In 2007, a copy of Mattheus Seutter's "Atlas novus sive tabulæ geographicæ" (ca. 1740) came to the University Library’s Conservation Lab for examination and treatment. The title page and all 97 maps had been damaged by the penetration of an oil-based leather dressing applied to “preserve” the deteriorating cover. The conservators examined the binding, papers, media, and condition, all of which constitute evidence that tells us how the atlas was created and used. The subsequent conservation treatment of this large book took three years and involved disbinding it, treating the individual maps, resewing, and placing the whole into a new binding.

Join us in the Special Collections Library (7th floor of the Hatcher Graduate Library) for a talk by Cathleen A. Baker, Senior Conservator of Paper and Books, and Thomas Hogarth, Senior Conservator of Books and Photographs. Introduction by Kathryn Beam, Librarian Emerita, Special Collections Library.