The Government of the Tongue

Identification and bibliographical details

Title/descriptive signifier: The government of the tongue

Author: The Whole Duty of Man, & c.

Dimensions (mm): 183 (h) 111 (w) 23 (d) 

Collection/client details: Dr Matthew J Eve

Date: 11.01.2023

Provenance: The object has been stored at Marchpane in Soho.

Historical context and details of research:

The government of the tongue is about the early history of religion. It includes the spiritual impact on the lives of both royalty and the commoner.

Condition

Poor (Highly unstable) - widespread damage

Category 3 - Major structural damage that restricts the use and may deteriorate with continued use

Boards:

• The left board is fully detached.

• The right board is broken but half-detached, still attached to the text block by pastedown. 

• All edges and board corners are abraded. 

Cover:

• There are two different types of covering leather present. It was re-bound on top of the original cover. 

Spine:

• There are two different types of spine leather present (figure 1, 2); the outer one is detached but still intact on the right board. 

• Figure 2 shows the original leather inside the outer leather, and its texture and colour match the inner spine leather. It is assumed that the repairer somehow left the original spine leather because of the limited time or cost issues, but did not paste the new leather on the original later, just laced-in.

• The original spine leather is relatively in good condition, but the leather around the head and the tail is lost. There is evidence that endbands existed in the past, but both are lost. 

Endleaves:

• The left fly-leaf is detached from the title page.

• For both left and right endleaves, there is ingrained surface dirt.

• Dirt is heavier around the head of the text block. 

Text-block

• The paper is generally in good condition, with some surface dirt and light foxing throughout.

• Partially water damaged, e.g. on pages 54-64.

• The endpapers are burned by the leather turn-ins (figure 3).

Endbands

•  The endbands are missing. There is evidence of tie-downs, e.g. on pages 194-195.

Treatment description

1. Dry cleaning:  Surface cleaning was conducted with a smoke sponge and soft brush with care over the media. Surface cleaning does not remove staining or paper discolouration. Only loose surface dirt was removed.  

2. Spine removal: the outer spine was trimmed, and it was kept in the Melinex polyester pocket. Ideally, the original leather needed to be lifted, but the leather was too brittle to lift up; therefore, it was decided not to be lifted and left as it is. 

3. Infilling: the losses on the text block were infilled with 46.5GSM Japanese paper and toned spider tissue paper.  

4. Pages re-attachment:  a strip of Japanese paper was half-adhered onto each of the detached pages, and the other half was inserted: the left one in between the board and the right one tipped on the text block. This will strengthen the structure of the book and reattach the board.

5. Toning Japanese paper: the Japanese paper was colour matched to the original spine leather with watercolour. This was made to re-attach the boards. 

6. Consolidate board attachment (figure 4): Feathered, toned Japanese paper was pasted and inserted half in between the outer joint of the board by lifting the board, and the other half pasted onto the spine leather. This is not the strongest board attachment method, but considering the fragile condition of the original leather, this was the best option for safe handling. 

7. Reinforcement of inner joints: The inner joints were reinforced with Japanese paper as necessary to improve the board attachment.

8.  Leather consolidation: The spine leather and corners were consolidated with a mixture of Klucel G and IMS.

After photodocumentation

Requirements/future recommendations

The only means of board attachment is a sheet of Japanese paper, so gentle and careful handling is required. 

 The object should be kept away from direct sunlight to prevent fading or discolouration. The environment should be around 45-55% to prevent mould growth.