2025 Poster Session

Custom-made acrylic book cradles can be expensive to produce, time-consuming to make or procure, and difficult to recycle. At the University of Hong Kong Libraries (HKUL), as we were developing a series of exhibitions of traditional Chinese thread-bound books, we wanted to find a material and method that would be affordable, reusable and easy to produce inhouse. The majority of Chinese rare books found in library collections today have textblocks made of paper with either a paper or textile cover that is stab bound along one edge, resulting in a rigid spine but a flexible and lightweight textblock. In researching material that would be able to support the drape of the textblock while holding the spine in place, we focused our attention on a combination of rolled foam and polyester sheets. Rolled pieces of Volara foam attached to a base became our preferred type of support. It can accommodate fascicles of different thicknesses and heights and can be displayed flat or at various angles. While this material accommodates a significant number of traditional books, some require a slightly different approach. To supplement the foam supports, we also fabricated a series of matboard supports that are similar to book supports created for Western codices, but with modifications that address the specific requirements of Chinese thread-bound books. These methods can be altered in a myriad of ways to safely and elegantly showcase these delicate books with a support system that can be reused both for exhibition display and as supports in a library reading room. At HKUL and the Weissman Preservation Center (Harvard Library) the fabrication of book supports for Chinese and other Asian books continues to evolve.