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by Joseph W. Zaehnsdorf
3rd Edition Published in London 1897
(1.) Place a piece of blotting-paper on each side of the stain,
apply a hot polishing iron very carefully to the paper; this will,
in most cases, melt the fat, which will be absorbed by the
blotting-paper.
(2.) Scrape pipe clay, or French chalk, which place on the stain,
then use the hot iron. The iron must not be used too hot, or
the paper will be scorched; a piece of paper should always be
placed between the iron and the leaf stained. The powder
may be afterwards brushed away.
(3.) May be removed by washing the leaf with ether, or
benzoline, placing a pad of blotting-paper under and over the
leaf, dabbing the benzoline or ether on the spot with a piece of
cotton wool. This process must not be conducted near a flame,
both are highly inflammable.
(4.) A mixture of 1 part nitric acid, 10 parts water, is useful in
many instances for oil stains. When erased, plunge the whole
sheet or leaf into water, changing the water several times. Dry
and size.
When the writing-paper has been made from inferior rags bleached with excess of chlorine the best ink becomes
discoloured.
Reviving old writing
(1.) Brush the paper over carefully with a solution of sulph-cyanide of potassium (1 in 20). Then, while still damp, hold
over a dish containing hot muriatic acid; the writing will develop deep red.
(2.) Wash the writing with a very weak solution of hydrochloric acid, then carefully apply infusion of galls.
(3.) For letters that have been in sea water, wash with warm water to remove the salt, then soak in weak solution of
gallic acid, about 3 grains to the ounce. If this does not make the writing legible enough, wash thoroughly in clean
water, and soak in a solution of protosulphate of iron, 10 grains to the ounce.
To restore writing effaced by chlorine
(1.) Expose the writing to the vapour of sulphuret of ammonia, or dip it into a solution of the sulphuret.
(2.) Ferro-cyanide of potassium, 5 parts.
Water, 85 parts.
Dissolve and immerse the paper in the fluid, then slightly acidulate the solution with sulphuric acid. Guitaud
discovered that sulphuret of ammonia and prussiate of potash revives writing effaced by oxymuriatic acid.
To restore MSS. Faded by time
A moderately concentrated solution of tannin washed over the paper. The MS. to be carefully dried.
To preserve drawings or manuscripts-Mix with ever 100 parts of collodion 2 parts of sterine. Place the paper in
question on a perfectly level and even surface, such as a marble table or large slab of glass. Give the paper a thin
coat of this collodion, and in about twenty minutes it will be protected by a transparent, brilliant, and imperishable
envelope.
To fix drawings or pencil marks
Pass the paper through a bath of thin size, made either from gelatine or isinglass; or a bath of skim milk.
To render paper waterproof
Take of borax 100 parts, water 2,250 parts; boil, and while stirring, gradually add powdered shellac 300 parts. When
the whole is dissolved, strain through muslin. This will keep a long time and may be bottled.
To render paper incombustible
Pass the paper through a strong solution of alum, and hang up to dry.
The following, taken from the “English Mechanic,” June 19th, 1974, is, I think, of great use to the professional restorer
of old books, and will give the binder an idea of what has to be done sometimes:-
Deciphering Burnt Documents.
“M. Rathelot, an officer of the Paris Law Courts, has succeeded in an ingenious manner in transcribing a number of the
registers which were burnt during the Commune. These registers had remained so long in the fire that each of them
seemed to have become a homogeneous block, more like a slab of charcoal than anything else; and when an attempt
was made to detach a leaf it fell away into powder.
“He first cut off the back of the book; he then steeped the book in water, and afterwards exposed it, all wet as it was,
to the heat at the mouth of a warming pipe (calorifére). The water as it evaporated raised the leaves one by one,
and they could be separated, but with extraordinary precaution. Each sheet was then deciphered and transcribed.
The appearance of the pages was very curious-the writing appeared of a dull black, while the paper was of a lustrous
black, something like velvet decorations on a black satin ground, so that the entries were not difficult to decipher.”
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