Imperial Valley press., 1915-01-07

was the colorings which puzzled the
restorcr. The use of paste was es-
sential and how TO apply moisture
without running the water colorings
was problem.
When a page from book or manu-
script is in bad condition the first
thing done is to repair all holes and
give it a perfectly smooth, straight
edge by grating on paper in a man
ncr that seems almost magical. Then,
to strengthen it, a delicate layer of a
silk gauze known to repairers as
crepelinc is applied with flour paste
This gauze is so delicate that it is
not to be detected by the naked eye
yet it holds smoothly together paper
that otherwise would be in crumbly
fragments. In applying the gauze to
the illuminated page, Mr. Berwick
took a fine camers hair brush and
carefully outlined each bit of color
with the paste which was applied to
cover all the uncoiored surface. The
result has so far exceeded his expec-
tations and will no doubt attract CON
siderable attention from experts in the
fine art of manuscript repair.
The facilities of the repair shop of
the Library of Congress arc so well
recognized throughout the world that
requests have come even from Europe
to have fine commissions executed
here. One of the most important OF
these was a large volume of manu-
script record of the apprenticeship OF
the cid Cutters Guild of London dat
ing back to 1925. An exhibition OF
the repair work done in the Congress
sional Library was taken to a conven-
ton Of ant!uuarians several years ago
by Gaillard Hunt, the chief of the di-
vision of manuscripts in the Library
Of Congress. Its excellence made sc
strong an impression upon those who
examined it that when this important
old book was discovered in a seem
ingly hopeless condition, permission
was asked to have it repaired in the
Library of Congress, a compliment
which was greatly appreciated By
those in charge.
The repairing of an old page. wheth
er printed Or written, goes through
practically the same processes, al
though each specimen presents some
new difficulty. In making repair.
care is taken to use old paper having
the precise grain and water mark Of
the sheet to be repaired. New paper
could not be used for this purpose
Consequently every scrap of old pa
per which can be secured from ole
j books and manuscripts of no value
in themselves IS carefully preserved
as it may be worth many times its
weight in gold. One lady employe,
in the repair room is especially inter
ested in the collection of scraps of ole
paper for this purpose. One day she
had assembled a quantity of these
/ fragments upon her desk intending t,
have them assorted. when she was
called away for few minutes. Dur
] ing her absence an active charwoman
thinking they were of no value
brushed them into the waste paper
basket. They had been taken down
stairs to be destroyed before THEN
collector returned. Considerable ex
citement prevailed throughout the en-.
tire library for time before the en-
tire mass of waste paper collected fol
the day could be assembled and tht
precious scraps regained.
The repairing of the will of George
Washington is fine specimen of the
repair work of the Library of Cor
eress. This old document had resteC
In the Fairfax court house for over g
century and during most of that time
could be freely handled by visitors
Good sized fragments were missing
from II. presumably because some OF
these visitors were so desirous OF
owning scrap of paper upon which
the first president had written that
they were guilty of tearing off bits
to carry away with them. The docu-
ment wa worn through along the
creases where it had been folded and
had been crudely repaired by stitches
Of coarse thread and also by little
strips of gummed paper placed at ir-
regular intervals. Through the cour-
tesy OF the librarian of Congress, Her
bert Putnam, Mr.. Berwick was per
mitted to repair the old will He was
obliged to go 10 the old court house
to do the work because the law of Vir
glnia prevented the document heina
removed from the county in which il
was probated. The will contained a
pages. Each mage was put iuto ner
feet condition and all were bound into
a book This book is now enclosed
IN stcee case with a glass front. II
Is omen at the front page so that it
may be read by visitors