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Portraits, images of castles and churches and towns in Scotland, Italy, Belgium and Malta.
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Volume one of the albums has been painstakingly restored by a photographic conservator from the National Library of Scotland’s Conservation Unit.
Before | After |
When it arrived at the Library, volume one was badly damaged inside and out. Much of the leather was missing, and what was left was dry and brittle. Only a small part of the spine was still intact. Pages were stained by water damage, and the cloth areas were torn and dirty.
The old spine lining and sewing are removed and the book’s sections are separated.
Many pages were badly stained by water damage.
With the photo protected, the page is dry-cleaned to remove stains.
The same page cleaned.
Wheat starch adhesive and fine tissue are used to repair the pages.
A page just after it has been repaired.
… and after the repair has dried to produce a seamless join.
The book is re-sewn by hand and interleaved with silver-safe paper to protect the photos.
The spine is rounded and jointed, before the outside boards are re-attached.
New leather is attached to the spine and the moulded into raised bands.
The leather spine moulded into shape.
Cloth sides are repaired, marble end-papers added, and the old leather re-attached.
The finished product: an expertly restored volume that still has many of its original features.