Conservation leather book bindings

Jeff peachey invents, designs, and manufactures the highest quality bookbinding, leather working, and book conservation knives and tools. It should be required reading for anyone who owns or is responsible for the care of valuable leather binding. While full, half and quarterbound leather volumes are commonplace in collections and on book conservators benches, leather also plays a role in other functions of book construction where strength and flexibility are. There are chemical solutions that can be applied to harden things, but binding experts still disagree on the usefulness of these treatments and the longterm effects. Your clean, dry hands will impart natural oils to the binding. In this video i discuss and show examples of repairing antiquarian leather bindings to be resold. Good quality bookbinding leathers should be vegetable tanned with slower. Pdf leather bookbinding conservation claudio bonifazi. In both historic and modern times, bookbinders have commonly used leather as a covering material. Until recently, the guidelines for the conservation of leather and parchment bookbindings, published by the koninklijke bibliotheek in collaboration with the.

In the world of books, is there anything as sumptuous as a leather binding. He is frequently invited to conduct seminars and workshops throughout north america, europe and asia. The chelsea bindery specialises in fine binding, preservation boxes and book restoration, offering a traditional leather bookbinding and conservation service using hand finishing and the finest. Youll wash your hands first not to be fusspots, but please keep food and other residues of daily life away from leather bindings. Twomeys recognition in the field of document restoration and conservation is a result of his expert workmanship and dedication to conservation awareness. Detached boards are the most common place leather bookbindings fail, and all five. Leather is an interesting topic in book conservation, as many of the historic books we work on have full or partial leather bindings. The chelsea bindery show the processes of book binding. Restoration of antique and rare books, family bible restored, archival paper and document restoration, book binding object and artifact restoration, custom hand bookbinding family bibles, archival period bindings, documents restored, conservation, deacidification restore old books, stains removed, paper book bindingrestoration, state and county record books. Middleton is preeminent as practitioner, demonstrator, and writer on this subject.

Leather, like paper, comes in a variety of qualities, and has inherent issues as it ages over time. Book and paper group wiki book conservation wiki animal skin and leather. Previous bookbinding or conservation experience is required. The restoration of leather bindings by bernard middleton is such a work. That leather derives from living creatures should make us ever more eager to care for. Handling a leather binding may be one of the nicer things you can do for it. We conduct courses in the fine art of leather binding, book restoration, repair, and preservation. Proudly serving archives, museums, libraries, and bookbinders with quality materials for bookbinding, archiving and art conservation. Bookbinding and the conservation of books by don etherington and matt t. If the leather on your book is rubbing off in your lap or hands, there is little that can be done to restore it. Restoration is the authoritative work on leather binding repair. Balancing the book conservation decisions for a 17th century.