Skip to content

The University of Iowa Libraries

Skip to content
Go to
InfoHawk+
University of Iowa Libraries University of Iowa Libraries The University of Iowa The University of Iowa Libraries

Conservation & Collections Care News

PLEASE NOTE



This post is more than two years old. Read it with that in mind. Thank you.
There are two books. The one on the left has a front cover that is bigger than the textblock and the one on the right has a cover where the leather is lighter than the spine and back cover.
Apr 16 2019

Mystery of the mismatched covers

Posted on April 16, 2019April 16, 2019 by Abigail Evans
There are two books. The one on the left has a front cover that is bigger than the textblock and the one on the right has a cover where the leather is lighter than the spine and back cover.
The first book (left) has a front cover that is too large and the second one (right) has a cover that is too light.

[ezcol_1third]

The first book is upside down to show that the front cover is wider and taller than the back cover.
The front cover that came with the first book is both too wide and too tall for the text block.
The image shows the front cover of the first book on the left and the back cover of the second on the right. They have matching designs in the leather.
The mismatched front cover of the first book matches the back cover of the second.

[/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_2third_end]

About a month ago the conservation department received a book for repair from the John Martin Rare Book Room in the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences. Beth Stone, assistant conservator, noticed that the front cover of the book did not match the back cover. It was taller and wider than the text block and the leather did not match the back cover in color or design.

A couple weeks later another book arrived for repair, yet again with a mismatched front cover. Stone immediately recognized the back cover of this second book for the design in the leather – it matched the detached front cover of the first book perfectly. The dimensions were correct, and the sewing supports on the spine of this second book matched up with the front cover from the first.

Unfortunately, the front cover of the second book was not a match for the first book. The cover was too tall, and the leather was a way lighter color than the attached back cover. This means instead of direct swap, there must be a third mystery book involved.

Now, in addition to searching for the missing cover of the first book, the conservation staff has other questions to consider. The two detached front covers both have bookplates from the same owner. One cover also has signatures from other previous owners. Were these covers attached to the proper books when they were signed? Were they switched during ownership or after accession to the library? Since it is important to preserve the history of these books, these questions need to be considered before the conservation department takes further steps to repair these books. [/ezcol_2third_end]

Posted in Book & paper conservation, Materials, equipment and procedures, staff

Post navigation

Making A/V collections more accessible
Preservation Week 2019

Categories

  • 30th Anniversary
  • African American Museum of Iowa
  • Art library
  • Awards
  • Book & paper conservation
  • Book Intervention
  • Book Model Collection
  • Community, outreach, education, and events
  • Digital preservation
  • Digital reformatting
  • Disaster recovery
  • Disaster response
  • Flood Recovery
  • Grants, outside funding
  • Intergovernmental Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (UNESCO, IOC)
  • Johnson County Historical Society
  • Main library
  • Materials, equipment and procedures
  • Mold, insects, and other agents of deterioration
  • Music library
  • National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library
  • News Archive
  • Oakdale campus
  • Object conservation
  • outreach
  • remote work
  • Resilience of Book Transmission
  • staff
  • Storage environments
  • Tips
  • Uncategorized
  • William Anthony Conservation Lecture

Archives

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

More links

  • Preservation News via Email
  • More Library Feeds
  • Preservation Department
  • Flood of 2008 Slideshows
  • More Flood Recovery Photos
  • Link to Resources
  • Future of the Book
  • Library Preservation 2
  • What would Ranganathan do?
Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Zoia by Automattic.
University of Iowa Libraries University of Iowa Libraries The University of Iowa The University of Iowa Libraries
  • Contact the Libraries
  • Library locations & hours
  • News & Events
  • Help using the Libraries
  • Assistance for people with disabilities
  • Our diversity statement
  • Thank a Librarian
  • Web site/page feedback OR general suggestions
  • UI Libraries other links UI Libraries in the Internet Archive Use and reuse of UI Libraries web content - Creative Commons Staff SharePoint (authentication required)
  • UI Libraries on social media UI Libraries on Instagram UI Libraries on Facebook UI Libraries on Twitter UI Libraries on Pinterest UI Libraries on Tumblr UI Libraries on YouTube UI Libraries on Flickr UI Libraries blogs
  • 100 Main Library (LIB)
  • 125 West Washington St.
  • Iowa City, IA 52242-1420
  • 319-335-5299 (Service Desk)
  • ©2019 The University of Iowa
  • Give a gift to the Libraries!