Sender: Rare Books and Special Collections Forum <EXLIBRIS@RUTVM1.BITNET>
I get Exlibris messages out of chronological order at times; so this topic
has unfolded a bit oddly. Thompson has over-reacted to Moffett and Graham
whose messages, if he re-reads them and then sleeps on it, are not as
bibliotaphic as he takes them to be.
Could I venture what seems to me to be a cardinal principle in any
question of this kind? It's this: if you have a problem to solve and are not
confident about how to solve it, don't do the work yourself. If a map needs
repair and you've never done it before, use a reputable conservator. Once
you know how it's done and you're sure you'll get away with it, then tackle
it yourself. On that argument, Linda's original enquiry was quite legitimate
on Exlibris and J.C. Thompson's factual response apposite; but there's always
the danger of the rest of us getting speculative in our advice and doing more
harm than good. The only correct response from me would have been, `Take the
map to a conservator and give her the responsibility' or the listing of good
references on map repair. Haven't we all in our collections the dodgy results
of previous `repair' work? That is true here (and even more in my other
incarnation as a spare time watch repairer - and American watch wearer).
No minor repair job should be so urgent that it can't wait until
the conservationist list bobs up again |\
Michael Smallman - Queen's, Belfast (hope I can stay on the list)