Treatment of the J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps Collection of Albums with Shakespearean Rarities at the Folger Shakespeare Library

Abstract

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC holds a collection of 32 albums from the English collector J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps, dating back to the mid 19th century. The drawings, maps and prints were mounted on acidic matboard and required conservation treatment. The adhesive between stubs and matboard had failed in some areas and the cumbersome original binding structure was causing stress at the stub when opened. This article describes a unique approach to preserve the original binding along with the textblock content by binding the textblock into a separate post-binding and reincorporating the new textblock into the old binding with a slipcase.