Books are sent to the bindery and repair department from the delivery department, as the head of the latter department may direct; and the head of the bindery department, or some one under her direction, is constantly looking over the shelves for books that need attention.
In the repair department, which attends to the repair of books and to the sending of those needing binding to the bindery, these directions are followed:
When a book looks dilapidated, note carefully its condition throughout. Consider these questions in regard to it: Is it worth repairing? Should it be covered? Should it be rebound? Should it be discarded? No general rules can be given by which to answer these queries. Each case must be decided by itself.
General cleaning. Look through book; turn out corners of leaves which have been turned in; mend torn leaves with transparent mending paper, or Japanese mending tissue; erase dirt and pencil marks.
Pencil marks. For removing soil and pencil marks, we have tried the Ruby, Cerise, and Ideal erasers, Art gum, and ivory soap and water. We like the Cerise, manufactured by Eberhard Faber, as having more grit than the Ruby and yet not injurious to the paper.
Torn leaves. Ordinary circulating books are best mended with narrow strips of Japanese tissue and paste. This is cheaper than commercial gummed paper and is preferable to it also, as the mucilage on the latter grows dark and brittle in a short time. Dennison’s adhesive tape costs about three cents for a roll of four yards, while one sheet of Japanese tissue, costing two and a quarter cents, cuts into 46 yards of strips the width of Dennison’s.
Torn leaves in choice books may thus be mended: Match the edges of the tear carefully and apply a narrow line of paste along them. Lay over this a piece of Japanese tissue larger than the tear, and rub it down very lightly. Repeat this on the other side of the leaf and put under moderate pressure. When dry, pull off all the tissue that will come away easily.
Cleaning publishers’ bindings. Often there are a few spots on books which make them unsightly. It is not advisable to wash a cloth cover, unless very dirty, as the finish is thereby removed, thus permitting the book to become soiled again almost with first handling. In case, however, a publisher’s cloth binding has become so soiled as to need washing, it can be very well cleaned and given a new finish by the process described below. If the directions are carefully followed books treated in this way will look almost new and will keep clean almost as well as they did when they came from the publishers’ hands:
Hold the book by the leaves in the left hand, with the covers outside of fingers and thumb; rub the cover gently with a sponge dipped in a mixture of vinegar and water, half of each. Continue to rub it carefully until it is quite clean; but do not press hard enough or rub persistently enough to take off any of the color. Rub gently, slowly and carefully, letting the vinegar and water do most of the work. When thoroughly clean, or as clean as the character of color and cloth will permit the book in hand to be made, stand it on end to dry. The drying will take at least a half hour; a good plan, consequently, is to clean as many books at one time as one can do in about forty-five minutes. The first one cleaned will then be ready for the next step when the whole lot has been finished.