Winchester

Placement: Winchester Cathedral, Morely Library

I was lucky enough to spend a week at the Morely Library in Winchester Cathedral, working in situ on a book in the collection I was given a seventeenth-century copy of the New Testament, bound in calfskin and sewn on raised supports On acceptance: both headcaps had collapsed, with both endbands loose and damaged The leather on the spine and turnins was deteriorating, both boards were loose, and the turnins were becoming detatched in the interior pastedowns

I added tissue sutures to stabilise both boards, and rebuilt both headcaps with conservation cord and toned tissue Used tissue hinges to reposition and readhere both endbands I added thicker tissue supports to the turnins to re-adhere them down I consolidated the leather with a Klucel G/IMS solution I resized and re-adhered the paper in the interior pastedown