The art and science of conserving books from home
Peter Mitchelson is a Paper and Book Conservator at Grimwade Conservation Services working for the University of Melbourne. Here he shares his experience of working from home and transforming his small flat into a wood workshop.
A few years ago, I’d done some repair work on a large volume of prints that was almost 80 cm long. It was heavy, fragile and unwieldy to handle on my own.
I chatted to my colleague Jordi Casasayas who restores picture frames and is a skilled woodworker. Together we designed and built an adjustable wooden cradle that allowed me to position the volume safely at a convenient angle to complete the repairs without risking damage to the book.
Since then, the cradle has been incredibly handy when working on other books. Still, it was built quickly to suit the original oversize volume, and I always wanted to make a smaller version that was lighter and better suited to smaller books.
Shortly before the lockdown, I’d also visited a rare book library to inspect another oversize volume. The librarian handled the book with great care and used cushions to safely support the book, but I realised it would have been much easier if one of our book cradles was at hand.
I now had another good reason to build some cradles as they would benefit not just my own work but also my client’s. The extra time at home during the lockdown period provided the perfect opportunity to produce some cradles and refine the design.
Just before the lab shut down Jordi and I built a prototype to scale out of card with modifications to the original design, making it simpler, stronger and more versatile. We calculated the amount of materials needed to construct three different size cradles and purchased everything from the hardware store. On the last day, we divided the tasks between us and loaded Jordi’s car with our supplies. Jordi cut the pieces at home and dropped them at my door a week later for me to complete the sanding, varnishing and construction.
My small flat was then transformed into a workshop with lots of additional sawing and drilling occurring on my balcony.
I spent hours sanding each piece by hand in the car park to avoid disturbing my neighbours, and gradually the cradles began to emerge.
Each cradle was given two coats of water-based varnish and a final sand for a nice smooth finish. One day, when the monotony of being locked down was getting to me, I painted a red pinstripe along with the middle laminate of the plywood. The colouring was fun and lifted my spirits and applying the paint to just one layer of the laminate satisfied the anal-retentive side of my nature (a trait residing in most conservators).
In the lab, many of the books treated have degraded leather – typically due to acids breaking down the fibres. Termed ‘red rot’, this leather is crumbly and often leaves residues on whatever surface it comes in contact with. Our cradles, therefore, required a soft, washable surface and our textile conservator Victoria Thomas kindly offered to sew some cushions and a washable cover for each cradle.
This was the most enjoyable aspect of the project, collaborating with other team members, staying connected with colleagues and then sharing in the rewarding feeling of producing something useful for our lab and its clients.
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Peter Mitchelson is Paper and Book Conservator at the University of Melbourne.
He completed an Honours in Art History and a Masters in Cultural Materials Conservation from The University of Melbourne. Since graduating in 2011 he has worked at Artlab in Adelaide, the National Library in Canberra and has been with Grimwade Conservation Services at The University of Melbourne for the last seven years. He first specialised in Paper Conservation and is undertaking continual training as a Book Conservator.
