CHAPTER XXIV

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WASHING AND CLEANING.

The binder is often called upon to clean books; to many he is a sort of Aladdin, who makes old books into new; the consequence is that he often has placed in his hands a lot of dirty, miserable-looking books, and is expected to turn them into first-class copies. To renovate such books requires time and experience, and unfortunately very little is known among binders as a body about cleaning. Outside the trade, I am sorry to say, even less is known, for if a book be received from a binder bleached, it seems to satisfy the owner, and to be all that is desired. By such treatment of bleaching a quantity of lime is generally left in the paper, the goodness is destroyed, and naturally the paper must suffer in a short time. To test such treatment one has only to apply the tongue to the paper, it will at once absorb any moisture, as blotting paper does, and often the lime can be distinctly tasted.

But books are often washed and given out to the binder to rebind in this state. In such a case it remains with the binder not to associate himself with the book; for if he rebinds such a book the stigma will attach itself to him when the period of rotting, falling to pieces, and other misfortunes has arrived.

It is the practice of many who profess to wash books or prints to use chlorine at every washing; this is not necessary; often a simple bath of hot water, with perhaps the |158| addition of a little alum, is all that is required. An important thing is to know the different kinds of stains when looking through the book; there may be many in one book, each from a different cause. In such a case it will be best to go for the majority, and to use the bath that will move them. Often the one bath is sufficient, but should there be any stains that are not touched, these leaves must be treated again.

When there are stains of different character in the one book, such as oil stains on a few leaves, and, say, coffee stains in other parts, the oil must be first removed; the one bath will not touch both stains.

Often when the bath is used wrongly it will fix the stain in the paper, and not remove it, the chemical used acting as a mordant.

It is impossible for me to describe the various stains, the intelligence of the workman must be brought to bear on the subject; and I advise a small memo. book be used to jot down the difficulties that may occur from time to time, and so to act as a guide for future work; to the use of such a book I am enabled to lay before my readers the methods of working with the various receipts collected in France and Germany, and used by me in my business.

To wash a book it is absolutely necessary to pull it to pieces. Should there be much glue on the back, and difficulty arise in the pulling, the book may be treated as given in