Fresh from the Conservator

Fresh from the Conservator

(Le) voyageur franc̃ois; ou, Le reconnoissance de l'ancien et du nouveau monde, Tome X. Joseph de Laporte, Paris, 1774.

Abbot de La Porte, (1714 -1779) was an 18th-century French Jesuit , literary critic, poet, and playwright. A prolific author, he published various books and compilations before embarking on his massive The French Traveler, or the Knowledge of the Old and the New World, in 1765. He oversaw the first 28 volumes of the series that eventually encompassed 48 volumes.

LaRC's copy had a severly damaged binding. Our library's conservation librarian,  Sabrena Johnson, performed a full disbind with paper repair (using Zen Shofu wheat paste and Tengujo thin paper). She resewed the text block onto cotton cord with size 25 French linen thread using a paper cover bind-in-board with marbled paper doublures that resemble the original contemporaneous binding.  The case paper was consolidated with Cellugel and Renaissance Wax for longevity. According to Sabrena, the new bind-in-board is extremely stable and will last indefinitely with proper care and handling.

This book repair took three full days of Sabrena's time and is an example of the training and sophistication conservation requires. We are fortunate to have someone of Sabrena's skill and talent in the library.