Literature

Restaurator is now being published on schedule. Volume 7 #1, received July 1986, contains the following articles:

The Effect of Disinfection with Quaternary Ammonium Salt Solution on Paper, by A. B. Strzelczyk and J. Rozanski

Handling, Storage and Preservation of Sound Recordings under Tropical and Subtropical Climatic Conditions, by U. Schüller

Investigation of Fermentative Cleaning Processes in Book Restoration, by Yu. P. Nyuksha and L. A. Karpenko

The Awareness of Conservation; Reasons for Reorientation in Library Training, by H. Bansa

Bansa's article, strongly argued and written from the heart, addresses the difficulties in library preservation arising from the inability of the librarian and the technician or conservator to communicate. He does not propose a new specialty, but urges that library school courses be "infiltrated" with a special awareness of conservation, starting with book technology. He submits a proposed curriculum.

Volume 7 #2, received September 1986, contains:

Glass Plate Negatives; Preservation and Restoration, by M. Gillet, C. Garner and F. Flieder

Paper Deacidification: a Bibliographic Survey - Part I, by D. Mihram

Ampersand, Journal of the Pacific Center for Book Arts, made its Summer 1986 issue a special one on alternative structure. "Some Notes & Reflections on Unsupported Sewing," by Michael Gullick, has 10 diagrams and focuses on Coptic and Chinese style sewing. "Visible Structure in Lightweight Binding," by Betty Lou Chalks, has 7 diagrams of structures by her and other book artists.

Michael Gullick also has an article in the October Fine Print: "Old Books for New," about the history of book format as it related to use and early scholarship. In the same issue, Benjamin Vorst describes early parchment-making methods in "Parchment-Making--Ancient and Modern." He gives slaked lime an impossible pH of 15, but otherwise writes in careful detail and cites his sources. Janet Ing's "Searching for Gutenberg in the 1980s" summarizes bibliographical detective work on the Gutenberg Bible and the Catholicon in six pages.

Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 25(1), Spring 1986:

Vapor Phase Consolidation of Books with the Parylene Polymers, by Bruce J. Humphrey

The Diffusion of Sulfur Dioxide in Air through Stacked Layers of Paper, by Michael A. Dimitroff and James W. Lacksonen

An Evaluation of Ortho-Phenyl Phenol as a Fungicidal Fumigant for Archives and Libraries, by John H. Haines and Stuart A. Kohler

Maltechnik Restauro, 3, July 1986:

Bemerkungen zur Restaurierung eines gespannten Pergamentbandes, by Christian Beintker. A well-illustrated record of the conservative restoration of a vellum binding.

A review, by Gerd Brinkhus, of Bericht über das 1. Wiener Symposion für Papyrusrestaurierung, 4. bis 8. Juni 1984. Hrsg. von Hermann Harrauer. Wien 1985 (Mitt. aus der Papyrussammlung der Österr. Nationalbibl., N.S. 19. Folge). He says it is a symposium report that is extremely informative and gives answers to many questions, while warning against hasty mass conservation methods.

Papyrus, Structure, Manufacture and Deterioration, by Ingeliese Nilsen. (In English) Thesis, Konservatorskolen, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi, 100 Abb., Kopenhagen. 1985. Gerhard Banik reviews this, saying that this work is an important illustration of how valuable knowledge can be won when there is significant cooperation between interesting collections, conservators, and supportive scientists.

Maltechnik Restauro 4, 1986, reports in the yellow "IADA pages" that Helmut Bansa was elected to the ICCROM Council and its Education Committee, thus becoming the first person from the manuscript/book/paper specialty to serve on the Council or Board (Rat). Ruth Henriques and Christian Beintker review Ingrid Hodl's "Eine neue Methode des Kaschierens und Ergänzens: Es muss nicht immer Laminieren sein!" in Bindetechnik/Reliure 7 (1985), 271-273 [A New Method of Lining and Filling in: It Doesn't always have to be Laminated!]. They say, "Once again, in the restoration workshops of the Steiermärkischen Landesarchivs Graz under the supervision of Mr. Trobas, a simple and 'perfectly rational method' has been developed.... We are told, appropriately, 'time is money' and therefore we must often use 'economical and time-saving methods'." Some of these methods are naive and harmful, such as the use of tea and tobacco to tone repair paper, and use of very heavy pressure on wet paper in order to make the repair tissue invisible. The author is opposed to the use of calcium carbonate in paper, because she thinks it weakens it. The reviewers decry her "discount restoration" and "mass conservation" approach, which they lump with Per Laursen' s continuous leafcasting and Wolfgang Waechter's mass paper-splitting. [Some of Karl Trobas's wondrous inventions are described in the July 1985 issue of this Newsletter.]

Karl Jäckel's seventh work in the series "Old Traditions of Hand Bookbinding in Modern Restoration of Manuscripts" has been published in Bibliotheksforum Bayern 13 (1985), p. 272-291, and is entitled "Schliessen und Beschläge" [Clasps and Fittings]. It is reviewed by Maren Mau.

Library Conservation News #13, October 1986:

Preserving Sound Recordings at the British Library National Sound Archive, by Jeremy Silver and Lloyd Stickells. They replicate deteriorating originals Onto magnetic tape: once before any processing, and the second time after filtering and processing to improve the sound quality. The first is the archival copy and they expect it to last indefinitely if it is inspected regularly.

Philatelic Conservation, Part 1 - Historical Background and Nature of the Materials, by R. F. Schoolley-West.

Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Electrostatic Precipitation. Air Pollution Control Association, Pittsburgh, PA. 1114 p. $80 nonmembers.

Rare Books and Manuscripts Librarianship, a new journal this year, is published by the Association of College and Research Libraries, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago IL 60611.

Aires Augusto Nascimento and Antonio Dias Dingo. Encadernaceo Portuguese Medieval, Alcobaca. [Presumably] Lisbon, Imprensa National, Case da Moede, 1984. 104 pp., 11 p1. Jane Greenfield, who furnished this and the next two references, says this has interesting descriptions of XIIth century bindings from the Cistercian monastery of Alcobaca. The diagrams are somewhat confusing (and confused) but the photographs of details are excellent.

Ocho Siglos de Encuadernacion Espanola. [Catalog of an exhibition. Brussels, Bibliotheca Wittockiana, 21-23 rue de Bemel, 1150 Brussels] 1985. In Spanish, French and Dutch 55 pages of text and 43 plates, some with descriptions. Not very well done.

Christopher de Hamel. A History of Illuminated Manuscripts. Oxford, 1986. 256 pp. and 250 illus. The book is absolutely outstanding. Available from Maggs Brothers (and no doubt elsewhere).

"Los Angeles: $22 Million Blaze at Central Library Requires City's Largest Commitment of Firefighting Forces," by Alan Simmons. Firehouse, August 1986, 33-35, 67. This gives the firefighters' viewpoint in detail, including the medical aspects in two paragraphs at the end. Forty-six firefighters were treated for injuries, with 28 transported to four local hospitals, three in serious condition.

"Papyrus: the Paper of Ancient Egypt," by H. G. Wiedemann and G. Bayer. Analytical Chemistry 55 (12), Oct. 1983, p. 1220A-1224A, 1226A, 1228A, 1230A. The authors made and analyzed papyrus, and studied the literature of conservation and paper history. Some of their findings: the cellulose/ lignin proportion varies with age, manufacture and environment. Browning with age is probably due to the higher degree of polymerization of the lignin and may be inhibited to some extent when the papyri are beaten during their manufacture. Such treatment destroys part of the lignin, which is washed out and no longer available for polymerization. In all papyri the water content remains rather constant at about 10% by weight. All the ancient pre-Christian papyri up to 350 DC contained a layer of starch. Younger papyri, however, were manufactured without the aid of a starch binder. The older papyri are, the less they swell.

John Morris, "Protecting the Library from Fire," Fire Journal March 1986, p. 35-39. Of 32 incendiary fires from 1972 to 1980, 19% were set through book drops; 30 males and one female were linked with the fires. They ranged in age from 11 to 26, and all but three were previously unknown to librarians. Arsonists were identified in just half of the cases. Seventy percent of all library fires are incendiary in origin.

The cassette tapes of the Oxford 1986 meeting of the IPC, "New Directions in Paper Conservation," are being sold by Asgard Publishing Services, New Directions in Paper Conservation, 109A North Western Ave., Watford, WD2 6AQ, United Kingdom. Their instructions call for payment in £ sterling only, and the checks must be crossed "A/C Payee." There appears to be no way to pay for them with dollars. The complete set is £200 for 72 tapes. Individual tapes can be purchased for £4 to £12.50.

Lee Metcalfe. Planning Academy and Research Library Buildings. 2d ed. by Philip Leighton and David Weber. ALA, 1986. ISBN 0-8389-3320-3.

Cost Comparison of Selected Alternatives for Preserving Historic Pension Files, by Ralph E. Schofer. National Bureau of Standards, June 1986. NBSIR 86-3335. 58 pp. $9.95 from NTIS, Springfield, VA 22161. This report considers the relative costs of preserving records on paper and microfiche; paper wins. Abstruse, detailed, dull and poorly written.

"New Confidence in Microfilm," by Alan Calmes. Library Journal, Sept. 15, 1986, p. 38-42. In effect, this is the long-overdue retraction of NARS's March 1981 press release citing the problems with microfilm as an archival medium and announcing the search for a substitute. Calmes reviews the literature that has appeared since then, all confirming its choice as an archival medium: CLR's Videodisc and Optical Digital Disc Technologies and Their Application in Libraries, the National Research Council's Preservation of Historical Records, and many more. There is a good bibliography and an interesting chart showing the relative longevity of various storage media.

Arthur W. Johnson. The Practical Guide to Craft Bookbinding. London: Thames and Hudson, 1985. 96 pp. The review in Library Conservation News says "This is a gently written, instructive book aimed at the beginner who wishes to practice bookbinding either professionally or as a serious pastime. It will also interest librarians and others who are sympathetic to books and bindings and wish to improve their understanding of the craft." (The author has also published a second edition of his Thames and Hudson Manual of Bookbinding.)

"Proceedings of the Seminar on Restoration, Conservation and Reprography of Manuscripts and Rare Books, Vienna and Graz, 1984." Liber Bulletin No. 24, 1985.

"Colchester Firm Offers Binding First." Printing World 215, #11, Mar. 19, 1986, pp. 34, 37. This is about the Otabind process, a superior structure for soft-cover books and well-suited for mass production. (Werner Rebsamen described it in his Technology Newsletter v.2 #1, March 1982. It achieves strength, speed of production and easy openability simultaneously by the use of cold emulsions and an open back. The text block is adhesive bound and lined with cambric or stretch paper, and the one-piece covers are attached only to the sides, starting 1/4" away from the spine.) the abstract of the Printing World article in Graphic Arts Literature Abstracts says, "Daniel O'Brien is the driving force behind British Otabind. The company will be offering a specially modified bookbinding process. Its purpose will be to add strength and durability. Otabind was developed in 1981, to help Finnish books withstand high central heating temperatures."