Mr Gongmao's Library: n°21, 金瓶梅, 1838

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Published (刋行) in 1838: Tenpō 9 (天保九年), year of the earth dog (戊戍), January (正月).

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Shelfmark: n°21.

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The bottom of the outer edge of the pages is darken and was often teared by readers turning pages.
The ink on numerous pages is faded, probably due to an excessive exposure to light (which is consistent with numerous readings).
With the exception of the covers, all bifolio leaves are divided were they were fold.
The outer edge of a page representing a bare-chested woman has been teared (it is unlikely an act of censoring, because the woman remains completely visible). Also a page is missing, possibly because it contained another suggestive picture.

An example of the wear and tears

Sunday 24/07/2016:
I numbered each page and removed the binding thread, which was in very poor state.
I made some tests on a bifolio leaf (part of the cover+publisher's catalogue).

It took a lot of klucel G to get the sekishu paper to stick to the leaf. Because of that and the high grammage of the sekishu paper, the leaf became very rigid.

Always use a lower grammage to line a leaf.
Starch glue is better than klucel G for that purpose, because klucel G tends to rigidify the leaf.

Sunday 02/10/2016:
I removed the lining paper on the bifolio leaf by putting it in hot water for 30 minutes. It fell off by itself in the water. While the paper was in the water, I gently brushed off the glue from it with a large paintbrush.
I began to wash every single leaf of the book this way, for two reason:

1) To clean the paper (if possible).
2) To unfold the damaged edges and the inner side of bifolios leaves. To do that, I first used a brush, before having better results with a small spatula. The japanese paper is very resistant to tearing, but the worn parts are of course very fragile.

To dry the leaves, I put them inside two leaves of non woven paper, and two leaves of bamboo felt. I then put it all on a clean oven grill, so than humidity is not stuck at the bottom of the pile.

Sunday 09/10/2016:
I changed my method: instead of putting the wet leaf on a non woven paper and then unfolding it with a spatula, I unfold the leaf directly in the water with a small paintbrush and use it to brush off the dust. Then, while in the water, I put a leaf of non woven paper on and under the leaf, to preserve its shape. This method has a few advantages:

the brush is less intrusive than the spatula, therefore the risk of damaging the paper is considerably lesser.
unfoldind the paper is easier and the results are better (the leaf is almost perfectly unfolded).

Although the paper is cleaner (I can see that some brown particles brushed off in the water), it remains tainted. The ink doesn't fade during the process, but some paper fibres have shifted, possibly locally weakening the leaf.

Before/after cleaning the paper underwater with a paintbrush

I have started to glue the lining paper, using a method taught by an art restorer. The result looks very promising.


Two sides of a bifolio leaf pasted on lining paper, maintained by brown gum paper on a wooden board. While drying, the paper is gradually drawn tight.	Two sides of a bifolio leaf reunited with lining paper.

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