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Books
Manuscript Division
I Spy . . . Vous!
Peter Force Papers
[Journal of Cash of the Commission at the Court of France]
Bound text, 1776-1779
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The Journal of the Commission of France is the unique record of cash disbursem*nts, including payments for spying, of the American commissioners (ministers) at the Court of France. It was acquired by the Library as part of the Peter Force Papers that were purchased in 1867.
Treatment: The text had been bound in a stiff binding, that was causing text pages to break when turned. The text was disbound, washed, deacidified, and sized. The pages were resewn in a manner that allowed greater mechanical flexibility and bound in a style sympathetic of the period (full calf leather). It is kept in a custom-made clamshell box.
Frontier Journal
William Peters
[Journal]
Bound volume, 1793-1794
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This orderly book kept by Major William Peters at Fort Greenville (Northwest Territory) from November 11, 1793, to July 22, 1794, preceding General Anthony Wayne's momentous battle of Fallen Timbers provides a vivid description of the operations of the U.S. Army on the western frontier.
Treatment: The severely embrittled and heavily stained paper journal required extensive testing to determine an effective course of action. Solvent treatment was then applied to reverse damage to the volume caused by oil soaking, which had rendered the text illegible. The journal was then rebound.
The Woman's Bible
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
[The Woman's Bible]
Bound volume
1895
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Although most often identified as a suffragist, Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) participated in a variety of reform initiatives during her lifetime. Her views on religion and on the Church's role in limiting women's progress culminated in 1895 with the publication of The Woman's Bible, shown here in draft form. The Woman's Bible was an attempt to promote a radical liberating theology that stressed self-development and challenged the ideological basis for women's subordination.
Treatment: Conservators dry cleaned the manuscript. They mended tears using wheat starch paste and Japanese tissue. Each page was then encapsulated in polyester sheeting and in a post binding to allow access to both sides of each page. Finally, they placed the Bible in a sturdy clam shell box to provide safe housing for years to come.
Columbus Book of Privileges
Códice Diplomático Columbo-Americano
Seville: ca. 1502
Vellum
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On January 5, 1502, prior to his fourth and final voyage to America, Christopher Columbus gathered several judges and notaries in his home in Seville to authorize the authentic copies of his archival collection of original documents through which Isabel and Fernando had granted titles, revenues, powers, and privileges to him and his descendants. These 36 documents are popularly called Columbus's "Book of Privileges."
Four copies of the "Book" existed in 1502, three written on vellum and one on paper. The Library's copy is one of the three on vellum.
Treatment: In the late 19th century, the manuscript had been rebound in a structure that severely restricted the freedom required by the hygroscopic nature of vellum. As a result, the extremely co*ckled textblock was impossible to use safely and the ink was subject to abrasion.
After minimal surface cleaning, the volume was disbound and flattened. To reduce the creases and co*ckles, conservators repeatedly humidified and relaxed the folios before placing them on the suction table. They then resewed the manuscript in a a non-adhesive long stitch structure and covered it with a new limp vellum case. They rebound the volume in a manner both aesthetically compatible with early 16th century Spanish manuscripts and structurally appropriate for the nature of the vellum pages.
Law Library
Registrum Brevium
[Register of Letters of Edward I]
Manuscript on Vellum, 14th century
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This 14th-century manuscript is a register of the letters of King Edward I of England. The letters were copied in brown and black ink onto parchment leaves and bound together. The parchment was probably made from sheepskin, as evidenced by the pronounced grain pattern and the marked difference in coloring between the hair and flesh sides. The skins are not of high quality and are of varying thickness and color throughout.
Treatment: This parchment manuscript showed signs of wear from many centuries of use. Leaves were discolored and stained and there were losses and tears. Losses and tears were repaired with tinted, thinned parchment or fish skin membrane and adhered with gelatin.
The most recent rebinding, (a full leather binding), had caused severe co*ckling of the folios by constricting the spine with a thick, stiff adhesive and a tight-backed construction. The parchment folios were removed from the binding, the adhesive was removed from folds, and each folio was relaxed by humidifying and flattening. The textblock was sewn with linen thread onto cords and laced into wooden boards shaped to emulate a 14th-century style. Secured with pegs, the boards were covered with goatskin.
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Science, Technology and Business Division
Biological Warfare
Chemical Corps Research and Development Command
Biological Warfare Laboratories
[Japanese Medical Experiments During WWII: Reports of "A," "G," and "Q"]
Bound volumes, n.d.
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The reports are part of the information obtained by American investigators from members of the infamous Kwantung Army Water Supply and Purification Department (boeki Kyusui Bu), stationed in Manchuria and commanded by Lt. Gen. Shiro Ishii. Imperial Japan's Biological Warfare Unit conducted experiments (often using human guinea pigs) on how to defend against bacteriological attacks, and conversely, how to use biological agents against enemies. The reports, which have been used in several documentaries, were instrumental in 1995 efforts to get the Japanese government to admit that the Imperial Army had committed crimes against humanity. The reports were acquired from the Dugway, Utah, Proving Ground library, where they had been singled out for disposal.
Treatment: The three volumes, containing delicately colored medical drawings in addition to photographs taken through a microscope, were photocopied. The reproduced sheets were bound in four volumes. The original sheets were put into polyester sleeves to prevent further wear and tear, and placed into archival boxes.
Industrial Espionage
U.S. Department of Commerce
Office of Technical Services, Technical Industrial Intelligence Division
[Reports Resulting from the Investigation of German Technology 1945-1946, and Index of Personnel]
Bound volume
May 1, 1947
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The report lists the members of industrial intelligence staff sent by American industry to post-war Germany under the auspices of the Department of Commerce to investigate the state of development German industry had reached before and during the war. The resulting reports and the material collected was made available by the Department of Commerce's Publication Board to help American industry re-enter commercial markets after years of war production.
Treatment: The original document, which had ink bleeding through the pages, had become brittle. Surrogate copies were made for researchers to use and the original was retained.
German High-Speed Airplanes
Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee
[German High Speed Airplanes and Design Development]
CIOS Report XXXI-3, August 1945
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The report contains data on and scale sketches of 25 of Nazi Germany's outstanding high-speed airplanes. While some of them actually were in production or had passed through the prototype stage, the large majority were still in the design or research stage. Almost all of them were propelled by jet engines.
Treatment: Because of brittle and torn pages, the report was photocopied and the new copy was bound. However, many of the drawings were of white lines on a black background, rendering the copies less clear than the original, and in some cases, illegible. The original sheets were placed in polyester envelopes and the whole set was put into a custom-made archival box.
Prints & Photographs Division
Hokusai Hyaku Monogatari (Ghost Tales)
Katsushika Hokusai
no Uchi Gomai
[Hokusai Hyaku Monogatari
(5 of the Ghost Tales)]
Book, 1830
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Hyaku Monogatari (Ghost Tales), are bold portraits of bloody events and terrifying creatures. However, the artist rendered his dramatic subjects in meticulous detail, showing a careful, almost scientific observation of nature. Thus, Ghost Tales balances a bizarre and fantastic subject matter with a down-to-earth and realistic style. Collectors of Ukiyo-e have prized these works and scholars consider them among the best representatives of the genius of Hokusai.
Treatment: The album of 5 woodblock prints is constructed of silk-covered boards which protect an accordion fold structure. The prints are fully mounted onto gilded pages. The prints themselves are in excellent condition. However, the silk covers had deteriorated and become frayed around the edges, suffering some losses.
Conservators removed the drummed-on silk and lined it with Japanese handmade tissue and paste. They inlaid the losses with tinted silk. They then drummed the silk onto new, shaped book boards constructed of alkaline mat board. They created a cloth-covered box to house the album and original boards together.
African and Middle East Division
Saddle Koran
Koran
19thc.
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This type of Qur'an was designed to be used by horse or camel riders. This particular Qur'an dates from the 19th century. It was copied in Maghribi script in Morocco by Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Abd al-Barr ibn Mahmud ibn Hanbal. It consists of 371 separate leaves plus a front and back cover. The leaves were carefully boxed in four custom-fitted leather cases, each placed inside the other.
Treatment: A box was constructed to protect the volume in the leather cases and the long leather thongs.
Mukhtasar Muntaha
al-su-` wa'al'amal fi `ilmay al-usul wa-al-jadal
Islamic MSS, arabic script, either Turkish or Syrian
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This 16th century work on Islamic jurisprudence is part of the Munajjid Collection which comprises the most important and artistic Islamic manuscripts held by the Library of Congress. The author of the work is the well known jurisconsult Ibn Hajib. The manuscript was copied by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Latif al-Khalwati al-Muhibi.
Treatment: Conservators repaired the textblock and designed an innovative sewing structure that allows the manuscript to open fully without damaging the paper leaves.
The Book of Sermons by the Martyred would-be Messiah Shlomo Molcho
Marrano Shlomo Molcho
[Drashot]
Bound Volume
ca. 1529
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Derashot, (titled Sefer ha-Mefo`ar), is a collection of the sermons of the returned-to-Judaism, Christian-born Marrano Shlomo Molcho. It was published in Salonica in 1529. Molcho preached his sermons in Salonica, where he pronounced his faith in imminent messianic redemption. He may also have declared himself a messianic candidate to his disciples. After a brief meteoric career, the would-be Messiah was burned at the stake for heresy.
Treatment: The paper text block was severely damaged by insects and suffered many losses. Earlier pressure sensitive "mends" had caused significant distortion and discoloration of the paper. The tape and adhesive residue were removed using organic solvents. The damaged paper leaves were repaired using a leafcasting method filling in the losses with paper fibers. Conservators bound the text into a limp paper binding structure.
Asian Division
Tibetan Texts
Rockhill Collection
[Tibetan Manuscripts and Xylographic Books]
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The Rockhill Collection of Tibetan books represents the oldest and most valuable collection of Tibetan materials in the Library of Congress's collections. It is comprised of 65 books, eight of which are manuscripts and 57 of which are xylographs. This collection was donated to the Library of Congress by William Woodville Rockhill (1854-1914) who had collected them during his travels in Tibet and Mongolia between 1884-1901, prior to serving as U.S. Minister to China (1905-1909).
Treatment: Typical of Tibetan books, these books, no thicker than 1 cm., are made up of long, narrow, loose paper leaves. Keeping in mind the shelving issues specific to books of this format, conservators planned the housing for the whole collection. Shelving of the books is based on the numbers assigned to them by Mr. Rockhill. The boxes are stacked on top of each other with the short ends visible. To make an even, steady stack of boxes, all boxes were made of the same size and the inside of each box was fitted to the particular size of the book.
Chinese Pictographic Manuscripts
Naxi Manuscript Collection
[Ceremonial Books
written by Priests from SW China]
16th to 19th century
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Naxi Manuscripts were written in a pictographic system and bound into books by Naxi priests, the Dongba. The books were used as incantation prompts for shamanistic ceremonies. Many of the ceremonies deal with purifications, exorcisms, love-related ceremonies, prayers for longevity, aspirations for wisdom, prayers for a better reincarnation, divinations and guidance on the journey after one dies. The books show worn edges and discoloration from frequent use around smoke.
Treatment: Conservators constructed a special book cradle at a convenient reading height and angle to provide access to the manuscripts while safely supporting the long, narrow, side-sewn books. Conservators also created a housing of single tray cases and storage boxes made of chemically inert materials designed to protect each manuscript. Each tray case contains a recessed area in which the manuscript rests, along with an alkaline buffered tissue paper wrapper that prevents abrasion of drawing on the book covers and protects the worn edges of the volumes from further damage.
"Gamble's Characters"
William Gamble Collection
[Metal printing block, photos,
Chinese printed bible, map]
1860s
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William Gamble (1830-1886), was a printer of the American Presbyterian Mission Press who went to Ningpo in 1858-1862 and Shanghai in 1862-1869 to use his typographical inventions to improve Chinese movable type printing. Mr. Gamble conceived the idea of cutting characters on boxwood and making plates from these by electrotype. He backed these plates with type metal and so made matrices by the hundreds, instead of singly, as had been necessary with the older method. Characters produced by the new process, known in the Far East as "Gamble's Characters", were clearer and also retained more of the original calligraphic effect. It was possible, moreover, to reduce the face of the type, without loss of clarity, and this small type made feasible the printing of the whole Bible in Chinese within the compass of one volume. The collection comprises 277 Chinese items in 493 volumes and 120 items in English and other languages.
Treatment: The collection was housed in individual boxes for protection, reproducing when possible, the "Gamble character" titles on the box spines.
One Million Sutra
Hyakumanto Dharani
[One Million Sutra]
Scrolls, 770 AD
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The Hyakumanto Dharani are among the world's oldest extant samples of printing, dating from 770 A.D. They are small scrolls consisting of four dharani, passages from a Buddhist sutra used as prayers. The Empress Shotoku, grateful for the end of an eight-year civil war in Japan, ordered that the dharani be printed and placed in "one million" tiny wooden pagodas as memorials to the dead. The pagodas were distributed to 10 temples throughout Japan. There are three original prayers and pagoda in the Library's Japanese collection.
Treatment: Conservators carefully unrolled the paper scrolls and humidified and flattened them. The scrolls were housed between two pieces of plexiglass spaced with a frame of clear polypropylene. The scrolls and pagoda are stored in specially constructed, cloth-covered boxes.
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Mass Deacidification Program, Preservation Directorate
Mass Deacidification: Saving The Written Word
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Due to its role as the national library and the official library of the U.S. Congress, the Library of Congress has focused attention in recent years on a new preservation technology that can be successfully employed to save many at risk books from eventual loss. The process known as Mass Deacidification allows libraries and archives to chemically treat paper-based materials to neutralize acids that were introduced through manufacture or through chemical degradation and pollution. If untreated, the paper eventually becomes so brittle that the only available preservation option for a book or other paper object is reformatting, which is much more expensive than deacidification.
Treatment: Books are mounted on supporting racks inside vertical treatment cylinders, where they are exposed to a safe, non-damaging liquid chemical dispersion containing magnesium oxide particles. The chemistry to which the paper is exposed for only about 25 minutes combines with the moisture content already present in paper to produce magnesium hydroxide, which neutralizes acids and ensures longevity of the treated materials. Selection procedures have been carefully worked out to determine which books to deacidify. For example, only one copy of a given imprint of a particular book title will be selected for treatment. If there are two or more copies of a particular book, the copy that is normally treated is one that is in better physical condition, often having a serviceable library binding. An exception, illustrated on the left, is books that have valuable bindings. When there are two copies of a book and one of them is still bound in its original, vintage binding, that copy of the book will be deacidified and treated as the preservation copy because the binding has aesthetic or intrinsic value that is not present in an ordinary commercial or library binding.
Binding and Collections Care Division
Support by Boxing
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The box making machine provides custom-fitted protective enclosures for brittle books; books with accompanying materials, such as floppy or compact discs; as well as special collection materials such as photo albums or atlases. The measurements for each item are taken using a device attached to a laptop computer either on site or within the Collections Care Section. From the laptop computer these measurements are transferred to another computer that is attached to the box making machine. Corrugated board is fed through the machine, which cuts and crimps each box. The machine is capable of creating phased and clamshell boxes, and a book wrapper, as well as two piece boxes with an optional drop front.
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