Books

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.

Chinese Pictographic Manuscripts
Naxi Manuscript Collection
[Ceremonial Books
written by Priests from SW China]
16th to 19th century

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.

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.

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.

"Gamble's Characters"
William Gamble Collection
[Metal printing block, photos,
Chinese printed bible, map]
1860s

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

Masterpiece of American Ornithology
John James Audubon
[Birds of America]
Drawings
1827-1838

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.

Les Elemens de Chymie
Jean Beguin
[Les Elemens de Chymie]
Bound Volumes
1624

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.

Life of St. Cyprian
Saint Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage
[Beatissimi Cecilii Cypriano Caaarthaginensiu..]
Bound volume
1512

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.

First Philippine Book
Rosenwald Collection
[Doctrina Christiana, en Lengua Espanola y Tagala]
Bound Volume
Manila
1593

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.

[Doctrina Christiana, en Lengua Espanola y Tagala]

Early Herbal
Dietrich Dorsten
[Botanicon, continente Herbarum]
Bound volume
1540

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.

Delft Printing
Rosenwald Collection
[Leven Ons Heren Jesu]
Bound volume
1479

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.

Utopia
Thomas More
[Utopia: Written in Latin by Thomas More...Translated into English]
Bound volumes
1685

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.

Anatomy of a Horse
Carlo Ruini
[Anatomia del Cavello
Infermita et suoi Rimedii
Opera Nuova]
Bound volume
1707

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.

Seneca
Aldine Press
[Scenecae{!]Tragoediae]
Bound volume
1517

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.

Rural Economy
Toner Collection
Arthur Young
[Rural Oeconomy, or Essays on the Practical Parts of Husbandry]
Bound volume
1776

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.

Miniature Madison
Charles Wilson Peale
James Madison miniature portrait
painting
1783

Mass Deacidification Program, Preservation Directorate

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.

Mass Deacidification: Saving The Written Word

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.

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

Binding and Collections Care 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.

Support by Boxing

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.

One Million Sutra
Hyakumanto Dharani
[One Million Sutra]
Scrolls, 770 AD