The restoration and repair of books has mostly been done by those who have little specialist knowledge or sympathy for the techniques and styles involved and have 'just got on with it'. Nowadays they are more likely to be a Conservator, with a degree in paper restoration and an understanding of how books were made in past times.
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The Book Restorer makes worn or damaged books usable again and uses new materials to make good;
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a Conservator deals directly with the book as it is and stops any further deterioration by mending and repairing it;
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a Preserver of books deals with the situation around the book, i.e., pollution, damp, insect infestation, etc.
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The ethics and principles of paper repair maintain that no process should be allowed to diminish, falsify or obscure the original; no process should be allowed to further damage or weaken the paper, text or illustration. Missing material should be replaced with new material of the same kind and the nature and extent of the repair should be evident, i.e., no cover-ups that falsify the object. One should never do anything that cannot be undone without further damage to the paper, and the repairs should be minimal.
Our work at the Brecon Military Museum Library will give us a hill to climb, but, fortunately, the work is graded so that we can start on the not-so-difficult books and gain experience as we get to the more complex books. We are a small but enthusiastic team who gather every Tuesday. We hope and expect to follow those principles with intelligence, common sense and imagination, following the advice of various experts to help us.
We are interested in the past, especially in the craft of earlier periods, and feel that what we are doing has importance for the conservation of the library and its records.
Julia Jacobus