Title: Clarorvm virorvm epistolae qvae inter ciceronis epistolas servatae exstant in vnvm volvmen redactae…
Author: Benjamin Weiske
Published/Created: Lipsiae : publisher not identified Crvsii, 1792
Owner: General Collection, Regenstein Library, University of Chicago
Dimensions: H 20.3cm x W 12.8cm x D 2.7cm
This full leather binding features gold tooling on the spine with a leather title label. The boards have single-line blind tooling along the joints. The book has a tight, rounded back and tight joints. The textblock is sewn 2-on over five raised cords. The endsheets are light pink laid paper folios hooked around the first and last sections.
The leather covering shows red rot with scratches and losses along the edges. The spine leather is missing both endcaps and is peeling at the head corner. The front board is completely detached, while the backboard remains attached by the slips (sewing supports). The front board is slightly bowed outward, and both boards show wear along the edges and corners, exposing delaminating layers of the laminar boards.
This book was selected to practice rubber cement facing on the tight-back leather spine. Facing involves temporarily supporting weak or fragile material by attaching a support layer with a weak, reversible adhesive. For this treatment, rubber cement was used as the adhesive and plastic wrap as the support layer. This method offers better visibility during the process and allows for mechanical removal of the adhesive, unlike other facing methods that require solvents.
However, rubber cement carries risks, including potential loss or fragmentation of spine leather if used on severely weakened or heavily delaminating leather. Additionally, the adhesive has a limited working time and cannot be removed once fully dried. This technique is appropriate only for tight-back leather books requiring structural repair (such as lifting the spine) when the leather is sufficiently strong to withstand adhesive removal.
Once the leather spine was faced and removed from the textblock, the spine was cleaned and lined with multiple layers of Japanese paper (Uso Mino Thin and Okawara). Brown Moriki paper was applied as the final layer and toned with Golden acrylics. The original leather spine was then reattached to the new paper spine. The rubber cement was removed, but some loss of gold tooling and leather fragments occurred during the process.
This treatment was completed in consultation with Melina Avery.
