Textblock Consolidation
Charles Henry Lee. The Judge Advocate's Vade Mecum. Charleston, SC: West and Johnson: Richmond, 1863.
A rare confederate imprint, this first edition was designed for travel and ready-reference (vade mecum – go with me). The work provides an overview of military law and procedural and evidentiary guidance for the practice of law before courts-martial.
Brief Summary of Conservation Treatment
Conserved by: Beth Antoine Length of Treatment: 18 Hours
The quarter style, rigid board, tight-back, tight-joint binding is covered in light brown leather and brown and cream paste paper. The textblock is comprised of quadruple folio sections of cream colored, smooth, medium weight wove, machine-made paper, and was printed with black printer’s ink.
The binding was in poor condition overall with tenuously attached boards and significant loss of covering material at the spine caps and both boards. The leather and paper covering were severely abraded especially at the edges, and the paper was torn with large areas of loss on both boards. The textblock was also in poor condition overall with broken sewing and degraded paper. The edges of the loose sections were distressed and vulnerable to further damage, and the paper exhibited a range of condition problems throughout.
After mechanically lifting leather spine covering at head and tail, the spine was cleaned and a new spine lining added. The spine was reattached to the boards with toned aero-cotton lining material, partially under lifted pastedowns and partially under lifted leather. Ms. Antoine then sewed the loose sections through the textile lining, and infilled the spine leather with toned long fiber paper. She then re-adhered the lifted spine covering and the loose leather and paper on the boards. After reinforcing the corners, she mended the torn paste down and flyleaf
For more information see the full Conservation Treatment Report