BEVA® 371-based Synthetic Leather

Abstract

The use of newly manufactured leather for book repairs has been questioned in recent years as the traceability of tanning and dyeing agents became hazardous. It has also been found that the invasive nature of the repair is often localized on already fragile joints due to extreme paring. In that regard, this method currently in use for leather binding repairs does not always match modern conservation standards and an alternative was found in the use of Japanese tissue as an infill material.Although more adequate in terms of conservation standards, this article shows that consolidating leather with Japanese tissue is less efficient than usually expected. Japanese tissue is compared with BEVA® 371, an acrylate solution originally intended for canvas lining in painting conservation. Over the years, it has been used with great success on leather in ethnological collections. This study investigates how it could be applied to book conservation, and in which ways it can be a superior alternative to leather and Japanese tissue repairs.