SPOTLIGHT

Where did you study? Where do you work?

I studied bookbinding at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, London, England. After over thirty years of practising, teaching and writing about bookbinding I am currently ‘retired’.

Bone or Teflon? Why?

Bone. It is a natural, recycled material which can easily be filed into different shapes.

Teflon is actually a brand name for a chemical coating (PTFE), rather than a substance in itself; but it is indelibly connected with PFOA (perfluorooctanic acid) which has been banned as a health hazard, so never use it.

Apron or white lab coat?

Apron.

The gloves: on or off?

Off, but very clean, washed hands.

SOFT FOCUS

We’re just warming up! What are you working on right now?

I am in the thinking stage of how to rebind an 1840 craftsman’s book of measuring tables: one board is missing, the other broken off, spine leather broken, but sewing intact. Its long, narrow format – 175 long x 75 wide x 25mm deep – is compounded by the fact that the grain direction of the paper runs the wrong way, i.e. it runs across the page from spine to fore-edge, rather than from head to tail (parallel with the spine) as it should. The grain direction of all machine-made materials in a book should run from head to tail to ensure proper opening and flexing. As a result it does not open well and snaps shut. It’s a fairly typical bookbinding engineering problem which, with sympathetic sensibility, will dictate the binding.

When you tell people what you do for a living, they……….. ?

Have no idea what I’m talking about.

If you could invent one tool for conservation, what would it do?

Wash my brushes.

What conservation technique or treatment are you constantly impressed with? And why?

Detailed condition recording in writing and photography. Basic, but crucial.

What’s the most depressing thing about the conservation profession? What changes would you like to see?

A lack of developed practical skill and historical knowledge, particularly of how books are and were made. This has been due to a devaluation in society at large of the importance of history, and consequently a lack of funding and provision for education and training in many skills vital to preserving that history. The loss of experienced staff and the effective closure by ‘slimming down’ of conservation studios in institutions (which should know better) in the interests of economy (often an excuse for lack of insight) is disastrous – who is to bring on and educate those who come after us? A national college for what might broadly be called ‘craft subjects/skills’ to replace the current, fragmented provision would be a start.

Another source of dismay is the limited choice and availability of good materials now: very often one has little or no choice. This can similarly be due to a loss of certain skills, but the ‘slimming down’ mentioned above contributes to a reduction of demand for certain materials, which in turn means that manufacturers cannot sustain a healthy business and so close…resulting in yet more limited choice. 

Perhaps a buyers’ consortium formed from institutions with common material needs might guarantee not only the standard of materials but also guarantee a steady demand and supply?

When I see……….., steam comes out of my nostrils!

People using scalpels for general cutting. People using the wrong scalpel blade. People not changing their scalpel blade frequently.

PATIO LANTERNS

Who are your role models or mentors? Who or what inspires you?

Throughout my life many people have been a role model in one way or another…

Amateur marathon runners inspire me, but not enough to do it myself!

How do you preserve/conserve yourself? What keeps you going?

Reading. Reading.

If not conservation/preservation, what would you be doing right now?

I’d be a retired medical doctor.

If you could invite anyone round for dinner, who would it be? What’s on the menu?

Virginia Woolf, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ella Fitzgerald, George Eliot. Italian food.

LIGHTS OUT………..Z  Z  ZZZ

What music rocks you to sleep?

The BBC shipping forecast.

People would be surprised that you………..

Like Tamla Motown records.

What’s your secret hobby?

I was going to say that reading was my secret hobby but, as intimated above, it is actually my sanctuary and salvation. So perhaps I should say: walking the course of the lost rivers of London.

You get your kicks by……….. ?

Waking every morning.

What’s your favourite book?

Oh dear! Impossible to choose _ but a very interesting question for an avid reader!

I remember putting down Lampedusa’s The Leopard and thinking “That’s the best book I’ve ever read”, but then I think of To the Lighthouse, Mrs Dalloway, or Dr Zhivago, or Sunset Song, or Memoirs of Hadrian – and others that have completely taken me over in the same way…each book has its own place in your life at a given time perhaps?

Desert island survivor: what conservation tool would you take with you? Why?

Japanese hole punch. Not really sure why, it’s just a perfect little ‘machine’.

Thanks for sticking with us to the end! Last question: if you could give just one piece of advice to a new conservator, what would it be?

Curiosity is your guide and your teacher. Listen to your doubt.