Mutilated books

The National Library of Spain has suffered recently the mutilation
of several incunabula and rare books. Happily, we have recovered a
part of the engravings. The question that appears is if to
reincorporate the sheets or to keep them separated. The leaves have
been cut away in the margins and "made up" to erase their origin.

We do not have a clear criteria for repair and conservation. On the
one hand, we are considering repairing the sheets in order that they
may return to their original books. This would be done conserving
the modifications effected by the thief, without concealing the
damage. On the other hand, we believe that the original union
already does not exist and that we might alter the history of the
book.

Has someone had some similar experience? What would be the most
suitable criteria?

Arsenio Sanchez
Laboratorio de Restauracion
Biblioteca Nacional de Espana


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:16
                Distributed: Sunday, September 21, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-22-16-019
                                  ***