Elias is a book and paper conservator in private practice. His bench sees deed books with failed spines, maps held together by tape and minute books that spent a winter in a damp basement. He writes about what treatment can and cannot do, and why the kitchen-table repair usually makes things worse.
How iron gall ink damages paper, the four stages of ink corrosion, why humidity matters, safe handling and storage, and what a conservator can do about it.
Why old pressure-sensitive tape stains records, the three stages of tape ageing, how conservators remove it with heat and solvents, and what to do meanwhile.
