Before Treatment After Treatment

Binding
This is a tightback, tight-joint (construction) with laced-on boards covered in full calf that was acid-stained with a tree design.  The leather has been abraded and there is some scarring on both boards as well as losses from the tail cap.  The gold-tooled spine labels are in fair condition, but show evidence of being disturbed during previous repairs.  Some of the gold has been lost, and there are cracks in the spine leather.  The bottom board has a very tenuous attachment, while the front board has been completely detached from the text-block. There is evidence of a previous board-reattachment repair using thin brown leather in the joint. 

Textblock
The sewing pattern is not visible, but it was sewn with linen thread over three (possibly five) recessed hemp cord supports.  The spine profile is smooth.  Three of the supports were laced into the boards.  All folios are of the same cream colored, medium-weight handmade laid paper, including the double folio endleaves.  The double-folio endleaves have been tipped on as well as sewn on, with the first leaf used as a stub under the paste-down.  The paper is still very flexible.  The textblock has a slight round with a very defined, moderate shoulder that was possibly hammer-backed.  There is a paper lining on the spine.  Endbands are sewn-on, with a cord core and a red and white thread covering.  The core of the tail endband has broken, but the head endband is intact.  The media is a black printer's ink with a visible type impression.  There is some foxing scattered throughout. The engraved plates have no interleaving, and most have left an orange-brown offset on the facing leaf.  There are multiple fold-out inserts throughout.

The primary objective of the treatment is to allow this book to be handled by researchers, without the handling causing any further damage. As this book is in overall good condition, except for the board-to-text attachment issues, it should be repaired with minimal disturbance to the binding and spine tooling. 

Before Treatment: Digital images in ambient light of recto, verso, opening and spine.  Details of image offset from engravings, tail of spine (showing missing leather from cap), both endbands and printing type.

1. Minimal treatment: tie the book with a soft cord to keep boards in place, and house in a protective enclosure.
2. Strengthen bottom board attachment with a thin, toned long-fiber tissue hinge on inside of board.  It is possible that the board may become fully detached during the application of the hinge.  In this event, a toned long-fiber tissue hinge will also be applied to the outer joint area.
3. Reattach front board using thin, toned long-fiber tissue at the inner hinge and outer joint.