Enclosures
Valley of the Kings Artist Book
This artist book consists of a collection of five clay tablets, each with a metal stand, and came to the Preservation Lab for cloth clamshell enclosure. The tablets were received in a small black box created by the artist and an accompanying artist note. The metal stands were stored in a plastic zipper bag, separate from the clay tablets, to protect them from possible corrosion caused high relative humidity levels and to prevent the stands from possibly scratching the clay tablets. The clay tablets were stored in custom polyethylene bags with Ethafoam sheet supports and then housed together in a small corrugated banker’s box with a drop-down side. The artist’s enclosure and the banker’s box were stored side by side in a corrugated tray lined with Volara foam that allows for both boxes to be easily removed from the cloth covered clamshell enclosure. View the treatment documentation for the housing of this artist book.
Buddhist Religious Treatise Palm Leaf
This is a palm leaf book that is used in classroom instruction by UC’s Archives and Rare Books Library. It came to the Preservation Lab to receive custom housing and a preservation surrogate to facilitate better handling and exhibition. The palm leaf received a custom cloth clamshell enclosure with Volara foam supports and is stored next to two surrogate palm leaves. The surrogate leaves, printed on an Epson SureColor P7000 printer, are stored in Vivak and polyester encapsulations within two-sided window mats, featuring magnetic closures. The surrogate leaves allow students to experience a palm leaf book, handling the stable, support surrogate pages instead of the fragile palm leaves. View the treatment documentation for this palm leaf binding.
Le bréviaire Grimani à la Bibliothèque Marciana de Venise
This full velvet binding is part of UC’s Classics Library’s collection and came to the Preservation Lab for treatment following the 2019 Adopt-A-Book campaign. The binding is in fair condition, with a highly discolored spine from years of being stored in an acidic cardboard slipcase. Along with minor treatment to clean and stabilize the textblock of the binding, this book also received a custom cloth covered clamshell enclosure with integrated cradle. The enclosure allows provides long-term storage and promotes easy and safe handling by users and staff with an intuitive, collapsible cradle that is incorporated into the enclosure. View the treatment and housing documentation for this book.
