Vocabulary for Book Conservation Treatment (Abstract)

American Institute for Conservation, Book & Paper Group Presentation, Annual Meeting, Milwaukee, WI, 1982.

Pam Spitzmueller and Gary Frost reported on an effort to identify, describe and adopt a vocabulary for book conservation treatment. Many terms used for book treatment are borrowed from the binding trade, from bibliographical study, from scientific and from library usage. An additional selected vocabulary is suggested to meet the conservator's special needs to differentiate historical structures and to discuss and record treatment procedures and results.

An obstacle to the development of a complete and consistent vocabulary is the inevitable unacceptability of a single vocabulary among various practitioners. However, there is an incentive for this exercise since chosen terms and a consistent vocabulary permit quick, clear communication. A shared vocabulary also permits a useful accumulation of information.

Pam Spitzmueller presented a vocabulary for binding sewing through the fold describing the stitch, the pattern of stitches and the structure of sewing. Gary Frost presented a vocabulary for the differentiation of cover-to-text block structures.

An off-print of the vocabulary is available from: Gary Frost, School of Library Service, 514 Butler Library, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027.