General George Washington and his Aides-de-Camp, binding c. 1920-1930s.
Condition:
This volume contains eighteen manuscript letters to and from Washington to his aides-de-camp,
along with portrait prints of each man.
It was bound in full crushed red goatskin by Riviere and Sons, London. The binding is heavily gilt overall, with a painting of Washington under glass inset in the front doublure. Leather hinges in good condition but for cracking at the head and tail and some wear on the front hinge. There are watered silk flyleaves in good condition. The spine is loose in places and broken away from the front board. The textblock leaves were whipstitched on five sawn in cords with the slips laced into the boards. The front quarter of the textblock is loose although the front board remains connected to the loose section. The sewing is cracked in several places between the sections. Double core silk headbands: the upper one is missing and the lower one is partially missing. All edges gilt.
Conservation treatment:
The torn and loose manuscripts were repaired and re-adhered using re-moistenable tissue or kozo paper using either wheat starch paste, depending in whether there was iron gall ink present in the repair area. The original leather was consolidated as needed using 2% Klucel-G in isopropanol. The loose sections and cracked sewing were reinforced with 35/3 linen thread using a link stitch. New headbands were sewn with red and white silk thread. The volume was rebacked with red goatskin The original spine pieces were re-adhered and the volume was touched up using acrylic pigment as needed to blend with the existing leather.