Author: janeflynnsenseandsentimentality

Really interesting short film about some VERY old books in the Royal Society library. Well worth a watch…

Pearls of Wisdom on Objectivity

‘Laura’ back in one piece again!

Repairs to pages and new stitching.

Casing in. This proved quite difficult – hence the wrinkles!!!

Just a quick update on Laura was my Camel. Mission accomplished! Although not perfect, going it alone has really tested how much I have learned. A few head scratching moments and a lot of looking at other books for reference later and we have a book again. Or should I say ‘still’! Casing the book in (putting it back into its cover) proved very tricky. Largely because all the repairs had made the spine bulkier than it had originally been. So, annoyingly, I’ve ended up with some wrinkles in the end papers. Not to worry though – we’ll know for next time. Onwards and outwards…

I started this project last week, and it’s the first book I have worked on unsupervised. Matt has given me a few pointers, but this time the work is my own entirely. Of course, I haven’t chosen a first edition of Bleak House for this momentous step, but the rather lovely (but obscure?) Laura was my Camel – price £2.50!!!

Here are the signatures (book sections) with all the old glue and spine lining carefully removed. However, the original binding wasn’t great and has left big holes that will need to be repaired prior to taping and sewing. Not doing this will just mean there is nothing solid to sew through!

Japan paper and wheat paste repair to fold. I’m going to have to do this with most, if not all, of the pages. This could make the book more bulky, so a rethink might be needed about how to repair the cover to accommodate it…

Today is a big day in the progress of Flynn post-PhD, a.k.a. ‘the wilderness months’. Today I have received a book for me to review for H-Animal, and I have to confess that I am really looking forward to reading it. Diana Ahmed’s Success Depends on the Animals: Emigrants, Livestock, and Wild Animals on the Overland Trails, 1840-1869. More to follow…

It looks like a may have a publisher. Good news! But now the work begins! Again! 🙂 Although I am looking forward to taking out all the ‘gubbins’ that made it into a PhD thesis and getting back to telling a story about the soldier-horse relationship. Exciting times! By ‘it’ I of course mean ‘the mighty tome’ that totally took over the last five years of my life. (The PhDers out there will know what I mean.) Nose to the wheel, shoulder to the grindstone, onwards and outwards etc. etc. …

Had another go at The Horse and the War last week, and progress had definitely been made. Not quite ready to ‘case it in’ as we wanted the glue to dry before going any further. (By ‘we’ I mean Matt Edwards and me under his tuition.) Nevertheless, it’s already looking much better than it did. All the pages have been repaired and sewn back together using a sewing frame, the end pages have also been sewn in, and the spine repaired. The spine repairs have been done on the inside of the cover, so as to avoid altering the book’s outward appearance. Really pleased so far! Just about summing up the courage to have a go on my own. Maybe not on anything precious though aye?! TTFN.

After what seems to have been an unreasonably long time spent tinkering with forms, the latest book submission for Sense and Sentimentality is off to the publishers. Now to wait and see…

Meanwhile, I’ve been working on another book repair. This time Captain Sidney Galtrey’s The Horse and the War. Published in 1918, when materials were in short supply, it isn’t the most robustly constructed book ever. It does, however, have some lovely (and very interesting) Lionel Edwards illustrations in it amongst other things. Again, some work is being put into getting it back into shape.

This time, I don’t altogether blame my ‘PhDing’, so much as the numerous trips to China and back The Horse and the War has been forced to withstand over the last four and a half years. I am fairly certain Captain Galtrey would never have anticipated that his book would rack up quite that many air miles!!!

P.S. Yes, the post-its were me. Sorry!!!! (Now safely removed.)

Animal Management 1933 seems to have been in Abbottabad in 1944… So, what were you doing there?

As promised then, this is what Animal Management 1933 is looking like now. Thanks to the tutelage of Matt Edwards, http://mattedwardsbooks.tumblr.com/ a book that was really in a bad way now has a new spine, new tapes and, after a lot of TLC, has a new lease of life. (I no longer hold my breath in case another bit drops off when I take it off the shelf!!!!) More on the history of this particular edition next time. TTFN!

Poor old Animal Management 1933 was looking somewhat the worse for wear. Partly just through old age, but also because of the abuse it had received at my hands during the last few years of ‘Phd-ing’. It really had got to the stage where the front cover was, quite literally, only hanging on by a thread. Action was required! Next time, I’ll show the ‘after’ pics and also tell you a bit more about this particular book’s history. TTFN!