department library when the department was dissolved in 1979; W. Thomas Taylor reviews the Designer Bookbinders exhibition at the Humanities Research Center in 1982; Cohn Franklin reviews Philip Smith's The Book: Art & Object Don Etherington's binding of Ulysses is the featured bookbinding for this month; Carol Joyce is added to FP's January 1982 list of edition hand binders; and an announcement on the last page says that W. Thomas Taylor is the new Bookbinding Editor (Susan Spring Wilson will remain on the staff as Consulting Editor).

The Ampersand, vol. #1, Oct. 1983, is devoted to conservation of the book. Sally Buchanan wrote the introduction, Linda Ogden the two-page article on the conservation of rare books, Karen Zukor the two-page article on preserving works on paper, Barclay Ogden the description of the preservation program at the University of California, Berkeley. The Ampersand is a publication of the Pacific Center for the Book Arts.

The October DVBWA Newsletter has a new small format, packed with news. It is issued 6 to 8 times a year by the Delaware Valley Bookworkers Association (Stewart J. Thomas, editor), 522 5. Melville St., Philadelphia, PA 19143 (21S/662-0807). Complimentary copies of DVBWA mailings will be sent to anyone for six months. They will gladly exchange newsletters with other groups.

"A Mobile Conservation Laboratory Service," by J.C. McCawley and T. G. Stone. Studies in Conservation 28: 97-106, 1983 (August issue). Describes the five mobile conservation labs operated by the Canadian Conservation Institute during the summers of 1979-81, and presumably still going.

The Newsletter of the Friends of the Dard Hunter Paper Museum for August has published for the first time a very long letter that Dard Hunter wrote to his family in 1933, while he was touring Japan. The Friends' third annual meeting will be November 18-20 in Columbus, Ohio. Address inquiries to Christine Smith or Karen Garlick, 410 East Monroe Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22301; or (for the meeting) to Timothy Barrett, 5947 N. 25h St., Kalamazoo, MI 49004.

The Guild of Book Workers Newsletter #32, Fall 1983, carries the inventor's own diagrams and description for what was called the "Guardamatic" at the GBW Seminar on Excellence in April. The inventor, Barbara Meier-James, calls it the "Guarding Jig." Her guarding method appears to be exactly the same as that demonstrated by Don Etherington at that seminar.

"Conservation and Preservation of Archives," by V. P. Kathpalia. Unesco J. Information Science, Librarianship and Archive Administration IV: 94-100, 1982. A pretty good survey of world practices, occasionally evaluative, with emphasis on the cheapest and simplest methods, e.g. use of heat (65°C for a short period) against insect infestations. The author predicts that the leaf-casting machine will become common.

"The Removal of Rust Stains from Arctic Tin Can Labels Using Sodium Hydrosulfite," by Janet K. Hawley, Elizabeth A. Kawai, and Christopher Sergeant. Journal of the IIC- CG 6: 17-24, spring 1981 (mailed August 1983). A careful experimental study, exploring the problem of removing rust from paper. "Based on the results of the experiments, it was concluded that sodium hydrosulfite is an effective agent for removing iron stains from paper. Sodium hydro- sulfite appears to be a relatively safe agent in that it does not substantially yellow paper, weaken it, or alter its pH. For these reasons it is to be preferred to oxalic acid

The October New Library Scene, 18 pages long, has three noteworthy articles in it:

Gerald P. Mielke - Keeping Book Covers on the Straight and Narrow (about prevention of warping in cover boards)

Paul Parisi - Methods of Affixing Leaves: Options and Implications

Werner Rebsamen - A Library Binding Performance Evaluation (a report of a graduate research project at RIT)

Four cassettes from the Professional Picture Framers Association 1983 Summer International Convention & Trade Show in Atlanta are of interest to conservators:

1. No. 233T-3A,B,C,D,E (a 5-tape set). Conservation Framing--The Total Environment, by Marjorie B. Cohn.
2. No. 233T-12 (a single tape) The Dangers of Amateur Restoration, by Don Etherington
3. No. 233T-13 (a single tape) How to Sell Conservation Framing, by Roy Carter
4. No. 233T-19 (a single tape) The Powder-Post Beetle Problem--A Search for Solutions, by Lonnie Williams & Jack Hubert

Tapes are $7.00 each. Send mail orders directly to Pro-Audio, 3040 Smelling Ave., South Minneapolis, MN 55406 (612/721-6547). Postage & handling 50�/tape, $1.00 minimum, $5.00 maximum. Minnesota residents add 6% sales tax.

The cassettes of the AIC meeting in May also cost $7.00 each, but there are two or three papers on each tape. The whole Book and Paper meeting is $28.00, and the whole conference is $68.85. A list of the tapes for that meeting can be had from Cassette Recording Co., c/o Huntington National Bank, Dept. L-270, Columbus, Ohio 43260.

A variety of audiovisual resources is available practically free, on loan, through the Library of Congress Preservation Reference Service, in the National Preservation Program Office. Borrowers must insure the parcel when they return it, and complete an evaluation report. An updated list of items available currently may be had by writing to the National Preservation Program Office, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540.

A slide/tape show, "Commercial Library Binding: The Librarian's View," is available from Yale University Library either on loan ($20.00) or by purchase ($100.00). It presents commercially available binding as a means of book conservation. Aspects covered: structure of the book, how to determine which books can be commercially bound, types of bindings available, materials used, how to evaluate books after they have been bound, binding instruct ions and the binding contract, how to pick a binder and how to communicate with them. Send orders and requests for more information to Conservation Dept., Yale University Library, P0 Box 1603A Yale Station, New Haven, CT 06S20.

Toby Murray's Bibliography on Disasters, Disaster Preparedness and Disaster Recovery was updated in October 1982. Copies may be obtained free by writing to her at McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa, 600 South College, Tulsa, OK 74104. She is the Archivist/Preservation Officer there.

Bookbinding: A Guide to the Literature, a bibliography compiled by Vita K. Brenni. Greenwood Press, 3 Henrietta St., London WC2E 8LU. Books are listed under 12 headings, from Bookbinding design and history to Book jackets. Includes an alphabetical list of 550 binders, art designers and decorators, with biographical details. £29.50.

Conservation in the Library: A Handbook of Use and Care of Traditional and Nontraditional Material, compiled by Susan Swartzburg, was published in August 1983 by Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, P0 Box 5007, Westport CT 06881 (203/226-3571). Each chapter is written by a selected expert. 234 pp. $35.00.

Archives & Manuscripts: Conservation, by Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler, was published in October by the Society of American Archivists (600 5. Federal St., Suite 504, Chicago, IL 60605, 312/922-0140). 144 pages; $7.00 to members, $9.00 to others. Soft cover. A bargain: packed with accurate, up-to-date information and advice, just for archivists.

Use and Enjoy But Don't Destroy [Poster, 17 x 22"] 1983. Order from Illinois Cooperative Conservation Program, Morris Library, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Carbondale, IL 62901 (618/453-5122). $4. Make check payable to: "General Library Activities." Eleven photographs are arranged with captions on the poster, album-style, to illustrate humorously the common and scandalous ways people mistreat books once they get them out of the library.