The herald., 1897-11-21

est means.
'T was in booksellers one day
when the late Gordon Ford came in,"
said MIR. Trent. He asked the price
of some prints. The dealer said they
were worth twenty-five cents apiece.
I'll give you twenty cents said he.
No you won't said the dealer. The
man went away without them rather
than pay the extra five cents, and he
was worth million dollars! Another,
a New Yorker, worth sever or eight
million, tried to beat me out of 500.
[ agreed to do some work for him for
s12o. When l delivered it, he offered
me 500 l talked to him pretty plainly,
and he finally gave me the 500. After
ward he made a half-apology for what
| he had done. The work had kept me
busy nearly three weeks
Mr. Trent's speciality is the restora-
ton of valuable manuscripts, which
are ragged or torn. Since the collect
ing of manuscripts became a fad-one
dealer in New York keeps 100000 worth
| in stock all the time-tha business of
restoring and mounting them has be-
| come more and more active. Almost
all book-binders do this work, but
| there are several specialists like Mr.
Trent who do nothing else but mount,
relay, anu restore manuscripts. lucy
are patronized chiefly by the more
wealthy collectors, because the great
er nicely of their work makes it more
expensive.
"1'he costliest single piece Of worl,
I ever did," said Mr.. Trent, was the
mounting of q William Penn letter for
a Chicago man. 1t was in four sheets,
folio size. 1t took me a week to re-
store it, and the work cost him $50.
He did not want to pay SO much, but
he had to, because the manuscript was
in very bad condition | also mounted
the original draft of the Declaration
of Independence for Dr. Emmet. Not
the official copy which is in the State
Department, but Jefferson's first draft
in his own handwriting. 1t is in the
LenoX Library now. l charged DIR.
Emmet $40 for that work. but he said
it was worth more and gave me $50.
W. +. Havemeyer gave me $40 for
mounting one manuscript You can
never tell what it is going to cost to
restore a manuscript. / charge by tho
time it takes, sixty cents an hour. I
don't work unless 1 feel in good condi-
ton. could have made more money
if had stuck to book-binding. I was
good binder. and often made
four dollars a day."
The simplest way to mount manu-
script is to paste it on hinge of CLOTH
backed paper; well-preserved manu-
script is usually mounted in that way.
Almost any one can do this, with little
,practice, and it costs only a few cents.
Flimsy or torn manuscripts are usually
mounted in frame OF heavy paper.
The manuscript is laid on the paper
and its outline is marked with a pencil.
With sharp knife an incision is made
one-siXteenth Of an inch within this
pencilled frame Then. with razor
edged knife, the paper is bevelled and
the manuscript pasted into the frame.
If the bevelling has been done artistl-
cally. the line of puncture will not be
visible to the unframed eye on either
side, and you can pass your finger over
the surface without detecting it.
If manuscript is in two pieces and
these are to be Joined. the two edges
are bevelled for hairsbreadth," Mr..
Trent says. and then theJ are pasted
together so neatly that you could not
find the joint unless you put the paper
in water Moreover. that hair-llne Of
paste will hold them together indeti-
nitely. Rice-fiour paste is used-it is
known as Japanese pastel-and there is
no secret about its manufacture. New
! ertheless, there are secrets in the trade
, and one of them is the chemical means
. of restoring faded signatures. Mr.
c Trent says he can restore the shadowy
! signatures on the badly-faded original
q of the Declaration of Independence at
. Washington.
: AS for joints in paper. Mr.. Trent says
G he can detect them without the use -
a microscope, though they would be
invisible to your eyes or mine.
Il was once called as an expert in a
court case" he said. There was dis
n pute about a bill--a difference of S1,05O
and one man claimed that the receipt
had been doctored. AS soon as ! ex-
: amined the sheet 1 said that there was
s a joint in it. No one else could see it.
: and the only way could prove it was
to soak the paper. They told me to do
n this, and when l did the two pieces
u came apart"
:, But the most delicate part of the re-
e storer's work is not the mounting OF
g manuscripts or the joining of frac-
:. lures; it is the repairing of holes in
q mptilatsd manuscripts. The restorer
! must get a piece of paper of as nearly
l. the texture and color of he original
}. as possible, and cut it to the shape of
# the hole, leaving a narrow margin for
> the paste. This margin is beyelled,
n and the inserted piece is pasted in its
place. In bevelling these inserts, diff
Il ferent tools are used, according to the
e texture of the paper, and sometimes the
q paper, instead of being bevelled, is split.
d Mr.. Trent got into the business of
a restoring manuscripts by mere chance.
Fl In 1856 he was working in a book-bin-
= derry. when, one day, a lawyer named
b Bushnell. came in with some restored
n manuscripts. Mr.. Trent said the work
10 was poorly done. The lawyer asked
?. him if he could do better. He an
d swered that he had never tried. but he
n felt pretty sure that he could. He
tried his hand at it, and the lawyer
s gratified comment when he saw the re-
k suit was, You're a wonder" Since
Il that time Mr.. Trent has gone on devel-
oping his work into an art. A great
many specimens of it are in the Lenox
=. Library, to which DR.. Emmett gave a
fine manuscript collection. Some are
In the State Department at Washing
ton, among the papers collected by T.
g B. Myers and presented to the Depart
# ment by his son, Lieut.. L. B. NJ. Mason
IS U. S. N. Lieut.. Mason wrote to Mr..
= Trent about these papers: THE State
r. Department people say there is nothing
Il like them" Dealers tell me that
# among connoisseurs, Mr.. Trent's work
"a is known from Maine to California.