At the Birthplace, like many museums, the majority of our conservation is preventative: the daily actions which ensure that things remain stable and protected such as housekeeping, pest management, controlling light levels, security and proper object handling. Sometimes we work with professional restorers for remedial conservation, which is when an object needs some intervention such as cleaning or repair to ensure that it will be stable for the future. Arthur Green from Green’s Books has recently repaired two interesting items from our library collection, and spent a day on site looking after some of our 18th century Magazines. In this blog post, we take a closer look at the items he worked on.
Twiss’s Travels to Portugal and Spain (1775)
This book was given to Samuel Johnson by the author Richard Twiss, and Johnson made a note of this in the front leaves. This is a particularly special Johnson association item because it has a wonderful provenance. As well as the inscription, it was directly referred to in Boswell’s Life of Johnson. While dining in a tavern with Boswell, Johnson told him:
“I have been reading Twiss’s Travels in Spain, which are just come out. They are as good as the first book of travels that you will take up … I have not, indeed, cut the leaves yet; but I have read in them where the pages are open, and I do not suppose that what is in the pages which are closed is worse than what is in the open pages.”
The book also appears in the catalogue of the sale of items from Johnson’s library, and was ultimately given to the Birthplace in 1915 by journalist and sculptor Percy Fitzgerald (You can find out more in this previous blog post).
The front board of this book had gradually split away from the spine and was almost detached, which is a common problem. In addition, the page with Johnson’s signature was discoloured and the paper brittle, probably as a result of light damage at some point in the book’s life. The joint on the cover and the signature pages were repaired, and a new box made to protect the book which is now back on the library shelves.
Letters of Lord Chesterfield to his Son (1775)
Published by James Dodsley, this four-volume set contains over 400 letters written by Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, the infamous patron of Johnson’s Dictionary project. They advise his illegitimate son, forming a candid handbook of how to get on in Georgian society which Johnson described as teaching “the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing-master”. The books are part of our Hay Hunter collection, gifted to the Museum as a complete library of over one thousand volumes in 1911. Sadly, the spine on volume I of the Chesterfield Letters set had completely split, leaving the book in two halves. Arthur devised a method to repair the book which had an unexpected inspiration – you can read about the full process in his own blog post here
The Gentleman’s Magazine and the Monthly Review
Most recently Arthur spent a day at the Museum site cleaning and assessing our run of 18th century Magazines. This includes the Gentleman’s Magazine, the leading journal of the day which Johnson used to advertise his school at Edial Hall in 1736 and later appeared very regularly as both contributor and subject. Thirteen bound volumes of the Gentleman’s Magazine were dry cleaned, creased and fold-out pages flattened and the spine leather consolidated to stop further leather dust coming off when handled. The handsomely bound set of the Monthly Review, founded in 1749 and to which Oliver Goldsmith was a contributor, had all loose labels stuck back on to prevent any further losses.
Visit the Green’s Books website here. To find out more about bookbindings and caring for books, the British Library has produced an excellent resource which you can find via this link.