Blocked paper

Gary Saretzky <saretzky [at] rci__rutgers__edu> writes

>... The crumbling covers were fairly easily
>removed and the "blocks" of pages wrapped up, with the hope that
>someday a treatment could be found.  The size varies but they are
>approximately 11x17 inches and two-three inches thick.  If anyone
>has any suggestions how to separate the pages, I'd like to learn of
>them.

I have dealt in the past four years with volumes of the Diderot
encyclopedia the sheets of which stuck together as a result of heavy
mould attack. In order to separate the sheets I sent the books to a
university institution in Leipzig (Germany) for gamma treatment. The
university library has a program to disinfect mouldy books They
observed that the gamma treatment also had the effect of separating
the blocked paper.

In my case I sent the books not for disinfection but for separating
the completely blocked book blocks.After gamma treatment all four
book blocks could be separated with the help of a teflon spatula.

The negative effects (degradation) of the gamma radiation on organic
materials had to be taken into account as the lesser harmful side of
the coin.

Martin Strebel
Atelier fur Buch- und Papierrestaurierung
Bahnhofstrasse 15
5502 Hunzenschwil
Switzerland
+41 62 897 39 70
Fax: +41 62 897 00 46

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:93
                  Distributed: Wednesday, June 2, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-12-93-002
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