Poems by Walt Whitman

Report Summary

Report Available Upon Request

Owner: University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Lab #: 19_0271

Title: Poems

Author: Walt Whitman

Date: 1868

Dimensions: 17.8 x 12 x 3.9 cm

Consulted:

Penn Library Conservation Department

Report Date: 04.26.2022

Treatment Images

Before Treatment: Front Cover

Before Treatment: Inside Front Cover

Before Treatment: Broken Sewing

After Treatment: Front Cover

After Treatment: Inside Front Cover

After Treatment: Repaired Sewing

Before Treatment: Front Cover

Before Treatment: Inside Front Cover

Before Treatment: Broken Sewing

After Treatment: Front Cover

Condition and Description

This book was set aside for treatment after coming off of display in an exhibition about Walt Whitman. The sewing was weak and broken in many areas, the inner hinges were tearing, and the caps and corners exhibited wear and tear. The paper was in stable condition. While the hinges were weak, the case and cover boards were stable.

Treatment Summary

Text block Repair

I removed the old, broken two-on on cords sewing and re-sewed the text block two-on using single ply hemp cord and size 30 thread. I lined the spine with 2 layers of 19g hanji paper and wheat starch paste (WSP), then one layer of airplane cotton adhered with a WSP and polyvinyl acetate mix.

PC: Tessa Gadomski

Re-casing

To re-attach the case to the text block I split the case boards about half an inch. I then used a micro spatula to insert the airplane cotton into the split, and adhered it together with WSP.

Case Repair

I removed the old, worn spine lining from the case. Using Golden Fluid Acrylics I toned some kizukishi paper dark blue for the cap and corner repair and hinging paper brown for the inner hinge repair. The repairs were adhered using WSP.

Treatment Summary