Basic Rules for Handling Old Books

1)  Always wash your hands before working with old paper or parchment documents and use only pencils when working in rare book collections.  Modern in-print texts can be replaced and in most cases we do not care what a specific copy contains, but rare old books have to be treated like the irreplaceable artifacts they are.  Contact between human skin and any organic “substrate” (i.e., cloth, wood pulp or linen-based paper, or animal skin) will contaminate it with skin oils, bacteria and sweat.  The oils darken the page and make it harder to make out faint marks, and the bacteria and acids will dissolve the substrate entirely, destroying the book from the corners and fore-edge inward.  You will see evidence of this kind of damage in pre-1800 printed books that have been heavily used before coming into a collection.  Our goal is not to add to this damage while studying and taking care of the book.  When working with parchment leaves or manuscript books, handle pages carefully from the edges with your fingertips.  Remember that moisture from your fingers, and especially from the palms of your hands, will be absorbed by the parchment, causing inevitable curling as the substrate realigns its fibers from their stretched shape toward the skin’s original shape as it fit around the animal (see Christopher Clarkson, "Rediscovering Parchment: The Nature of the Beast," The Paper Conservator 16 (1992), pp 5-26.).  If your hands naturally tend to sweat or if your sweat is more than usually oily or acid, wear the white gloves.  Of course, never drink or eat in the same room with archival materials.

2)  Pencils are the only marking instrument allowed in rare book collections.  This is an universal rule.  Many collections, like the Folger Shakespeare Library or the Beineke Library at Yale will require you to surrender all pens to the curators before you will be allowed to work in the collection.  The reason for this should be obvious--nothing should be allowed to make any permanent marks on any rare book or archival document, and student researchers should not even make pencil annotations directly on a rare book or document.  You may see such marks in pencil made by librarians or researchers in previous eras, but the standard of preservation has changed.  Those marks are now used to document its provenance.

3)  When you have washed your hands, if you are not already an Archival Assistant for a specific project, stop at the reception desk and fill out the Special Collections “Researcher Registration Form.”  This is a typical formality observed by all archival collections.  This helps the curators keep track of who has been using what materials and enables them to limit damage to frequently used items.

4)  Before you start a work session, take a moment to slow down your movements and concentrate your attention.  Modern attention spans and handling force are conditioned by trade paperback books, computer keyboards, and mice, all of which are forgiving of rough handling and easily replaceable.  The rare book or manuscript is the product of an earlier era, meant to be handled with a softer touch and understood by a slower, more intent gaze.  Books do not “glow” or “blink” their messages, but rather they must be interrogated very gently and patiently to discover what they have to tell us.  Practice sitting in place and thinking about what you are about to do before you do it.  Meditate about what you are attempting to understand.  Do not turn pages rapidly, or hasten to finish a project because of external deadlines (start of a class, end of the day, etc.).  Plan your schedule so that, when you near the end of a work session, you have allotted at least enough time to take care of the book and all equipment before you have to leave, and never leave in a rush.  Make sure the book has been checked in by the desk attendent or the Curator of Special Collections and Archives, and properly repackaged for storage, with its identifying archival number tags properly visible.

5)  To help you keep track of the books you are working with, keep a journal in pencil and take careful notes of each day’s work.  Do not neglect to note what you see or you may have to subject an old book to further damage while re-opening it.  Before you begin the more thorough, methodical analysis of the book, note the day’s date and briefly describe the book by author (usually just last name, if known), short title, city, publisher, date, LOC or DD number, and accession number (a five digit number penciled on the back of the title page).  Earliest printed books include both a printer and publisher or patron, and it can be a matter of scholarly debate which is more responsible for the edition, so just quote the title page (e.g., “Printed by Adam Islip, at the charges of Bonham Norton”). If there is no title page, but only a “colophon” or printer’s statement asserting the date and place of the book’s completion (esp. at the back of the book rather than the front), you are dealing with a very old book—be especially careful.  Colophons tell us, in sentences that are located after the last line of the main text and that take the form of “This book was printed in XXXX year and YYYY city by ZZZZ (the printer).”  For an example, see this web page: http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng330/What_is_a_Colophon.htm

(Reference reading: Curt F. Bühler, “False Information in the Colophons of Incunabula,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 114:5 (20 October 1970) 398-406.) l Available online via EbscoHost: MLA International Bibliography.

6)  Pay attention to the external physical condition of the book, especially its cover, spine, sewing of its leaf gatherings, and soundness of the substrate.  Especially be alert for “broken” bindings that are loose or coming apart, and for brittle paper (see “brittle books” below).  Handle all archival materials gently, as you would an infant or invalid, and in general, pay careful attention to what they are telling you by their reaction to your touch.  Stiff resistance means possible brittleness.  Broken paper page edges definitely indicates brittleness.  Handle such books with even more care until you can tell what they can take.  In general, “never take a book anyplace it does not want to go” (a motto of the Rare Book School, Charlottesville, VA). 

7)  To help fragile books tolerate your needs to investigate them, use book cradles and foam pads to support the book at the angle of openness that best compromises between your needs as an analyst and the book’s desires as an ancient artifact.  In general, old books do not like to be opened flat.  Much can be learned from a partially-opened, well-supported old book.  ESPECIALLY, DO NOT OVER-STRESS THE SEWING OR PAGES BY ATTEMPTING TO OPEN A TIGHT BINDING TOO WIDE!  Rebound book bindings often are extremely tight and impinge upon the text-block, sometimes appearing to “swallow the text” into their gutters.  Use a magnifier and a Zelco or pen light to read partially obscured text, but do not force the binding.  Restraint is the key.  Ask for help if you are in doubt.

8)  If bindings are loose or boards are separated (or separating) from the binding, this does not mean the book cannot be handled.  Be careful, and when in doubt, ask for a more experienced analyst’s opinion and help before moving forward.  Book-handling judgment must be developed by experience via the fingertips, eyes, ears, and even nose.  For instance, very dry old leather smells differently from moist, well-conditioned old leather, and its likelihood of cracking or breaking also can been guessed from its tendency to smudge hands or paper, to shed “dust” or flakes, etc.  Each book is an unique organic artifact that will teach you as you touch it, but reward the book’s instruction with care.  And yes, small flakes of paper do fall from brittle old book pages.  If they contain text or other markings, they must be kept with the book where they fell from the binding.  If serious damage occurs, report it.  If small page flakes contain no text, sweep them up and keep them from accumulating in the work area, especially the imaging lab where they get into images, the camera lens, etc.  They are the price of your instruction, so try to minimize their creation.  If a volume threatens to get out of control re: brittleness, prop it securely, stop where you are, and ask for help.  Even some very small books require two people to handle them safely, and very large ones almost always do.

9)  For more general advice, read these "Maxims for Special Collections and Archives Research."  I have been collecting them for years and the list is still growing.

10)  To motivate yourself for the challenges you will face, read Isaac D’Israeli’s “Destruction of Books,” from Curiosities of Literature