[Publib] Cleaning books

[Judith Turner]

Sharon --

One inexpensive and safe way to clean fore-edges (cut edges along the top, bottom and side of the text block) and pages of dirty books is to use an old-fashioned soft rubber eraser -- the pink- or wheat- (? or whatever that neutral color is) colored ones worked best as the bits of eraser that rub off on the paper can be brushed off.  

The process is called dry-cleaning and is far less expensive and less messy than wet-cleaning treatments.  Our hand bookbinder/ book restorer used to do this regularly.  The only caveats: 

1) make sure the paper isn't so brittle that erasing could tear the pages.

2) works best with paper that's not coated (matte finish papers as opposed to those glossy papers favored for works with lots of color illustrations.)  

3) If the fore-edges are finished with gilt or by a marbling process, or are deckled, 
(all popular in 19th and early 20th centuries), you may want to have a book or paper conservator provide you with options.  Some of the apparent dirt/ discoloration may be due to acid migration and inks bleeding through. 

Judy Turner
Whitefish Bay, WI

Sharon Albert <salbert at lindenpl.org> wrote:   On another note, does anyone have any suggestions for cleaning the top, bottom and sides of the pages if they’re very dirty?



       
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