Celebrating Book Giving Season

It’s book giving season!*  And nothing says you care more than the gift of a book on preservation.

I have two recommendations for great books on preserving family collection items, plus two more recommendations courtesy of Vicki Cassman, Director of Undergraduate Studies and Assistant Professor in the University of Delaware’s Art 

Conservation Department.

First, my two:

Caring For Your Family Treasures  by Jane S. Long and Richard W. Long:  This is my favorite – the one that I’ve chosen to give to family members on various book giving occasions.  The needs of books, paintings, film and video, fabrics, wedding dresses, furniture, clocks, and even dolls and teddy bears are addressed in very practical terms.  I love the “Care” checklists that conclude each chapter!

The Winterthur Guide to Caring For Your Collection:  This book features a powerhouse roster of experts – fourteen of the top names in preservation contributed chapters.  Fortunately for the lay reader, they each keep to the easy-to-use format and generally avoid technical jargon.  It offers needed advice on care and storage of items and is packed with practical tips.  And, like you’d probably expect from a book published by the Winterthur Museum, the photos are of gorgeous pieces.

And Vicki offers the following two 

recommendations and descriptions:

Saving Stuff:  How to Care For and Preserve Your Collectibles, Heirlooms, and Other Prized Possessions by Don Williams and Louisa Jaggar.  Don has a wonderful sense of humor and it comes out in his descriptions and recommendations.  I especially love the suspender tips in the margins.  Lots of great suggestions for all sorts of collections found in homes.

To understand conservation, People of the Book  by Geraldine Brooks is particularly powerful.  This is not a how-to book!  Instead it follows a fictional book

conservator as she preserves and solves mysteries by piecing together evidence and histories surrounding a medieval book.  A bestseller for a good reason.

Many thanks to Vicki Cassman for contributing this week!

* FYI: Book giving season officially begins in early January and ends in late December.

© 2010 Lee Price