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Books
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Tibetan Texts
Rockhill Collection
[Tibetan Manuscripts and Xylographic Books]
Asian Division
The Rockhill Collection of Tibetan books represents the
oldest and most valuable collection of Tibetan materials
in the Library of Congress's collections. It is comprised
of 65 books, eight of which are manuscripts and 57 of which
are xylographs. This collection was donated to the Library
of Congress by William Woodville Rockhill (1854-1914) who
had collected them during his travels in Tibet and Mongolia
between 1884 - 1901, prior to serving as U.S. Minister to
China (1905-1909).
Treatment: Typical of Tibetan books, these books, no thicker
than 1 cm., are made up of long, narrow, loose paper leaves.
Keeping in mind the shelving issues specific to books of
this format, conservators planned the housing for the whole
collection. Shelving of the books is based on the numbers
assigned to them by Mr. Rockhill. The boxes are stacked on
top of each other with the short ends visible. To make an
even, steady stack of boxes, all boxes were made of the same
size and the inside of each box was fitted to the particular
size of the book. |
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Chinese Pictographic Manuscripts
Naxi Manuscript Collection
[Ceremonial Books
written by Priests from SW China]
16th to 19th century
Asian Division
Naxi Manuscripts were written in a pictographic system and
bound into books by Naxi priests, the Dongba. The books were
used as incantation prompts for shamanistic ceremonies. Many
of the ceremonies deal with purifications, exorcisms, love-related
ceremonies, prayers for longevity, aspirations for wisdom,
prayers for a better reincarnation, divinations and guidance
on the journey afater one dies. The books show worn edges
and discoloration from frequent use around smoke.
Treatment: Conservators constructed a special book cradle
at a convenient reading height and angle to provide access
to the manuscripts while safely supporting the long, narrow,
side-sewn books. Conservators also created a housing of single
tray cases and storage boxes made of chemically inert materials
designed to protect each manuscript. Each tray case contains
a recessed area in which the manuscript rests, along with
an alkaline buffered tissue paper wrapper that prevents abrasion
of drawing on the book covers and protects the worn edges
of the volumes from further damage. |
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Goldsmith, Oliver, 1730?-1774:
Poems and plays.
Dublin, 1777.
Crompton, Richard, fl. 1573-1599:
L'authoritie et jurisdiction des courts de l majestie de
la roygne.
London, 1594.
Rare Books
and Special Collections Division
The Library of Congress is recreating Thomas Jefferson's
library to celebrate the Library's Bicentennial on April
24, 2000. These books were titles among the 6,500 books in
Thomas Jefferson's collection, which he sold to Congress
in 1815 following a fire in the U.S. Capitol set by British
troops during the War of 1812 using Library of Congress books
as tinder.
Irish poet, dramatist and essayist, Oliver Goldsmith was
one the major literary figures in mid to late eighteenth-century
Great Britain. At its best, his prose, drama, and poetry
are recognized as being some of the most individualistic
and distinguished ever produced in the English language.
This copy originally belonged to William Lowther (1757-1844),
the first Earl of Lonsdale, and is in the John Davis Batchelder
Collection, which was given to the Library of Congress in
1936. As is the case with this work, many of the books in
the Thomas Jefferson Collection were purchased because of
their connection with famous people. Crompton, Richard, fl.
1573-1599: L'authoritie et jurisdiction des courts de l majestie
de la roygne. London, 1594. This copy belonged to Thomas
Jefferson and came to the Library of Congress in 1815 at
the purchase of Jefferson's private library. Thomas Jefferson
trained as a lawyer, and his library contained a large number
of legal works, many of which, as exemplified by this work,
are significant and seminal works of jurisprudence. This
is Crompton's chief work and the first English law book devoted
exclusively to the Royal courts, L'authoritie is a guide
to all the courts then in existence, from the court functions
of Parliament to the smallest local and special courts. Additionally,
it contains a number of circuit reports of criminal cases
not printed elsewhere. It is also the first book printed
by Charles Yetsweirt, who had received a Royal commission
to be printer of law books.
Treatment: Both of these volumes had broken sewing and detached
covers. They were disbound, the pages were washed and bathed
in an alkaline solution. AFter drying and mending the pagesm
they were resewn and the volumes were rebound in their original
covers. |
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"Gamble's Characters"
William Gamble Collection
[Metal printing block, photos,
Chinese printed bible, map]
1860s
Asian Division
William Gamble (1830-1886), was a printer of the American
Presbyterian Mission Press who went to Ningpo in 1858-1862
and Shanghai in 1862-1869 to use his typographical inventions
to improve Chinese movable type printing. Mr. Gamble conceived
the idea of cutting characters on boxwood and making plates
from these by electrotype. He backed these plates with type
metal and so made matrices by the hundreds, instead of singly,
as had been necessary with the older method. Characters produced
by the new process, known in the Far East as "Gamble's Characters",
were clearer and also retained more of the original calligraphic
effect. It was possible, moreover, to reduce the face of
the type, without loss of clarity, and this small type made
feasible the printing of the whole Bible in Chinese within
the compass of one volume. The collection comprises 277 Chinese
items in 493 volumes and 120 items in English and other languages.
Treatment: The collection was housed in individual boxes
for protection, reproducing when possible, the "Gamble
character" titles on the box spines. |
Items from the Gamble Collection including printing type,
items printed using the type and photograph of William Gamble
"Gamble's Characters" printing type
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Masterpiece of American Ornithology
John James Audubon
[Birds of America]
Drawings
1827-1838
Rare Book
and Special Collections Division
This copy of the first edition of Audubon's "Masterpiece
of American Ornithology" was transferred from the War Department
to The Library of Congress early in the 20th century. It
is a disbound set, complete with 435 elephant folio engraved
plates, colored by hand, after original life-size watercolor
drawings by the author. The plates were engraved by William
H. Lizars (Edinburgh) and Robert Havell and Robert Havell,
Jr. (London) and were printed on hand-made Whatman Turkey
Mill Paper, with watermarks 1827-1838. From 1827 to 1830
the coloring of the plates was conducted by Robert Havell
and his son, and after the father's death, Audubon and his
son Victor supervised a team of colorists who highlighted
the aquatint plates.
Treatment: Because of the condition of the items and their
bindings, conservators disbound the volumes and folders so
that they could lie flat in oversize map drawers. They humidified
and flattened them to reduce creases and folding of the prints,
allowing for easier access and safer storage. |
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Les Elemens de Chymie
Jean Beguin
[Les Elemens de Chymie]
Bound Volumes
1624
Rare Book
and Special Collections Division
Béguin's clear and lucid chemical experiments and demonstrations
of chemical techniques won him a large audience throughout
France. He approached chemistry as the art of separating
and recombining natural mixed bodies to produce safe medicines
and herbal remedies. Béguin's book set the standard for French
chemical textbooks and was not superseded until 1675 when
Lémery's Cours de Chymie was published.
Treatment: Conservators disbound, drycleaned, washed and
deacidified this second French edition of the immensely popular
work. They mended pages using wheat starch paste and Japanese
paper. Bookbinders resewed the textblock onto alum-tawed
split thongs using linen thread. They used calfskin rebound
the volume in a limp vellum binding. |
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Life of St. Cyprian
Saint Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage
[Beatissimi Cecilii Cypriano Caaarthaginensiu..]
Bound volume
1512
Rare Book
and Special Collections Division
This is a beautifully printed French edition of the collected
works of St. Cyprian, a Father of the Church and martyr,
who was beheaded in 258 A. D. St. Cyprian is remembered most
for his writing favoring "readmission to the Christian community
to those who in times of persecution had renounced Christianity." This
is a fine copy printed by Berthold Rembolt in an open Roman
type face, with the title-page illustrated with a woodcut
printer's mark of two lions holding a shield, with Rembolt's "mark
of four" and his initials. This copy is very well bound in
full contemporary pigskin, decorated in blind, with remnants
of the original clasps intact. This edition appears to be
very rare in American libraries, with only The Library of
Congress and The Folger Shakespeare Library recording copies.
Bound with this title is Martyrilogium, a history of St.
Cyprian's life and death, printed in Gothic type and published
in 1508.
Treatment: The volume had been rebound early in the 20th
century with an incompatible binding. Bookbinders therefore
disbound the book, washed the pages to reduce staining and
deacidified them. They then mended the pages and resewed
the textblock using compatible thread and stitching. They
rebound the book with a leather binding more appropriate
to its age and heritage.
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First Philippine Book
Rosenwald Collection
[Doctrina Christiana, en Lengua Espanola y Tagala]
Bound Volume
Manila
1593
Rare Books
and Special Collections Division
This unique catechism, printed in Spanish and the Philippine
language of Tagalog, is the first book printed in the Philippines,
and is the only known complete copy in existence. This is
also the first book printed in a Philippine language, and
the first and only 16th century source showing an explicit
and distinctly Philippine abecedarium for that script. The
book is illustrated with a woodcut frontispiece of St. Dominic
and initial letters in both Spanish and Tagalog. In 1949
the Philippine government was allowed to reproduce the title-page
of the book in order to create a stamp which was used to
raise money for rebuilding local libraries in the Philippines.
Treatment: Conservators delaminated the text before washing
and deacidifying using chemicals baths. Methyl cellulose
was used to resize the pages. Each was encapsulated in polyester.
A book conservator created a bidning of limp vellum with
yapp fore edges designed to be sympathetic with the text.
Linen thread dyed brown was used for a simple embroidered
design on the outside spine. The completed catechism is housed
in a clamshell box.
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Early Herbal
Dietrich Dorsten
[Botanicon, continente Herbarum]
Bound volume
1540
Rare Books
and Special Collections Division
This first and only edition of this herbal was illustrated
with 320 woodcuts in the text, all of which are colored by
contemporary hand. The book is famous for its wood blocks,
which were reused by many later publishers of illustrated
herbals who were trying to avoid the enormous costs which
went into the creation of original woodcuts. This copy of
Dorsten's Botanicon is extremely well colored, demonstrating
the care and skill which the 16th century colorist brought
to the art of book making.
Treatment: The book was already in pieces and had been disbound.
Conservators drycleaned the pages. They guarded and mended
text pages using Japanese tissue paper and wheat starch paste.
They attached new endpapers of handmade paper to the textblock
and rebound it using double raised cords. They attached the
binding to boards and lined the spine with cloth. To cover
the binding,they used alum-tawed leather.
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Delft Printing
Rosenwald Collection
[Leven Ons Heren Jesu]
Bound volume
1479
Rare Book
and Special Collections Division
The Rosenwald copy of this very rare Delft printing of the
Life of Christ is originally from the collection of early
printed Dutch and Flemish books formed by the Dukes d'Arenberg,
which Lessing J. Rosenwald purchased en bloc in 1956. It
was printed by Jacques van der Meer & Mauricius Yemantszoen,
who established the first press in the city of Delft. This
work is printed in Gothic type and rubricated in red with
large and small initial letters and paragraph and sentence
marks. It is a very rare book; no other copy is to be found
in the United States, nor is there a copy in the British
or the Bodleian Library.
Treatment: Conservators drycleaned the book to remove surface
dirt and grime. They washed and deacidified the pages and
mended them where necessary, using Japanese tissue and wheat
starch paste. They sewed the folios together on three double
cords. They covered the binding in alum-tawed goatskin with
blind tooling and stamping on the spine.
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Utopia
Thomas More
[Utopia: Written in Latin by Thomas More...Translated into
English]
Bound volumes
1685
Rare Book
and Special Collections Division
More's Utopia has long been recognized as one of the most
important English books of the 16th century and today is
considered a blueprint for the "ideal" society. In More's
new world, man, nature and civil society exist as a harmonious
commonwealth rather than a competitive markeplace. This,
the second English translation of the work, is by Gilbert
Burnet, the noted 17th- century clergyman and historian.
It remained the standard translation until 1808 when Arthur
Cayley published his Memoirs of More in two volumes.
Treatment: Conservators removed, washed, and reguarded the
first and last five pages of the volume to provide support
for sewing. They reattached the page segments to the binding
and used new leather for the spine. They gold tooled the
spine, (replacing the title), in a pattern similar to the
original.
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Anatomy of a Horse
Carlo Ruini
[Anatomia del Cavello
Infermita et suoi Rimedii
Opera Nuova]
Bound volume
1707
Rare Books
and Special Collections Division
Carol Ruini is ranked among the founders of the field of
comparative anatomy and a pioneer in the field of the circulation
of the blood. Originally published in 1598, the then new
edition was completely revised and expanded. It is well illustrated
with woodcuts showing the anatomy of the horse, its skeletal
and muscular systems, the circulatory system, and dissections
of all the organs of the body. It is printed on thin paper
with excellent impressions of the woodcuts.
Treatment: Bookbinders disbound the volume. They drycleaned
all the pages before washing and deacidifying them. They
used wheat starch paste and Japanese paper to repair pages
They resewed the textblock onto linen cords using linen thread
and bound it in goat skin with gold tooling for the title.
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Seneca
Aldine Press
[Scenecae{!]Tragoediae]
Bound volume
1517
Rare Books
and Special Collections Division
This First Aldine Press edition of the Tragedies of Seneca,
edited by Hieronymus Avantius, was considered the authoritative
text for nearly a century. While comparing previous printed
texts to a Greek manuscript in the Biblioteca Marciani in
Venice, Avantius made nearly 3,000 corrections, most of which
passed the test of time. This copy is complete with the woodcut
title-page of the Aldine Press printer's mark of the anchor
and dolphin.
Treatment: The volume had been rebound early in the 20th
century with an incompatible binding. Therefore, bookbinders
disbound the book, washed the pages washed, to reduce staining
and deacidified. They mended the pages and resewed the textblock
using compatible thread and stitching. They rebound the book
with a leather binding more appropriate to its age and heritage.
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Rural Economy
Toner Collection
Arthur Young
[Rural Oeconomy, or Essays on the Practical Parts of Husbandry]
Bound volume
1776
Rare Books
and Special Collections Division
One of the most important 18th century works on practical
husbandry, it was reprinted numerous times in both England
and America well into the 19th century. This copy is from
the Toner Collection of Early American Imprints. Arthur Young
was called "The Rural Socrates" by his contemporaries for
his wisdom and guidance in the affairs of agriculture and
husbandry.
Treatment: Conservators disbound the item, washed, and deacidified
it.They dried the pages, mended any tears or breaks in the
folios, and guarded them with Japanese tissue paper and wheat
starch paste. They sewed the folios on to three raised cords
and added a new headband. They attached new handmade paper
endsheets and bound the book in full red goatskin. They applied
gold tooling to label the book and added blind stamping for
decoration consistant with the time period of the volume.
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Miniature Madison
Charles Wilson Peale
James Madison miniature portrait
painting
1783
Rare Books
and Special Collections Division
While a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1783, James
Madison was engaged to marry Kitty Flloyd. The young couple
exchanged miniatures painted by Charles Wilson Peale. Alas,
the gifts were returned to their original owners when Miss
Floyd decided to end the engagement. The reverse of the Madison
miniature is notweorthy for containing a locket of his hair.
The Rare Book and Special Collections Division is also home
for the Kitty Floyd miniature.
Treatment: Because of the fragile nature of this item, it
was placed into a custom made box. The box was specially
designed to cushion the item while providing easy access
for viewing and photographic reproduction.
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Mass Deacidification: Saving The Written Word
Mass
Deacidification Program, Preservation Directorate
Due to its role as the national library and the official library
of the U.S. Congress, the Library of Congress has focused attention
in recent years on a new preservation technology that can be
successfully employed to save many at risk books from eventual
loss. The process known as Mass Deacidification allows libraries
and archives to chemically treat paper-based materials to neutralize
acids that were introduced through manufacture or through chemical
degradation and pollution. If untreated, the paper eventually
becomes so brittle that the only available preservation option
for a book or other paper object is reformatting, which is
much more expensive than deacidification.
Treatment: Books are mounted on supporting racks inside
vertical treatment cylinders, where they are exposed to a
safe, non-damaging liquid chemical dispersion containing
magnesium oxide particles. The chemistry to which the paper
is exposed for only about 25 minutes combines with the moisture
content already present in paper to produce magnesium hydroxide,
which neutralizes acids and ensures longevity of the treated
materials. Selection procedures have been carefully worked
out to determine which books to deacidify. For example, only
one copy of a given imprint of a particular book title will
be selected for treatment. If there are two or more copies
of a particular book, the copy that is normally treated is
one that is in better physical condition, often having a
serviceable library binding. An exception, illustrated on
the left, is books that have valuable bindings. When there
are two copies of a book and one of them is still bound in
its original, vintage binding, that copy of the book will
be deacidified and treated as the preservation copy because
the binding has aesthetic or intrinsic value that is not
present in an ordinary commercial or library binding. |
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Unknown Indulgence
William Caxton
Six titles bound in one volume
Mirror of the World [1481]
The Dictes or Sayings of the Philosophers
[about 1479]
Cicero. De Senectute [English],
De Amicitia [English]
Bonaccursius de Montemagno.
Declamation of Noblesse [1481]
Cordyale. The Four Last Things [1479]
Rosenwald Collection
Rare Books
and Special Collections Division
William Caxton, who introduced printing art into England
late in 1475, published as his first book the Dictes of Sayings
of the Philosophers. The colophon is dated 1477. The establishment
of a printing press in England was surely a momentous occasion
in the history of the world, and was to have an enduring
influence on all English-speaking people. The present volume
is one of the finest associated with the name of England's
first printer that has survived. It comprises six distinct
works in four distinct editions preserved together in a single
volume. The first book in the volume is a first edition of
the earliest illustrated book printed in England. The thirty-four
woodcuts were made by an unpractised hand, probably someone
in Caxton's workshop. The second title, the Dictes of the
Philosophers, is the second edition of the first book printed
in England. The two translations from Cicero were made by
Caxton from the Franch version prepared by Laurence de Premierfait
in 1405 and were intended to accompany the Declamation of
Noblesse although they were frequently found separately.
The final treatise, translated from the French by Anthony,
Earl of Rivers, relates to the four last things: Death, Judgement,
Hell, and Heaven - popular medieval topics. John Reynes,
stationer, bookbinder, and bookseller, who operated in London
from about 1523 to 1544, executed and signed the remarkably
fine binding. The binding of oaken boards is covered with
leather stamped with birds,, animals and bees.
Treatment: A hither-to-unknown indulgence printed by Caxton
had been cut into strips and used to reinforce various sections.
Upon discovery, the book, which has been recently repaired
outside the Library, was disbound and the fragments removed
to be displayed separately. |
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Support by Boxing
Binding
and Collections Care Division
The box making machine provides custom-fitted protective enclosures
for brittle books; books with accompanying materials, such
as floppy or compact discs; as well as special collecetion
materials such as photo albums or atlases. The measurements
for each item aare taken using a device attached to a laptop
computer either on site or within the Collections Care Section.
From the laptop computer these measurements are transferred
to another computer that is attached to the box making machine.
Corrugated board is fed through the machine, which cuts and
crimps each box. The machine is capable of creating phased
and clamshell boxes, and a book wrapper, as well as two piece
boxes with an optional drop front. |
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One Million Sutra
Hyakumanto Dharani
[One Million Sutra]
Scrolls, 770 AD
Asian Division
The Hyakumanto Dharani are among the world's oldest extant
samples of printing, dating from 770 A.D. They are small scrolls
consisting of four dharani, passages from a Buddhist sutra
used as prayers. The Empress Shotoku, grateful for the end
of an eight-year civil war in Japan, ordered that the dharani
be printed and placed in "one million" tiny wooden pagodas
as memorials to the dead. The pagodas were distributed to 10
temples throughout Japan. There are three original prayers
and pagoda in the Library's Japanese collection.
Treatment: Conservators carefully unrolled the paper scrolls
and humidified and flattened them. The scrolls were housed
between two pieces of plexiglass spaced with a frame of clear
polypropylene. The scrolls and pagoda are stored in specially
constructed, cloth-covered boxes. |
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HOME - GLOSSARY - CREDITS
Sections: Newspapers & Periodicals - Manuscripts - Photographs
Prints, Posters, & Drawings - Books - Maps - Music - Sound & Film
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