Book Cleaning Project Blog

We are surprised to realise that it’s just over a year since we started. How quickly the time has passed! I recall my earlier fascination with A Survey of Mr. Hobbes his Leviathan, and my romantic notions of possible 17 century fake ostrich skin … Read more

A series of small, incredibly neat, bore-holes meander into the text block from its lower front edge. This is my first encounter with a bookworm. On closer inspection, and to my relief, I find no evidence of an actual worm … Read more

Our emersion in the old has been replaced by more hasty acquaintances with a medley of newer, recent and even alternative ‘books’. Our first reaction, that we would be able to get through them a lot quicker, was only partly … Read more

The library is very attractive at this time of year. Sun streams in through the windows and the greenery of the large pot-plants is vibrant and vigorous.I peer at the illustrations in the old books we unload from our trolley … Read more

Summer holidays mean the rest of the team are taking breaks. My ‘ordinary’ life is temporarily on hold and I’m glad to have this regular tryst with some very dusty old books to add some stability to my days. We … Read more

Is it possible to be just a little bit dumbstruck? I stared at a large leather bound volume. The leather was brittle and flaking, the front and back boards of compressed paper, were delaminating at all corners. The back board … Read more

Our first session and we were all five starting working together. We were given protective tabards, and set up our work stations – which, this time, included leg raisers for one of the tables. The cleaning was to take place … Read more

Training complete, our little group of Sarum College volunteers met up, for the first time, in Sarum College Library. The training had included lectures open to the public and I had looked around the diverse audiences and speculated wildly about … Read more

Careful not to exceed the recommended 90 degrees, I lifted the cover. I was surprised and delighted to be greeted by a black and white illustration and the title: A Survey of Mr. Hobbes his Leviathan. Emboldened by the nature … Read more

Would I be interested in volunteering to clean and catalogue some old books in Sarum College Library? Well, would I? On the face of it, it doesn’t sound all that interesting – I’m really not someone who takes any great … Read more