CLEANING
A part of the duty of the mending department is to remove such dirt or stains as can readily be removed without injury to the books.
Pages
Various materials may be used for cleaning books which show soiled pages here and there, but which are in the main fairly clean. A red rubber or a sponge rubber is much better than an India rubber eraser. The latter should never be used unless the paper is excellent in quality. Bread crumbs rolled in a ball or powdered pumice stone put on with a dry cloth will often give good results. If the book is much soiled, or has mud stains, it may be advisable to use ivory soap and water with a few drops of ammonia, applied with a piece of cheesecloth well wrung out.
If the paper is of good quality it may be washed with Javelle water, a preparation used in French laundries. This may be made by the following recipe:
To one pound of chloride of lime add four and a half pints of water, and put in a jar with tight cover. In a separate vessel, dissolve 20 oz. of ordinary washing soda in four and a half pints of boiling water, and immediately pour it into the first mixture. When cold add enough water to make eleven pints in all. Strain through muslin, settle, and pour off the clear solution. After using it care must be taken to rinse the paper thoroughly with water, as it tends to rot paper.
In the cleaning of pages care should be taken not to erase any marks made by the cataloging or accession departments. Rubbing must be done slowly and the pages held flat to prevent tearing. Rub from the inside outward. All traces of pumice stone, rubber, etc., should be carefully removed. If water and soap have been used, it may be necessary to put a pressing tin under the leaf, placing blotting paper on each side.
Fox marks may be removed by immersing the leaves in a weak solution of chlorine water and then transferring to a hot bath of very weak hydrochloric acid.
To remove creases from leaves accidentally folded, place the leaves between moistened blotters enclosed between dry blotters and press. This can be repeated until the crease is entirely removed. Sometimes creases may be ironed out with a hot iron.
Ink stains can be removed by any one of the standard eradicators (oxalic acid followed by chloride of lime). Stains from pad ink used for dating stamps can be removed with benzine.
The edges of leaves on very soiled books may be sandpapered. In this case the book should be held very firm, if possible in a vise.
To Prevent Mildew or Mold
Occasionally books are accidentally soaked with water. In many a fire more damage is done by water than by fire. In such cases it may be a waste of time and money to reclaim ordinary books which can easily be replaced. It is a different matter when it comes to rare books and especially to manuscripts which cannot be replaced. Mr. J. I. Wyer, Jr., director of the New York State Library, in his annual report for 1911 describes as follows the method used in that library after the disastrous fire of that year.
The first step was to remove all covers. Each volume was then taken apart leaf by leaf, and each sheet was laid between print paper for drying. After twenty-four hours every leaf was again handled and placed between heavy blotting paper; after twenty-four hours here, each leaf was again removed to a second blotting paper. At all of these stages pressure was applied to facilitate the drying and keep the documents from wrinkling.... When each leaf had thus passed through these three drying processes, those belonging to the same volume were collected and carefully tied up in boxes or separate packages to wait until all the manuscripts were thus treated.... When all were dried, the manuscripts were arranged in volumes.... The rarest pieces will in time be mended, nearly all will be covered with crepeline, all will be mounted on fresh paper and carefully bound into new volumes.
Covers
Covers may be cleaned by the same materials as those used on pages, but the best method is to wash them with soap and water. For this reason the use of a washable cloth for covers, such as keratol, durabline, or fabrikoid, is an advantage. Miss Margaret Brown, in her pamphlet on mending, Library handbook No. 6, advises the use of a wash as follows: "Two parts good vinegar and one part water. Apply with a clean cloth and rub hard until dirt is removed, then place upright to dry. This should not be used on leather."
Grease spots may be removed from both leather and cloth by covering with a blotter and ironing with a hot iron. The same method will partially remove paint or varnish.
For a great variety of cleansing receipts see Coutts and Stephen's "Manual of library bookbinding," Chapter X.
Covers that have warped must be dampened and put under pressure.
Shellacking of covers has been advocated by some librarians, but it is doubtful if it pays. It may be used in the interests of cleanliness on books bound in light colored cloth and on books in towns where the atmosphere is very smoky. It is a process which takes some time since two coats of shellac must be applied, and it does not increase the wear of the cloth to any great extent. As a regular part of preparing the book for use it takes more time and material than it is worth.
Sometimes a book becomes wonderfully rejuvenated simply by having its cover and edges cleaned and a new pocket pasted in the back.