This week, our new(ish) conservator Garrett has been sewing a book on Occult Philosophy (1651) in preparation for rebinding. The book features plenty of bizarre and spooky images, and is also a great example of 17th century printing practices. Stay tuned for to see progress on the rebinding! #conservation #bookconservation #msuspecialcollections #rarebooks (at MSU Libraries) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4VXmihp-lh/?igshid=erebthsopevs
At today's staff awards ceremony, Bexx Caswell, Linsey Allen, and Sue Depoorter were recognized for all of the work they have done to make boxes for Special Collections Materials. Almost 3,000 boxes were made in house this year, an increase of 400% over last year! Sue Depoorter also received a much deserved award recognizing her outstanding service in the lab. Thank you to our colleagues at the MSU Libraries for acknowledging us - we're still blushing! — view on Instagram http://ift.tt/2r9aG16
Miniature Monday!
This miniature edition of Carl Sandburg’s 1959 address to Congress, celebrating the 100 year anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration is only 6.6 centimeters high. A book this small can easily get lost on library shelves, so a special enclosure was made.
The book is housed inside a custom four flap wrapper, which sits inside a larger cover. The inside is padded out with corrugated board to keep the tiny book from moving around inside.
This little sweetie - one of only 2000 made - can now be stored safely on our library shelves!
Find the book here.
Oh, how I love “folk repairs”! Repairs done by former owners or users may not always be up to modern conservation standards, but they are great indicators of past use and show that someone once cared for or valued this book.
When the front and back covers of this book became loose, someone did a DIY repair job to reattach them. I will be leaving these repairs in place, because they make this copy unique.
- Bexx
Our Comic Art Collection is home to 250,000+ comic books, as well as a wide related object such as toys, games, t-shirts, candy, and other ephemera.
As standard practice, we remove and discard food from its packaging before incorporating it into the collection to avoid attracting pests. These items were overlooked and when the Archivist noticed this, she brought it to my attention.
I removed and discarded the candy - some of it 30 years old (the Howard the Duck head is from 1986). Most of the candy has held up surprisingly well, although no one in the lab could be convinced to try some.
You can find our more about this collection here.
The MSU Libraries’ Special Collections will be hosting an open house on Tuesday, September 20 from 5-7 that will showcase highlights from their collection of rare books. The event is free and open to all!
Find more info: http://bookings.lib.msu.edu/event/2739946
Have you always wanted to visit our Special Collections department but never had a reason? Now is your chance! Come see our books and meet our librarians!
One of the posters taped to this sandwich board sign had ripped and was hanging in a precarious way that needed to be addressed ASAP to prevent further damage.
The poster, printed on coated paper, is affixed to the sign backing, which is made of Styrofoam, with packing tape and stickers.
Coated paper and moisture don’t mix - so a wheat paste/tissue repair was out of the question. The packing tape and Styrofoam will melt when in contact with heat - so a heat set tissue repair was also off the table.
I decided to use some thin straight pins to pin the poster back into place. The pins went through the packing tape surrounding the poster rather than the poster itself. Although the tear in the poster was not fully repaired, the sign is now stable enough to be handled during cataloging.
- Bexx
Cathy Baker will be giving a FREE lecture at the MSU Libraries on April 22 at 6pm. Hope to see you there!
This poor vellum book was severely warped. Before humidification and flattening, it measured a hefty 113 mm thick - afterwards, a mere 67 mm.
That’s almost 2 inches!
Under Pressure
This box contains a vellum book. Over time, the book’s covers have warped, pushing the clamshell box open. (Vellum warps when it experiences changes in temperature and humidity - see here for a previous post about this).
I prefer to use a phase box for vellum books, since this is a quick and easy way to keep the book under pressure and prevent warping. However, a phase box doesn’t have the same aesthetic appeal as a cloth clamshell box. When a cloth clamshell is desired, you can create a pressure lid (see this excellent blog post from the Duke University Libraries about creating a box with a pressure lid).
Although aesthetically pleasing, a box with a pressure lid is somewhat time consuming to make. The book shown here is being used by a class this semester, and needs to be available immediately.
I decided to modify the existing box by adding straps with a Velcro closure to help keep it closed. I chose a linen/cotton blend bookcloth that is backed with paper. I used a double thickness of cloth to ensure that it wouldn’t be prone to tearing or stretching.
If the straps fail to hold, I will replace the box with one that has a pressure lid.
Check out the incredibly cool red and black faux bois cover on this book!
The spine is loose, and upon closer inspection, I found that old letter were used as the spine lining. It’s not uncommon to see pages from old books or advertisements used as a spine lining, but handwritten correspondence on a book from this era is not the norm.
Instead of repaired the book and covering up this interesting information, it will be placed into a custom made box.
- Bexx
This recipe book has a fun wood cover with brass hinges and rawhide leather thong binding. Unfortunately, the acidic wood cover has irreversibly stained the first and last pages, creating a mirror image of the wood grain. I’ve never seen anything quite like this, and find it fascinating!
Want to see this book in person? Find it here.
- Bexx
I don’t know why I find squished bugs in books so terribly amusing.
This one appears to be a mosquito. I doubt this one is carrying the Zika virus or anything else scary, but I think I’ll leave it alone just in case.
Perhaps someday we can use this guy to extract DNA and clone one of the book’s previous users, Jurassic park style?
- Bexx
A new exhibit, curated by Andrea C. Kepsel is now on view in the Main Library. I helped prepare and mount this exhibition - it has some amazing images and interesting artifacts!
~ Bexx
The History of Equine Anatomy in Veterinary Medicine Now through March 31, 2016Main Library, 1st floor Lobby
The horse is one of the most important domestic animals in human history, and their health and care is a foundation of veterinary medicine. Equine anatomy has long been a closely studied subject by veterinary practitioners, farmers, farriers, and even artists. This exhibit highlights some of the interesting and important items on equine anatomy that are available from MSU Libraries' Special Collections. The historical veterinary medical collection began long before the first classes leading to a doctor's degree in veterinary medicine were inaugurated in East Lansing in 1920. In 1957 Dr. J. Fred Smithcors, Professor of Anatomy in the College and veterinary historian, acquired the distinguished Beaudette Collection of some 250 rare books, incunabula, and manuscripts. Since this acquisition the collection has continued to grow and is now, at over 1500 items, is one of the largest and distinguished collections of books from the history of veterinary medicine. The 18th and 19th century veterinary instruments are on loan to the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine from the Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Association's “Turn of the Century Museum,” at the Galloway House and Village, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Permission was generously granted from Dr. Fred Born, DVM, for their inclusion in this exhibit.
For more information about the collection on display in CVM, please see http://bit.ly/CVMcollection.
The MSU Libraries has just released a video tutorial explaining what to expect during your first visit to Special Collections. The music kinda kills me, but the information and production quality is great! ~ Bexx
One of my personal pet peeves - plates that aren’t folded up properly.
A past user failed to fold the fold-out plates in this book in the correct manner, leaving their edges to hang out of the book, becoming dirty and worn.
I carefully surface cleaned and then humidified each plate, smoothed out any creases that shouldn’t be there, and then refolded them correctly. The refolded plates are now neatly tucked away, giving them protection from light, dust, and wear.
Yesterday I found a spider sac (empty!) on the bottom of a book that had been transferred to Special Collections from our remote storage facility (shown left).
I was pretty seriously grossed out.
The only thing worse would have been finding a spider sac with something inside!
- Bexx
