3
>> Jacob Nadal: Hello, everyone.
Thank you for joining us
for this, the final webinar
in our Preservation Week Series.
Today, I think we're very on
brand, although I say over
and over that Preservation
at the Library
of Congress takes its
cue from two words
in the mission statement:
universal and enduring.
Universal referring to
the incredible scope
of the collections here.
We're a library.
And books are our brand.
And so it's a real
pleasure to wrap
up this week asking our staff
in the Conservation Division
to showcase some of the
treatment work they've done
on interesting materials
in our collections.
We're covering a wide
scope, even on the subject
of books today, with the Yongle
Dadian Chinese Encyclopedia,
that is a real treasure of
the Library's collections.
And to bring us home a buffet
of American book design,
looking at some of the riches
of publishers' bindings
that you can find here in
the Library's collection.
This should be a treat
for anyone interested
in conservation techniques,
and a delight for anyone
who simply loves the book
as a material object.
And being someone who lives
in both of those camps,
I'm going to get
myself out of the way,
so that I can enjoy it
right along with you.
Thank you.
>> Alan Haley: Good
morning, everybody.
My name is Alan Haley.
My colleague, Dan Paterson,
and I will be talking
about Yongle today.
The Yongle Dadian,
commonly referred
to as the Yongle
Encyclopedia, was completed
in 1408 upon the orders
of the Yongle emperor,
who wished to compile all facts
known about history, customs
and other aspects of life
in China up to that time.
The entirety of the encyclopedia
was written as a manuscript,
despite the already advanced
state of Chinese print culture
by the beginning of
the 15th century.
The information in the
Dadian was compiled
from about 8,000 other sources,
by nearly 3,000 scholars.
The finished work recorded
most aspects of Chinese life,
learning and culture,
and encompassed 11,095
folio-sized volumes,
comprised of over
22,000 chapters,
also referred to as juan.
Thus, the completed Yongle
was the world's largest single
source of information,
until the creation
of digital resources
in the 20th century.
In the mid-16th century,
a second copy
of the Yongle Dadian was
made, also in manuscript form.
Soon after completion
of the second copy,
the original 11,095 volumes
of the 1408 copy disappeared.
It is not clear what
caused the loss.
But, because no reference can
be found in historical records
of the Qing Dynasty, which
lasted from 1644 until 1911,
no records of anyone ever
having seen any trace
of the original work.
Its loss must have been
sudden and nearly total.
Some historians assume
the likely cause was a
catastrophic fire.
While others have suggested that
the entire collection was buried
with the Yongle emperor upon his
death to enhance the afterlife.
Despite the lack of Qing-era
records, by some indications,
there were roughly 800
volumes remaining prior
to the end of the 19th century.
Which were likely suffering
deterioration associated
with neglect.
In 1894, a Qing dynasty official
mentioned the volumes he saw
in their home at the
time, the Hanlin Library
in the Imperial City of Beijing,
quote, "all covered by more
than an inch of dust, and
scattered in such disorder
that one was unable to
locate whatever it was
that one wanted to find."
In 1900, an organization
of Chinese citizens began
a paramilitary campaign
against western and
Japanese nationals, military
and Chinese Christians,
as a means of ending
western influence.
The campaign, which was
known as the Boxer Rebellion,
lasted several months.
In its later stages, westerners
and Chinese Christians retreated
to the foreign legation
in Beijing,
where diplomatic
outposts were located.
The British legation
in particular was closely
situated near the Hanlin
Library, where the remnants of
the Yongle Dadian were stored.
During the siege, the
library caught fire.
And a significant portion
of the remaining Yongle
volumes were destroyed.
In the chaos of the
conflagration and its aftermath,
surviving volumes were
removed from the ruins.
Many were taken by
western sinologists
who were keenly aware of their
importance and significance.
Today, only about 420
fascicles, or volumes,
of the Yongle Encyclopedia
remain worldwide.
A mere four percent
of the original work.
Of these 420, just over 200 are
in the National Library of China
in Beijing; 60 are in the
National Library of Taiwan;
50 are scattered among
institutions in the U.K.
And the Library of Congress
holds 41, a significant portion
of the known examples.
Prior to any scanning project
at the Library of Congress,
each item that has been selected
for digitization is
reviewed by conservators.
The review is meant to
identify condition problems
that require treatment
prior to scanning;
ensuring that material can be
handled safely by the scan team;
and providing the highest
quality image possible.
Given the size and
significance of the Library
of Congress Yongle Collection,
an expanded review
process was undertaken
to provide a detailed
assessment of each volume.
Forms used at the
Library of Congress
for book treatment
documentation were tailored
to capture unique
characteristics
of the Yongle volumes.
Information regarding both
condition and description
of the binding and text block
of each book was
recorded thoroughly.
Keywords referring to unique
Yongle binding features were
added to the form as
prompts to examine
and record characteristics
for each.
Along with a written assessment,
the volumes were photographed
in the Conservation studio to
provide additional documentation
of the pre-scanning condition.
When all assessments and
pre-scan imaging were complete,
they were merged into
a single document.
This finalized report is stored
on a shared computer drive
that can be accessed by
any conservator working
on the Yongle Project, giving
the conservator the opportunity
to pre-scan, to view the
pre-scanned condition
of the object, and have a
more informed understanding
of those issues prior
to beginning treatment.
Digitizing collections at
the Library of Congress began
in earnest in the early 1990s,
initially through
smaller pilot projects
to help develop workflow
efficiency.
Since then, project proposals
from the Library's Custodial
Division feature a wide range
in numbers of items
for projects,
from a few dozen to
several thousand.
Approval of digitization
projects depends upon many
factors, including a
conservator's assessment
to first determine if
handling the items is safe
for image capture.
Conservation treatment
parameters following
collections' assessments
before digitization depend upon
specific needs.
Can handling safety be improved
through interventive
conservation treatment
of the item?
Is treatment required to
reveal obscured information?
Is the item of such importance
that the visual improvement,
resulting from conservation
treatment,
be given a high priority,
as is done for collections
treated for exhibits?
Will available scanning
equipment serve both safely
and adequately for the items?
Do conservators need to provide
handling assistance, instruction
or custom book supports
for camera operators?
We can answer "yes" to
all of these questions
in the context of
the Yongle Dadian.
What this endeavor represents
to Conservation Division is
uncommon for our scan projects.
An opportunity to treat a
significant number of bindings,
of exceedingly high value,
with similar condition issues,
requiring experienced
hands and sensitivity
to aesthetically harmonic
results that exemplify respect
for the original appearance.
The treatment challenges
of the volumes necessitate
a practical approach
to the Yongle Project,
allowing its completion
within an acceptable advance
with finite resources.
>> Dan Paterson:
Thank you, Alan.
At this point in the project,
Alan and I were ready
to begin treatment.
But before I discuss what
the treatment entailed,
it might be useful to talk
a little bit about some
of the goals and methods of
book conservation at the Library
of Congress, since I think we
have a fairly wide audience
today, in terms of people with
both conservation experience,
but then maybe people
a little less familiar.
So one of the first things
that we are concerned
with is the entirety of the
object, the whole object.
The text on the page is
obviously of great importance.
But we are equally interested
in preserving other aspects
of the book, including the
covers, the covering material,
and components that might
be hidden in the binding,
as well as any ephemera
associated with the object.
This goal is true of
every book we treat,
not just these very rare
and unique Yongle volumes.
So preserve the whole item.
We also want to make sure
that we employ chemically
stable materials.
We want to make sure that
any intervention that we do
to the book will not
cause harm over time.
And for that reason, we want to
make sure that the adhesives,
the paper, any cloth that we
use is of the highest quality,
and won't cause problems
further down the road.
We want to utilize materials and
techniques that are reversible.
In the event that a treatment
would need to be undone
at some point in the
future, we want to know
that it can be safely
taken off the book,
without causing further harm.
And, finally, when
we repair a book,
we want to save all
the original materials.
And if possible, we like to --
we want to reuse them
and reincorporate
them into the book.
If that is not possible,
we make sure
that these materials are saved
and stored in a container,
along with the original object.
Because conservation treatment
is very time intensive,
we needed a team of four
conservators for this project.
Alan and I began the treatment
work in December of 2018.
And not long after,
Senior Conservator
Tamara Ohanyan began work
on the project.
And later, Conservator
Minah Song joined the team.
Each conservator was responsible
for the complete treatment
of individual volumes.
And all treatment decisions
for a particular book were
left to the conservator.
However, since the
condition issues identified
in the survey were fairly
consistent, we met regularly
to discuss treatment
decisions and techniques.
It's not easy to get
a sense of the scale
of the books from our images.
But each one is very
large, about 52 centimeters
or about 21 inches tall.
And about 13 inches or
31 centimeters wide.
And it's really I
think difficult
to overstate how impressive
and really magnificent
it must have been
when all 11,000+ were
originally housed together
in the Imperial Library.
All of them were bound
in identical materials,
an example of which is shown
in the image on the left.
They were all covered in
this yellow-gold silk,
and had labels beautifully
written in calligraphy.
The books were not
sewn, as was the method
of assembling text blocks
in the west at this time,
but were attached with
very strong paper twists,
sometimes referred to as paper
nails, that were threaded
through pairs of holes
that were punched
in the pages of the book.
Traditional Chinese
books were made
by stacking folded leaves
on top of each other.
And when the stack was complete,
pairs of holes were punched
through the spine edge.
And these paper twists
were threaded
through to bind the
pages together.
And then the covers were
added in a separate step.
Unfortunately, most of the
Yongle volumes at the Library
of Congress had significant
condition issues.
Just a few of the sort
of extreme examples
which are shown here.
From their history, as described
by Alan, it's not surprising
that many of them had serious
problems, including dried mud,
soot and water damage.
Most of which we assume
are related to the fire
at the Hanlin Library and
its immediate aftermath.
A number of volumes from
the collection had covers
with small- to medium-sized
losses, where portions
of the cover board were missing.
Typically, these losses looked
like they were the
result of water damage.
When a Yongle volume became
wet, the paper board used
for the covers became
weak and fibrous,
and was eventually lost.
And the image on the right is a
close-up of that kind of damage.
In order to repair it, the first
step was to lift up the silk
on the outside and the paper,
referred to as the paste down.
Let's see if I can
move my cursor over it.
This paper here, referred to as
the paste down, to lift that up
and away from the board.
Once that step was done, we
were able to see the inside
of the cover board, and
begin to repair the damage.
In this case, small pieces of
new blotter material were torn
into scraps, coated
with wheat starch paste,
and adhered to the
rough edge of the board,
where the original
material was lost.
The pasted water was
dried under pressure,
and the process repeated
several times,
until the proper thickness and
board density were achieved.
Finally, the excess
blotter was cut off,
so the repaired edge was
a seamless transition
from the original.
The last step was to return the
silk to the original position.
And the images here show
how it looks after treatment
and the repair is complete.
You might also notice the slip
of paper that was repaired.
This is a record of how the book
was used in the Qing dynasty
in here, just referring
to this slip of paper.
The slip had become detached,
and was damaged, but repaired
as part of the conservation
work.
It was returned to its
original position on the book,
based on the very small
paper fiber showing
where it had once been glued
down to the inside of the cover.
And I wanted to point this
out as an example of some
of the ephemeral material,
which we consider to be
of equal importance to
the rest of the book.
The most common condition issue
across all volumes were
detached cover boards.
One hundred percent
of the collection had
at least one board
no longer attached.
And all but two of them
had both boards separated
from the book block,
including the book shown here.
And as you can see in the image,
the cover is completely
removed from the book.
And what you're looking at
here is just a little bit
of the original silk
that was attached
to the spine, but is now off.
To repair the connection,
we performed a traditional
western-style repair
called rebacking.
We began by mechanically
separating the silk off the
cover board, about three to four
centimeters from the edge here,
with a tool, usually a
specially designed knife just
for this purpose.
If necessary, the silk was
also lifted from the spine,
though it was often either
already detached or missing.
Handmade paper, as
shown in the image,
was toned with acrylic paints,
and attached to one board folded
around the spine, and
attached the other board,
and allowed to dry.
Once dry, both covers were
again attached to the book.
The treatment of the silk was
often the most difficult step
for many of the volumes.
We knew it would
be very reactive,
based on significant
staining and severe tide lines
from previous interventions
that had not turned out well.
Silk is a sensitive
material to begin with.
And the silk from the covers
is several hundred years old.
We knew that too much
of the wrong adhesive
would cause more stains.
Because this step
was so sensitive,
we found that individual
preference and experience
and familiarity were
all invaluable.
In the image, you can see
the before and after pictures
of the spine, and how the
repaired volume has the silk
back in place.
And the book is in
one piece once again.
Turning now to the text pages,
the most common condition issues
to the text pages could
be traced back again
to the water incursion.
An example are the
fairly large losses,
like the one pictured here
from Volume 9, but also present
in many other volumes.
We evaluated several
treatment possibilities.
And, ultimately, decided
to fill the losses
with Korean handmade paper
on the outside of each leaf.
And the finished version
of the treatment is
shown here on the right.
The decision to do the repairs
in this way was based, in part,
on our reluctance to disbind
the volumes, if at all possible.
Traditionally, these
mends would have been done
after disbinding the book,
and performed on the inside
of the page after the
book was taken apart.
However, we knew that we could
get a very sympathetic repair
by carefully filling the
losses from the outside.
Two volumes from the
collection have, or will,
require disbanding, one
of which is shown here.
In this case, there
was extensive damage
to the paper nails,
causing multiple leaves
to partially separate
from the text block.
As a result, the loosened
leaves had extensive damage.
In order to be repaired, the
paper nails had to be undone,
as you can see in the
image on the left,
and the damaged leaves removed.
Once removed, all mends were
done on the inside of the fold,
including repairs to the
fore-edge and the tacket holes.
And, hopefully, you can see in
this image here, this is a piece
of repair tissue put
down on the inside
of the page to repair this tear.
This particular treatment
is still in process.
But the paper nails will
be replaced with new twists
to complete the attachment
of the repaired text block.
The original nails will be saved
and stored with the object,
in keeping with our
best practices
of preserving all the original
components of the book.
One other fascicle that required
further consideration prior
to treatment is Yongle 34.
This volume has a
puncture on the backboard
that extends into
the text block.
Which you can see in the
highlighted area here,
and in the text block here.
It's impossible to say
how this damage occurred.
But it's reasonable
to hypothesize
that it is also related
to the destruction
of the Hanlin Library.
Some contemporary accounts
of the fighting suggest
that volumes were
actually used by westerners
to barricade windows
during the siege.
If that anecdote is
accurate, it's not hard
to imagine a circumstance
when a sharp object
or projectile may have
caused the damage.
As a result, treatment specific
to the holes was the subject
of further review
and consideration.
Because our examination
concluded
that the punctures do not
further compromise the item's
stability, we chose not
to fill these losses,
but only stabilize the
silk fibers around them.
We mended adjacent leaves
that were also affected
by the punctures.
And I'm now going to
turn it back over to Alan
to discuss the scanning
portion of the project.
>> Alan Haley: Once a
Yongle volume was treated,
the Digital Scan
Center was contacted
to schedule the scanning
session.
The volumes were delivered
one at a time for safety
and for security reasons.
The binding structure
of the Yongle required
adapting physical supports
for existing scan equipment.
The binding structure, with the
two different points of flexing,
results in a gap between
the pages and the boards,
requiring supports to avoid
the slouch of the text block.
Which can be damaging.
Foam wedges and layers
of matte board were used
to fill this dimensional
difference
to keep the two elements
in parallel.
Our image capture protocol
consists of color calibration
of the equipment at the
beginning of each session.
Which includes imaging the
color chart, and a DICE target
to measure color
accuracy and resolution.
The Phase One iXG
100-megapixel camera back,
with its proprietary
Capture One software,
is mounted above the TTI
large format copy stand,
where the volume
rests at 120 degrees.
And it is illuminated
by the Videssence
fluorescent light source.
Images are shot at 500 PPI
at a one-to-one resolution
of their original size in raw
format, examined for quality,
and used to produce
uncompressed TIFF files.
Which is the Library of Congress
standard for master files.
The Library's CTS, or
Content Transfer System,
then receives these files,
and places them on
a path to clients.
Compressed TIFF derivative
files are used by web services
for online presentation
purposes.
Once the image capture
was complete,
the volume was returned to the
Conservation Division vault.
Before the Yongle volumes
are returned to their home
in the Asian Division, however,
a handcrafted clamshell box
is created for each fascicle,
with the appropriate
labeling, as seen here.
Made with linen and silk cloth,
and using archival-quality
boards and adhesives,
these beautiful boxes will make
an excellent permanent housing
for the Yongle Collection,
enclosures which are fitting
for an imperial encyclopedia
collection.
The Library of Congress
takes a leadership role
in the development
of the Federal Agencies Digital
Guidelines Initiative, or FADGI,
you can access their documents
at the website listed here,
which sets standards for all
federal agency digitization
activity, making
technical recommendations
about conversion,
imaging and metadata.
As technologies develop, the
FADGI document will evolve.
Currently, of the four
levels of FADGI quality,
the Library scans
only at the top two.
Which provide us with what we
consider preservation copies.
At present, we have
treated 33 and scanned 31
of the 41 Yongle volumes.
We anticipate completion
of the conservation portion
of the project in 2021.
Treatments have been performed
with fidelity toward the
original structural components,
in the belief that intervention
should be discrete, but valuable
to the Yongle Dadian's
current digitization program
and long-term survival.
It is our hope that digital
access will make them a resource
for a worldwide audience
of scholars,
and the general public.
We'd like to express
our special thanks
to Senior Book Conservator
Tamara Ohanyan
for successful treatment
of so many volumes,
and to Paper Conservator
Minah Song
for her treatments,
images and research.
The Digital Scan Center
with Domenic Sergi
and his team deserves our
praise for their excellent work,
and accommodation to
conservation scheduling needs.
Thanks also go to Conservation
Division staff members Shelly
Smith, Elmer Eusman, our chief,
John Bertonaschi
and Jennifer Evers.
And thanks, finally, to Qi
Qiu from the Asian Division
at the Library of Congress
for her unwavering encouragement
throughout the project.
>>Leslie Long: Good
morning, everybody.
I'm Leslie.
And I thought it would be fun
just to look briefly today
at the work of three artists:
John Feely, Sarah Wyman Whitman
and Margaret Armstrong.
The three of them are an
elegant guide to the progress
of the American cloth-covered
case-bound book
through its most glorious years.
Next. And next again.
In order of their
appearance on the scene,
let's begin with John Feely .
And here's his cover stamp
for "Gulliver's Travels"
by Jonathan Swift
published in 1856.
Feely's inspiration
for this cover was one
of the book's illustrations
by Jean-Jacques [inaudible].
Feely often used an illustration
from the book as the model
for the cover stamp
he would cut.
His efforts led to handsome
covers for at least 269 books,
for 52 publishers, from the
1840s through the 1870s.
He signed 109 of his
stamps by engraving "FEELY"
in all capital letters,
or just "JF" on the spine.
And [inaudible] over here,
you can see down at the bottom
in the middle under the
little Lilliputians feet,
you can see the "FEELY."
Feely hand cut each cover stamp
from brass, using steel gravers.
And each stamp was
one of a kind.
Next. Let's see what
was happening
in book publishing during the
years just before John Feely
started working.
The cloth-covered case binding
was developed in the 1820s
by William Pickering, an
English book publisher.
Book binders had practiced a
long tradition of gold tooling
for leather covers, but cloth
didn't take the gold well.
Paper and leather
spine labels were added
to the cloth covers at first.
The cloth was embossed with
designs to make it prettier.
Then in 1832, Archibald
Leighton,
an English book binder, figured
out how to size book cloth
so that it could
be gold stamped.
Next. The case binding
allowed book production
to be more mechanized.
The cover and the text
could be made separately.
Which made cover
decoration easier.
And here's the arming press
they used to stamp designs
into cloth-cased covers.
But the delicate 23 carat gold
leaf still had to be placed
by hand before gold stamping.
Many of the stamps were
baskets of fruit or flowers,
used for a number of covers,
no matter what the
subject of the book inside.
The stamps gradually
began to be more specific
to each book's content.
And John Feely was part of that.
Next, please?
Sue Allen suggests
that Feely's model
for the stamp was a silhouette
by August Eduard from 1842.
The Feely monogram is behind
the front foot of the young man.
And there's a squiggly line that
suggests the floor that is part
of so many of Feely's scenes.
We don't know a lot about Feely.
Sue Allen, the 19th
century book design scholar,
wrote in "Decorated Cloth in
America" that Feely was born
in Ireland around 1819.
And in 1842, a 15-volume set
of Shakespeare's works
was published in London
with the Feely monogram
on the cover stamps.
By 1846, Feely was listed as
a book cover stamp engraver
in New York City directories.
Feely's first signed American
cover stamp was probably
"The Boy's Own Book of Sports,
Birds and Animals"
published in 1848.
One of Feely's last known
signed stamps is this one,
[inaudible] "Practical
Instruction
in Animal Magnetism"
published in 1879,
the book after Feely's --
the year after Feely's death.
Next.
And this here you can see the
Feely just behind the young
man's front foot.
Okay, next.
Here's Feely's cover
for "Dress and Care
of the Feet" by John Lord Peck.
There's the Feely between
the two front feet.
You can also see Feely's
squiggly line for the floor
for the feet to stand on.
Usually, a stamp is
centered on the cover.
But in this case, the feet
are where the feet would be
if the whole body were there.
Feely used a ribbon
banner, popular at the time
for book covers, to proclaim
the subject of the text.
The image is not like any
illustration from the text.
So it could have been
Feely's own idea.
And possibly only he would
know why there's a third foot.
Next. This is "Rose and Her
Pets" by Elizabeth Dawes.
Which has the "JF" monogram
near the doggy's back paws.
And the squiggly floor,
as usual with Feely.
And next. And here's
the text illustration
that must have been
Feely's inspiration
for the stamp design.
And next. This is "Draining
for Profit" by George Waring,
and the text illustration that
must have inspired the design.
And sometimes the back
cover was blind stamped
with the same design, as
you can see on the right.
Next. Here is "Nutcracker
and Mouse King" by
E. T. A. Hoffmann.
That's the same Hoffmann
as in "Tales of Hoffmann"
if you're an opera fan,
and "The Nutcracker"
if you're a ballet fan.
And this is the frontispiece
on the left
that must have inspired
the cover.
Notice what Feely left
out, and how he simplified
and focused the scene
for the cover stamp.
Next. This is Russell Trall's
illustrated "Family Gymnasium"
with Feely's remarkable
spine design for that book.
He cut quite a few
spine stamps, too.
And some of them are signed.
Next. And here's
the little review.
On the right is Feely's
cover for "Hints
to Horse Keepers"
by Henry Herbert.
Something to remember
about American designers is
that they designed pretty covers
for all the books published here
in the U.S. Their designs made
all the authors look good,
no matter how unknown they were,
or how bad their
writing might be.
That was the democratic nature
of American book design.
In Europe, the pretty
designs were reserved
for the best-known
authors and poets.
Okay, next.
Now, we'll move along
to Sarah Wyman Whitman,
who began her career
in book design in 1880,
two years after John
Feely's death.
And next. And let's catch
up on what was happening
in book publishing.
By the 1860s, stamping in
black ink was possible,
followed by other
colors in the 1870s.
And by the 1880s, there
was a chaotic and cluttered
"everything goes,"
and "everything thrown
in" look to book covers.
The public was beginning
to embrace the principles
of the Arts and Crafts Movement
that celebrated beautiful
well-crafted everyday objects.
So publishers began
to hire artists
who could make intelligent use
of all the ink and cloth choices
that were now available.
Sarah Wyman Whitman was
the first of these artists
to make a career in book design.
She drew her designs and
lettering with a quill pen.
And she worked mostly for
Houghton Mifflin designing
about 250 covers for them.
The cover on the right is her
cover for "A Native of Winby,
and Other Tales" by
Sarah Orne Jewett.
Next. Now, Whitman
was born in Baltimore,
but she lived her
adult life in Boston.
Her husband, Henry, was a
successful wool merchant
who didn't interfere
with her several careers.
Sarah was at the heart of Boston
society, and a founding member
of the Boston Arts
and Crafts Society.
She was a painter first, and
then a stained glass designer.
After apprenticing herself
to John La Farge, a painter
and stained glass artist,
she opened her own studio
and factory called the Lily
Glass Wworks, and employed
at least four artisans
to complete her windows.
Which can still be seen
in New England churches
and colleges, including Harvard.
And this is one of her Harvard
windows on the left in memory
of alumni killed in the
War of the Rebellion,
which we call the Civil War.
Next. The Poet Susan
Coolidge was one
of Whitman's many friends
who were published authors.
And Coolidge asked
Whitman to do the design
for her book of verses.
This is Whitman's
first book design --
book cover design published
by Roberts Brothers in 1880.
From this first cover, you can
see that her style is restrained
and ornamental, not a realistic
picture of someone's feet,
or a guy raking, for example,
like our friend Feely.
She used colors sparingly.
And, often, she just used gold.
Her inspiration for this
cover was this cover designed
by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
for "Atlanta in Calydon"
by Algernon Swinburne
published in London in 1865.
Whitman and Rossetti were
both inspired by Japanese art,
very popular, especially
after Commodore Perry's
visit to Japan in 1853.
These covers use a Japanese
design element called a mon,
a family crest or a symbol
of an organization in Japan.
There are hundreds
of mon designs.
Next. Here are two more
of Whitman's designs
with the Japanese mon
as their inspiration.
Next. Seven of Whitman's
covers have her monogram,
a flaming heart with
an "SW" inside.
An earlier cover has an
"SW" inside a cockle shell,
and another just a cockle
shell, earlier experiments
for her with a monogram.
The rest of her designs
are unsigned.
Here's her cover for "The Marble
Faun" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
with the flaming heart monogram
on the back cover
in the middle there.
There are four roman anemones
for the four main characters,
four young friends in Rome.
Each flower is a
little bit different.
They're gold stamped
on white linen cloth.
Whitman was one of
the first designers
to continue her design
right across the spine
and onto the back cover.
Next.
She had her own lettering
styles, a rustic
and inscriptional form.
You can see on "A Roman Singer"
that her rustic a is
flat with a line on top.
The e is curved like an epsilon.
The g and s are just
continuous curved lines.
And the a and r are high
waisted, they're smaller
on the top and longer
on the bottom.
See how she runs her
lettering right into the design
and gets away with it?
Now, that's another
Roman anemone
for another Roman character.
Her inscriptional lettering
is more straight up and down.
See how the e on "The Son of
the Wolf" has a straight edge,
and the middle line is longer
than the two on the ends?
She mixed them up fairly often.
Sometimes her u's look like v's.
Sometimes her u's look like u's.
So she didn't strictly
follow one or the other.
Next.
Sarah's designs were
influenced by art nouveau,
that long elegant flowing look
with curving lines inspired
by organic forms, most
popular between 1890 and 1910.
Next. She often used
flowers with little hearts
for roots in her designs.
Sarah Orne Jewett was another
author friend of Whitman's.
And they decided together that
Whitman would use mayflowers
on Jewett's covers, in
honor of the mayflowers
on the teacher's
desk at the beginning
of Jewett's story,
"A Native of Winby."
Next. Whitman's designs
sometimes included wreaths.
"Betty Leicester's Christmas, on
the left, is a book for girls.
And that's why the color
palette is more pastel.
And I wanted to show
you the mayflower
on the back cover, too.
"The Life of Nancy" is also
a Sarah Orne Jewett book.
So that's a wreath
of mayflowers also.
And next. Whitman liked this
three-piece book design,
one cloth for the spine
and another for the sides.
And she chose the cloth herself.
In letters to George
Mifflin of Houghton Mifflin,
she argued her preferences
for one cloth over another,
and asked for more cloth
samples to choose from.
"Betty Leicester," here
on the left, had a sequel,
which we just saw with
a little pastel wreath,
called "Betty Leicester's
Christmas."
The first line of "Betty
Leicester's Christmas" reads,
"There was once a storybook girl
named Betty Leicester who lived
in a small square book
bound in scarlet and white."
So [inaudible] obviously
liked this cover.
Next. There's sometimes
a suggestion
of medieval book
furniture, clasps,
hinges or corners in
Whitman's designs.
The impressive word for this
kind of thing is skeuomorphic.
If you'll bring up
the [inaudible].
The representation of a design
element from another time
or material, used for a
purely decorative purpose.
Next. Here's a little review
of Whitman's accomplishments.
I didn't mention it before, but
she was a financial benefactor
to many institutions,
including Radcliffe College,
Howard University,
Tuskegee Institute
and the Boston Museum
of Fine Arts.
On the right, is her design
for "Egypt" by Martin Brimmer,
with the papyrus running right
through the y in the title.
And here the covering
material is vellum, not cloth.
Next. And here's a little review
of Whitman's book design style.
And on the right, her flowers
with little heart roots all
lined up on the cover for
"An Island Garden"
by Celia Thaxter.
Next. Last, but not least,
we have Margaret Armstrong,
whose first cover was
published in 1890,
a decade after Whitman's
first cover.
This is one of my favorite
Margaret Armstrong book covers,
"Companionable Books"
by Henry van Dyke.
At the center is a little
open book surrounded
by flowers representing the
authors celebrated in the book.
There's the "MA" that is her
monogram right in the middle
of Stevenson's blue bells at
the top, front and center.
After 1895, Armstrong
signed most
of her designs with the "MA".
Next.
You can see it here on her cover
for "The Day of the Dog" sort
of in the middle at the bottom
there, sort of toward the right,
and also one of Armstrong's
many spine designs.
Next. She designed title pages,
text page borders
and end papers, too.
Here are her cover and
title page for "Li'l Gal"
by Paul Laurence "Maud"
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
It goes, "Come to
the garden, Maud.
I'm here at the gate alone."
And there's the whole
garden on the end sheet.
Next. Here Armstrong's
title page cover
and text page border designs
for Washington Irving's
"Bracebridge Hall."
She also signed her page border
designs every single page.
And she sometimes
worked with her sister,
Helen, on the page borders.
And Helen signed her
designs, too, with an "HA".
Remember that these
were everyday books
for everyday customers.
A special boxed holiday
edition might sell for 250.
But 50 cents to a $1.50 seems
to have been an average price.
Armstrong designed around
312 published covers.
She worked for 22 publishers,
but more for Scribner
than any other.
She designed 143
covers for them.
Next. The ad for the children's
story "Prince Tip-Top,"
one of Armstrong's early
designs, reads, "A fairy tale,
illustrated by Helen and
Margaret Armstrong, $1.00."
The illustrations all conceived
in the spirit of the text,
and daintily executed.
This is from the commercial
advertiser New York.
Armstrong used a lot of ribbons
and bows in her early designs,
and not much expensive gold,
because she wasn't
established yet as a designer.
Next. But publishers began
using Margaret and Helen's names
in their advertisements, because
the public was familiar enough
with their work that it
helped sell the books.
And this was true
of Whitman, too.
Whitman was probably the first
designer to be mentioned in ads.
The ad for "The Rosary" reads
"decorations and cover design
by Margaret Armstrong."
It's $1.35 for the
popular edition,
and $2.50 for the
holiday edition.
The holiday edition
sometimes had leather covers,
and sometimes just slip cases.
Next. Armstrong loved flowers.
And many of her cover
designs include them.
And her depictions
tend to be accurate.
Next. Some of her designs look
like stained glass windows.
Not surprising, since she
was the daughter and sister
of stained glass artists.
Her father worked with Tiffany
before running his own stained
glass firm.
And her sister, Helen,
worked with her father,
and then became a stained
glass artist in her own right.
Next. When Armstrong
used gold on a cover,
she sometimes contrasted matte
and glossy gold finishes
in the same design.
Next.
Her designs often have
a frame of gold dots
and dashes surrounding them,
that you can see
on these covers.
Next. She had her own
lettering styles, too.
Her most obvious letter was
her r, with the long descender,
that you can see in the
lettering in these designs.
See all the r's in
"prisoner" there?
Next. Armstrong assigned a cloth
cover and an ink color palette
to some authors that
she designed more
than one cover for.
Henry David Thoreau
got green book cloth,
and red and gold decorations.
Next. She gave novelist
Myrtle Reed purple book cloth,
in honor of her purple prose
probably, and pink ink.
And next.
For the 12 designs she did
for books by Henry van Dyke,
she used dark blue book cloth.
And here are six of them.
Next. By 1910, the pictorial
dust jacket had mostly replaced
the stamped cloth covers.
Dust jackets were not new,
but their popularity
with the public was.
They cost the publisher less
to decorate than book covers.
And with the added
blow of our involvement
in World War I beginning
in 1917,
the golden age of
book design ended.
At first, the dust covers copied
the stamped book cover design,
like this one for
companionable books.
Next. Armstrong made a new
life for herself as an author.
This is the first book
she researched and wrote.
She did the cover design
and the illustrations, too,
for her Guide to Western Wild
Flowers published by Putnam
in 1915, a labor of love and one
of the first comprehensive
guides to wild flowers.
She did the illustrations
herself.
Next. Five hundred
black and white
and 48 color illustrations.
And this is one of her color
illustrations for the guide.
Next. She went on to
write three biographies
and three mystery novels.
But they would all
have plain covers
and pictorial dust
jackets by other artists.
Here's one of her mystery
novels with its dust jacket.
Next. Here's a little review
of Armstrong's accomplishments,
and her cover for "When Malindy
Sings" by Paul Laurence Dunbar.
And next.
And her book design style,
just a little review.
And her cover for
"Pippa Passes,"
which has a white cloth
onlay of flowers at the top,
because white stamping
wasn't working
yet when Armstrong
designed this cover.
And next. Okay, here's a quiz.
Whose design is this
on the right?
Just grade your own paper.
You're right.
This is John Feely's cover for
"Shooting, Boating and Fishing"
by Thomas Robinson
Warren published in 1871.
And next. And whose
cover is this?
Notice how the lettering
just runs right
across the design there.
You're right.
This is Sarah Wyman Whitman's
design for "The Martyrs' Idyl"
by Louise Imogen Guiney
published in 1899.
And next. And whose cover
is this on the right?
That's right.
This is Margaret
Armstrong's design for "How
to Know the Ferns" by Frances
Theodora Parsons published
in 1899.
Next. I want to give
special thanks to my friend
and colleague, Jackie Colburn,
who helped me find books
for this show in the Library's
collections during this
crazy time.
And thanks, too,
to Amanda Zimmerman
who helped me just this morning.
I really appreciated it.
And next. Thank you
all for listening.
>> Amelia Parks: All right.
Thank you, Leslie
and Alan and Dan.
Those were really
great presentations.
And I know we've had
some questions coming in.
So first let me scroll
up through the chat,
because I know some
of them were in there.
We're going to start
with the presentation
on the Yongle Dadi -- Dadian.
Uh-oh, I'm not even
going to try.
I don't think I have that right.
Okay. So one of the
first questions
that we got is from Jay.
And he's asking,
"Is there a plan
to return the stolen
documents back from China?"
But maybe before you can
answer that directly,
do you know about the
acquisition history
of these encyclopedias?
>> Alan Haley: Most of them came
to the Library in
the '20s and '30s.
There's very scarce history.
One of the surnames
of a donor was Reed.
And I believe there are
eight fascicles associated
with his donation.
And it is said that the
Reed family was involved
in missionary work in China.
Which would make sense that
they came through them.
But I don't know.
Dan, do you have
more information
about the provenance?
>> Dan Paterson: No.
I think just to reiterate
what you said,
most of them were acquired I
think like in the early 1920s,
and have been here
since that time.
So, yeah. And beyond that,
I don't think we have
much information.
>> Amelia Parks: And, I mean,
this is a fascinating topic
for not just these, but many
acquisitions and museums
and libraries [inaudible] --
>> Jacob Nadal: Yeah,
Amelia, if I can jump in?
>> Amelia Parks: Of course.
>> Jacob Nadal: This is actually
probably a great topic for us
to get together for
next Preservation Week,
and talk about what's
going on in U.S. government
and at the Library of Congress,
in the area of repatriation,
managing, trafficking
and looting.
There's an interagency that was
set up just a few years ago,
the Cultural Heritage
Coordinating Committee.
And this is one of the issues
we look at really closely is how
to handle repatriation
requests, how to ensure
that the government's operating
with good provenance
behind its acquisitions.
And I appreciate the question.
And I've actually made a note
to myself that I should talk
to some of our colleagues there,
and see if we can give a
presentation on this next year.
>> Amelia Parks: I think
that would be really great.
But, I mean, also for
more specific information
about acquisition statuses
and that sort of thing,
you can always go to the
Ask a Librarian link.
Which I put at the
end of the chat, too.
And, you know, each department
has their own reference staff.
And we're always more than
happy to help you out.
Okay. We have some
more questions.
You touched on when those
came to the Library.
And Jeannie wanted to
know if there was evidence
of insect damage, and if
there was analysis done
that might show treatment
against pests.
>> Dan Paterson: So that's a
really interesting question.
There is virtually
no insect damage.
One of the images does show
fairly significant mold damage.
And that's one of the volumes
that we still have to treat.
As far as treatment
to prevent pests,
there is a surface treatment
to the paper that we can see
in certain light, and that we've
looked at under the microscope.
It looks like it was done after
the manuscript was written.
Whether or not that was done
in order to deter insects,
we still haven't figured out.
And we are interested in
doing further analysis
on that surface preparation
if we can.
>> Amelia Parks: All right.
How do you record the repairs
that are made to items?
And what level of
detail do you give?
>> Dan Paterson: That's also
a really interesting question,
really good question.
So, you know, as Alan mentioned,
everything receives both written
and photographic documentation.
The photographic
documentation is done before
and after at a minimum.
And sometimes things are done
-- some of those shots were done
from during treatment images.
And, usually, we go into quite
specific detail about the types
of materials that were used.
We always record the specific
type of paper that was used,
the specific adhesive that
was used, the strength
of the adhesive, you know,
the acrylics that were used
if something had to be toned.
All that information is
part of the permanent record
of what was done to the object.
>> Alan Haley: Now, our
reports are a combination
of checking boxes, but
plus a narrative version
of how the treatment proceeds.
>> Amelia Parks: Okay.
Just jumping in quickly,
I have a question asking
if I can show the last slide.
I actually can't
show the last slide,
and also view chat
and questions.
But we will be making the
recording of this presentation,
as well as the PDFs, available.
It just takes about a month
for it to be processed.
But you will get an
email notification.
So all of that information
can be found later on.
Or you can go through Ask
a Librarian, and we can get
that information to you sooner.
So let's do a couple more
questions about the Yongle.
And one of them is, "Was
the silk fabric supplied
from another source
to repair the binding,
or replace missing silk?"
>> Alan Haley: We didn't use
new silk in our treatment.
I think we use the
word "discrete"
in describing how we
approach these items.
And I think that's a good word.
We take a very minimalist
approach with items
of such high value,
and that are so --
that have delicate
features to begin with.
A new silk being
incredibly strong,
it wouldn't make a good match
for treating these volumes.
We instead opted to use
Asian papers that were toned
to the same color as the silk.
And those Asian papers
would have been part
of the original binding
anyway underneath the silk.
So we thought that that
was a good compromise.
>> Amelia Parks: When you save
something like the paper nails,
how do you include
that with the item,
so it doesn't get lost while
being handled in a reading room?
Great question.
>> Dan Paterson: Yeah,
that is a good question.
So as Alan showed, each volume
will eventually have the
customized clamshell
box made for it.
And, typically, everything would
be stored in the clamshell box.
And if there is a need for
an additional compartment
within the box to store
binding components,
then that's where they would be.
Usually, there's an extra space
or cavity built into the box
to store things like that.
>> Amelia Parks: And
what do you do with items
that can't be restored?
>> Dan Paterson: In
terms of being reused,
I think the nails would
be a good example of that.
They would just be permanently
stored with the object,
so that they are
with the object,
researchers can consult
them to look at them.
But they would not be reused
as part of the treatment.
>> Amelia Parks: Okay.
I'm going to have one more
question for the two of you.
And then we'll move on,
so we can answer some
of the questions
about book covers.
So Olivia would like to
know if there are any plans
to make the conservation
treatment reports available
to the public.
>> Dan Paterson: So at this
point, there aren't plans
to make the treatment reports
available to the public.
That's, typically,
something that we --
I don't know that we've done
a lot of that here before.
But, certainly, you know,
I think in the past,
if researchers have
requested reports, you know,
we've done our best to provide
them with a copy of those.
You know, I think we're hoping
to, through presentations
like this, get some information
out there about what we have,
you know, done for the books.
And this is maybe kind of a
first step in that direction.
So at this point, there aren't
any plans for making it public.
But, you know, that may change.
>> Amelia Parks:
All right, Leslie,
we have some questions for you.
Somebody asked -- I think this
was probably a question having
to do with a particular slide.
But they wanted to know
if these were considered a
particular style.
And I know you talked about
the Arts and Crafts Movement,
but -- and art nouveau.
But were there any other
styles that could be unnamed?
>>Leslie Long: Those are the
main ones that I can think
of right at the moment.
There were a lot of styles
going on at the time.
And they got mixed and
matched quite a bit.
>> Amelia Parks: Are all of
the volume examples used by you
in the LOC Collection?
And are they in the
Rare Book Division?
>>Leslie Long: All of
the Margaret Armstrong,
we have a Margaret
Armstrong Collection here.
It is in the Rare Book Division.
Some of the -- well, many of
the Sarah Wyman Whitman's,
some of them are in
General Collection
and some in Rare Books.
And, also, John Feely
is both places.
I've been working, as I do
my research, with friends
in Rare Books and with Rare
Materials Cataloging to be sure
that the designer's name is
in the catalog record
if it wasn't before.
And to transfer beautiful covers
we find in the collections
to the Rare Book Division.
That's part of the project
I've been working on.
Does that help?
Does that answer?
>> Amelia Parks:
I think so, yeah.
That's great.
Some covers look like there are
four or five color stampings
with very close tolerances.
Was that -- is that accurate?
Or were they all done by
hand in separate hits?
>>Leslie Long: I don't
know the technical details
of how the stamping got done.
I would love to know.
But I just haven't
gotten there yet.
I'm sorry I can't
answer that one.
>> Amelia Parks: It sounds like
you have a book in the works.
"Leslie, do you know if the book
designers reuse their design
on multiple books, or was
each one a singular design?"
>> Leslie Long: A lot of
the Margaret Armstrong,
I didn't have a slide
that showed that,
but a lot of her
designs were redone
in multiple colors, palettes.
So the same color
would be a white cloth,
a pink cloth and a green cloth.
And then different colors.
So that was going on.
I'm not sure I answered
that question.
Was that -- was that --
>> Amelia Parks: I think so.
I mean, I know that you talked
about the designers working
with the authors in some cases.
>>Leslie Long: Yes.
>> Amelia Parks: But then I
think you also showed some early
examples of designs
that were used
for all books, regardless
of the --
>>Leslie Long: Oh, yes, oh, yes.
Early on, there'd be a basket
of fruit, and it would be reused
over and over again for
anything, a book on any subject.
And then the stamps began to be
specific to that book, right,
in Feely's era, in
John Feely's era.
>> Amelia Parks: All right.
I think we may have covered
all of the questions.
There are lots of
compliments in the chat box.
So thank you, all.
And I hope that Alan, Dan
and Leslie have seen those.
So since I don't see
any more coming in,
I think that that's a wrap.
Thank you all so much for
joining us today, and this week.
It's been a lot of fun.
So thank you so much.
And enjoy your weekend.