Condition Assessed and Treatment Performed: May 2009
Conservator: Melissa Tedone
Owner/Custodian: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Title: Santo Sebastiano, or The Young Protector: A Novel in Five Volumes
Author: Catherine Cuthbertson
Imprint: 1806
Collation: 5 volumes, 19 folded 6-folio sections each
Binding Dimenions (HxW): 18.0 cm x 11.2 cm
Treatment Objective
The treatment goals are to rebind the five volumes as a matching set, in a manner both sympathetic to the originals and robust enough for handling by researchers.
Description & Condition
This novel in five volumes suffers from extensive red rot, which has rendered the spine leather so degraded that it can not be resuscitated. The marbled paper board coverings exhibit heavy abrasion, and the boards are detached. Vellum tips are intact. The textblock sewing is failing on all five volumes.
Treatment Proposal
1. Disassemble volumes.
2. Guard signatures as needed with Japanese long-fibered tissue and wheat starch paste.
3. Resew textblocks on linen support tapes using a two-hole link stitch.
4. Lace new boards onto the tapes.
5. Apply vellum tips to board corners.
6. Cover spines with brown goatskin leather using the “Princeton 305” method.
7. Cover boards with marbled paper similar in color and pattern to the original.
8. Hot-stamp gold leather labels and affix to spines with PVA adhesive.
Treatment Procedure
1. Volumes were mechanically disassembled and the spines were cleaned using a methylcellulose poultice.
2. The outer folios of the signatures were guarded with machine-made Kozo tissue and wheat starch paste.
3. The textblocks were resewn with linen thread on linen support tapes using a two-hole link stitch.
4. New boards were laced onto the tapes.
5. Vellum tips were molded onto board corners with wheat starch paste.
6. The spines were covered with brown goatskin leather using the “Princeton 305” method.
7. The boards were covered with Payhembury "Gloster" marbled paper.
8. Burgundy goatskin leather labels were hot-stamped with gold foil on a Kwik-Print and affixed to the spines with PVA adhesive.