Workshop on rebacking

Leather Rebacking Workshop
with James Reid-Cunningham

Gladys Brooks Book and Paper Conservation Laboratory
New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
East 103rd Street New York

Thursday, Friday and Saturday, June 7-9, 2007
9am - 5pm

Sponsored by the NY Chapter of the Guild of Book
Workers

Damaged leather bookbindings pose a great challenge to bookbinders.
This workshop will cover traditional leather rebacking techniques
for both tight and hollow back books. This technique utilizes
thinned and colored leather to repair broken joints and reattach
loose spines and boards.

Topics will include: cleaning and consolidating leather; lifting the
existing spine and along the spine edge of the board; staining and
paring new leather; covering; re-adhering the original spine; and
final touch-ups. There will be in-depth discussions of issues
relating to different types of leathers, dyes, surface coatings,
consolidants, adhesives, and tools for lifting and paring.

This class will alternate demonstrations with benchwork under close
supervision. It is aimed at students with some experience paring
leather and covering in leather. More experienced students and those
with previous training in leather rebacking will be challenged to
explore more advanced topics.

James Reid-Cunningham studied art history at Johns Hopkins
University and Tufts University before beginning his career in book
conservation at Harvard University. He learned bookbinding with Mark
Esser at the North Bennet Street School in Boston, and is President
of the Guild of Book Workers. Formerly the Conservator of the
Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, he is currently the
Chief Conservator of the Boston Athenaeum.

Workshop fee:  Members $260, Non-members $320.
Materials fee: $35
Participants should bring leather bound books with loose or attached
boards for experimentation, paring knives, lifting knife, and
standard bookbinding tools and brushes.

To register or for more information contact

    Clare Manias
    212-851-5603
    cmanias [at] yahoo__com


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:7
                   Distributed: Monday, May 28, 2007
                        Message Id: cdl-21-7-016
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