Antique book restoration

"I repaired several books for Laura -- four volumes of a mid-18th century collection of English poetry edited by Samuel Johnson, and two volumes of an early 19th century French natural history encyclopedia. They weren’t in bad shape for books that old, just some detached or loose covers and damage to the leather. I reattached or strengthened the covers with Japanese kozo paper and wheat starch, and tried to arrest the leather deterioration with a cellulose ether. Those are both pretty quick processes, gentle to the books, completely reversible (important for books that have value), and not very visible. It was a fun project."  Simon Mauck 7/11/17

"We have such a variety of talents in the timebank.  It was great to discover Simon who used to work at the Harvard Rare Books Archive.  I have a few very old books from my grandparents, and I'm happy that they have gotten some expert attention."  Laura 7/11/17