Tag: book conservation

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Studio Reopening

New Studio

Finally my new studio is set up.

In a fairly compact space, I’ve managed to squeeze in 21 linear feet of workbench surface and all the essential equipment for bookbinding and book conservation.  Equipment includes a circa. 1895 Jacques board shear, Hickock lying press, Nilfisk GS80 HEPA variable speed vacuum, Hickock 001/2 book press, Schaefer S2 stamping press, Peachey manual board slotting machine, Altair spine stamping machine, and a Museum Services cold suction platen.

Rereading Planning and Constructing Book and Paper Conservation Laboratories proved useful when thinking about my new space. It is borderline embarrassing that I even found my own chapter useful. I would like to add one bit of advice: although it is fun to think about the efficient storage of commonly used materials and tools, it is equally important to know when to stop theorizing and try things out for a while.

The bench tops are all a double layer of 3/4″ maple faced plywood with at least a 2″ overhang for clamping. They are 37.5″ high, and the main bench 32″ deep. I decided to try the “other” position for the book press; the opening is positioned 90 degrees relative to the front of the mounting surface. This should make sighting critical alignments easier, ie. press board to book board edge.

The island workspace on top of the flat files serves three functions: a convenient place to examine and discuss treatments with clients, a nice big desk for writing, and is great for natural light photography, since it is equidistant between two windows. My most used reference books are easily accessible.

Soon, back to book work….

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Ngrams: Book Conservation, Art Conservation, Book Restoration, Art Restoration

An N-gram is a continuous series of letters or words. In linguistics, they are useful for gathering information about frequency of use. Google has an Ngram tool that uses more than eight million of the texts it has scanned, which is estimated to be six percent of all books ever published. I thought it might be interesting to compare four terms: book conservation,  art conservation, book restoration, and art restoration. I selected the years 1900-2008 and added some smoothing to make the trends more clear. It is also possible to distinguish between English and American usage, though I didn’t do this.

conservation book

Larger table at Google Ngrams

A couple of things jumped out at me. The use of the term conservation essentially overtook the term restoration in the mid-1970’s, which also roughly correlates with the beginning of professionalism in the field: the founding of the American Institute for Conservation (1972), journals, graduate schools, conferences, etc….

We see a peak in book conservation in the mid-1980’s.  The Columbia University Library and Archives program was in full swing and grant money was plentiful. Microfilming was still the dominant method of reformatting. Book conservation, along with book restoration, has declined precipitously since this time.

The term book conservation gets used roughly 25% as much as art conservation in 2008. It also seems to be on a bit of an upswing.

For a short time in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, book restoration was even more popular than art conservation. I’m not quite sure what explains this, the Florence Flood? Chance?

It is debatable exactly how the frequency of these terms used in publications reflects the growth, size and public perception of the field. They also likely bear little resemblance to the actual practice of restoration and conservation.  Additionally, I think journal articles are not included, as well as online sources, which might change things dramatically.

My gut feeling, though, is that this graph roughly mirrors the popularity, size and funding for book conservation, which has declined significantly over the past 25 years. Art conservation seems to have declined less, but still significantly since 2000. But the frequency of these terms is still about half of the peak. It has often been noted that creating a written body of literature for book conservation is a necessary step towards professionalism and even some kind of certification in the United States, which currently does not exist.  Are we farther away from that goal now than we were in 1985?

Ngrams can be a pleasant time sink serious tool for the statistical analysis of use frequency patterns. Finally, we can answer such crucial questions as were The Beatles more popular than Jesus Christ?

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Manual Peachey Board Slotting Machine

Board slotting is likely the strongest and least invasive method of treating detached boards. Detached boards are the most common point where bookbindings fail.  Christopher Clarkson developed the technique in the late 1970’s. The board slotting tab at the top of this page and the board slotting blog offers more information concerning its history, technique and recent advances.

The original Peachey Board Slotting Machine, developed in 2005, is used in conservation labs around the world. It is, however, a somewhat large and expensive machine, and best suited for large institutions. The Manual Peachey Board Slotting Machine is a new affordable alternative for individuals, regional centers, smaller institutional labs and even larger labs with space limitations. This smaller machine can be moved out of the way when not in use, freeing up valuable bench space. It is also simpler to operate.

The Manual Peachey Board Slotting Machine features stops that automatically guide the positioning of the blade when starting and stopping a cut. In order to make this machine more affordable, three aspects are limited as compared with the original machine: the maximum length that can be slotted is 15″ (rather than 17.75″), the board needs to be manually pulled or cranked using a hand wheel, and the angles for slotting are not infinitely adjustable, but can be set at 11, 13, and 15 degrees. These are the most common angles used. In fact, I use 13 degrees about 90% of the time, 11 for very thin boards, and 15 for thick ones.

This machine is less intimidating when compared to the original. The orientation makes it easier to sight the height of the blade. The carriage can be quickly pulled back into starting position after the end of a previous cut. This also makes partial (or biscut) slotting of a board very fast and easy. Overall, the slotting operation seems to be quicker. Many bookbinding and conservation students, such as those from North Bennett Street School, have been trained in the fundamentals of board slotting.  A one to three day workshop on machine operation, basic slotting technique and structures is recommended, though.

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SPECIFICATIONS

-Width of the machine -12″, Height- 19″, Length- 22″

-Weight 30 lbs. Easy to move and store when not needed.

-Fast and intuitive operation.

-The sliding board carriage can be quickly moved to the starting position at the end of a slot, or between biscuit slots.

-Maximum height of board that can be slotted: 15″

-Dust collector hooks up to a standard vacuum cleaner.

-Thick and thin solid carbide blades included for long cutting life.

-Automatic blade positioning for starting and stopping a cut.

-Boards can be slotted by pulling or cranking.

-Safety guards (not pictured) keep hands away from the blade in use.

-The motor, and other operations are similar to the original machine.

-No electrical transformer needed for international operation, just plug adaptors.

-This machine can be shipped pre-aligned, but still needs some assembly.

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I have a machine in operation at my NYC studio if you would like to examine and give it a test drive. Please contact me if you have questions or need a formal price quote including shipping, assembly and training.

Introductory Price:  $4,950.00  (Regular price $5,500.00)