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Do You Feel The Church Books Being Stored in Stacks

Started by PovertyRow,

597 posts in this topic

Davenport

Davenport

Posted
Posted

You are the guys that are treating it like some kind of DARK ART. It's not.

 

A while back, curious what trained Conservators outside of fandom think of undisclosed pressing, I exchanged emails. This particular one was in response to a link I included to a pressing service's website, wanting an unbiased opinion.

Just seems odd to me that secrecy is the norm inside fandom, while details and treatment reports are the norm in the library world...

 

"Hi, What's interesting to me is that the company below describes pressing as a revolutionary new technique discovered in the last decade. Restorers have been pressing books and documents for hundreds of years. Pressing is simply putting something heavy on the object and letting it sit there for a while. However, often you humidify the item first so that it's more receptive to pressing. Humidification can start chemical reactions in some inks that will cause them to become corrosive later on. These are generally very old writing inks, known as iron gall inks, but people often don't know enough about modern inks. You would want to know if the item had been humidified first.

 

Here's a definition of restoration from a dictionary devoted to bookbinding and conservation terms: Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books : a dictionary of descriptive terminology by Matt. T. Roberts and Don Etherington. Published by the Library of Congress in 1982.

 

Restoration. The process of returning a book, document, or other archival material as nearly as possible to its original condition...Restoration, therefore, encompasses virtually the entire range of book work--mending ,repairing, rebinding, and reconstruction.

 

The primary reason for providing detailed treatment reports--on the part of the conservator--is to document any treatment that might impact the longevity of the item, such as using heat or adding chemicals, or exposing to light (for bleaching). Pressing by itself doesn't fall into that category, but pressing with humidification might.

 

I think any treatment, even something as simple as removing dust, should be disclosed just because it contributes to your knowledge of the history of the item.

 

Anyway, in my field any treatment is part of the restoration process , and pressing is treatment.

 

I did notice that the company you mention seems to be very careful about the use of chemicals, bleaching etc., so they seem to be aware of conservation principles.

 

-Michele

(Michele Brown, conservation supervisor Cornell University (Certificate in Restoration from the Camberwell School of Art and Crafts in London in 1977, member of the Guild of Book Workers, and the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC).)

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Mac Man

Mac Man

Posted
Posted

Cornell :cloud9: I miss Ithaca. There was a fantastic little coffee shop right in College Town close to Barton Hall...

 

Back to topic, it would seem that pressing as a result of storage would be irrelevant to document, but mechanical pressing with use of additives (chemicals, humiditiy, etc) would be something to document- though still not necessarily considered restorative. Interesting addition to the discussion.

 

I wonder if other restoration experts are more open to sharing their field knowledge than comic restoration experts because there is less money involved? I think Ze's point is well-taken that if the trade secrets were 100% public knowledge that everyone would be doing it and how much damage would be done to book across the board (and good restoration then go undisclosed)... at least I think Ze was saying this :) How many people are out there implementing resto techniques on their regular books? Interesting to think about.

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esquirecomics

esquirecomics

Posted
Posted

You are the guys that are treating it like some kind of DARK ART. It's not.

 

A while back, curious what trained Conservators outside of fandom think of undisclosed pressing, I exchanged emails. This particular one was in response to a link I included to a pressing service's website, wanting an unbiased opinion.

Just seems odd to me that secrecy is the norm inside fandom, while details and treatment reports are the norm in the library world...

 

"Hi, What's interesting to me is that the company below describes pressing as a revolutionary new technique discovered in the last decade. Restorers have been pressing books and documents for hundreds of years. Pressing is simply putting something heavy on the object and letting it sit there for a while. However, often you humidify the item first so that it's more receptive to pressing. Humidification can start chemical reactions in some inks that will cause them to become corrosive later on. These are generally very old writing inks, known as iron gall inks, but people often don't know enough about modern inks. You would want to know if the item had been humidified first.

 

Here's a definition of restoration from a dictionary devoted to bookbinding and conservation terms: Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books : a dictionary of descriptive terminology by Matt. T. Roberts and Don Etherington. Published by the Library of Congress in 1982.

 

Restoration. The process of returning a book, document, or other archival material as nearly as possible to its original condition...Restoration, therefore, encompasses virtually the entire range of book work--mending ,repairing, rebinding, and reconstruction.

 

The primary reason for providing detailed treatment reports--on the part of the conservator--is to document any treatment that might impact the longevity of the item, such as using heat or adding chemicals, or exposing to light (for bleaching). Pressing by itself doesn't fall into that category, but pressing with humidification might.

 

I think any treatment, even something as simple as removing dust, should be disclosed just because it contributes to your knowledge of the history of the item.

 

Anyway, in my field any treatment is part of the restoration process , and pressing is treatment.

 

I did notice that the company you mention seems to be very careful about the use of chemicals, bleaching etc., so they seem to be aware of conservation principles.

 

-Michele

(Michele Brown, conservation supervisor Cornell University (Certificate in Restoration from the Camberwell School of Art and Crafts in London in 1977, member of the Guild of Book Workers, and the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC).)

 

Geez Dav, did you have to go and include facts and outside independent expert opinions into the equation!!!!! :makepoint: What happened to just allowing emotion and/or financial incentive influence the decisions. (:

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esquirecomics

esquirecomics

Posted
Posted
Remember....comics are unique and don't follow the same rules! :insane:

 

Jim

 

True, true. I keep forgetting comics are not made of paper but magical ingredients. doh!

 

hm

 

Wait a second!!!! :o

 

Jim, THEY ARE MADE OF PAPER!!!! :makepoint:

 

Just like books and historic documents. :gossip:

 

What can that mean? (shrug)

 

Perhaps: (1) that pressing is restoration by every professionally accepted definition, (2) that a distinction does exist between restoration and conservation and (3) that restoration should not be as stigmatized as is it today. (thumbs u

 

 

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