Since its original publication in Germany in 1938, Max Schweidler's Die Instandetzung von Kupferstichen, Zeichnungen, Buchern usw. has been recognized as a seminal modern text on the conservation and restoration of works on paper. To address what he saw as a dearth of relevant literature, the noted German restorer composed a technical manual covering a wide range of specific techniques, including instructions on how to execute structural repairs and alterations that, when skillfully done, are virtually undetectable.
This volume, based on the authoritative revised German edition of 1949, makes Schweidler's work available in English for the first time, in a meticulously edited and annotated critical edition. The editor's introduction places the work in its historical context, while some two hundred annotations elucidate the text itself. An appendix presents technical reports on eleven old master prints that underwent repair or other treatment using techniques similar to those Schweidler describes; it complements Schweidler's own text in aiding curators, conservators, and collectors to detect such repairs. There is also a glossary. Roy Perkinson is head of the Virginia Herrick Deknatel Paper Conservation Laboratory at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
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