Huck's dilemma

["R C Herman" <rherman@fone.net>]

Old book experts: I have a pressing practical issue for which I seek advice.
I own a first edition copy of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckeberry Finn,
which has been in my family since the turn of the century.
    The book had been sitting in my bookcase in Connecticut for years; when
I moved to Colorado a few years ago I brought it with me.
    The other day I opened the book and a page floated loose from the
binding. Aghast, I closed the book and replaced it on the shelf.
    My question is this: What measures, at this 11th hour, should I take to
preserve the book from further degradation? I will be visiting in
Connecticut (where humidity is high) next month. Here in Colorado the air is
bone dry, which I suspect is responsible for drying out the glue in the
binding.
    I appreciate any advice on the subject.

    Bob Herman
-----Original Message-----
From: Christine Ferdinand <christine.ferdinand@magdalen.oxford.ac.uk>
To: Multiple recipients of list <exlibris@library.berkeley.edu>
Date: Thursday, September 10, 1998 2:53 AM
Subject: Books stolen from the British Institute of Florence


>
>I've just returned from the British Institute of Florence, where I
>discovered that most of their small collection of early books was stolen
>last April. Ten books are missing--two of them incunables and one of those
>is fairly rare. The books will have few marks of ownership. I'd like
>to circulate this list of stolen books as widely as possible. I'm afraid
>that I don't have any more details than those provided below.
>
>If you have any ideas on locating the books, please get in touch with me,
>or with the director of the Institute, Christine Wilding (Lungarno
>Guicciardini 9, 50125 Firenze, Italy. Phone: 0039 55 284032). Thanks.
>
>Christine Ferdinand
>
> *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
>
>EARLY BOOKS MISSING from the LIBRARY OF THE BRITISH INSTITUTE OF FLORENCE
>
>
> Sant'Alfonso de Ligueri, Theologia moralis, 2 vols. in 1? (Rome,
>1767). British Institute shelfmark: C/F/241 LIG
>
> Pseud. Aristotle, Problemata Aristotelis, ac philosophorum
>medicumque complurium (Venice, 1580).  C/F/185 ARI
>
> Bellarmine, Robert, In omnes psalmos dilucida explanatio (Vencie, 1628).
>C/F/223.6 BEL
>
> Concordantia Bibliorum utriusque Testamenti Veteris et Novi
>(Antwerp, 1612). C/F/220.88 CON
>
> Corpus Iuris Civilis: I. Digestum vetus Iustiniani.  II.
>Infortiatum.  III. Digestum novum.  IV. Institutiones (Lyons, 1549, 1550).
>TA/349.372 SAL
>
> Ficino, Marsilio, Marsilio Ficino Della religione Christiana ...
>dall'autore istesso tradotto in lingua Toscana (Florence, 1568). C/F/195
>FIC
>
> Guicciardini, Francesco, La Historia d'Italia ... divisa in venti
>libri (Venice, 1587). C/F/945 GUI
>
> Jerome, Vitae sanctorum patrium (Venice: Octavianus Scotus, 14
>Feb. 1483/4). C/F/235.2 JER. This copy imperfect, wanting sigs. s1, u1,
>x1, E8, F1, and F4, which have been supplied in photocopy.
>
> Lactantius, L. Coelii Lactantii Firmiani: Divinarum institutionum,
>De ira dei, De opificio dei (Lyond, 1587). C/F/230 LAC
>
> Virgil, Universum poema cum absoluta Servii Honorati Marui,
>grammatici, & Badij Ascensij interpretationer (Venice, 1578). C/F/870 VIR
>
> Voragine, Jacobus de, Legenda aurea sanctorum (Lyons, 18 Nov. 1494).
>C/235.2 VOR ["W. Bayntun, Grays Inn" on title-page].
>
>* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
>
>Dr C. Y. Ferdinand
>Fellow Librarian
>Magdalen College
>Oxford OX1 4AU
>England
>
>Telephone: 01865 276057
>