Book Arts Tuesday-Video -The Restoration of Books, Florence, 1966

The University of Utah Marriott Library restored this film, originally produced by the Royal College of Art, London in 1968 and has made it available on the web. Here's how they describe it:


The 1966 Flood of the Arno River in Florence is considered the worst flood in the city's history since 1557. It killed 101 people and damaged or destroyed millions of masterpieces of art and rare books. This film follows the work of book conservators whose task it is to repair and restore the thousands of books damaged by the floodwaters. Book conservators Peter Waters and Christopher Clarkson illustrate step by step the covering of a book in leather and the making of a limp velum binding.



The restored edition is distributed by The Legacy Press to accompany its publication of Waters Rising by Sheila Waters with the permission of the filmmaker, Roger Hill, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Florence flood. The film was restored from a DVD copy — the original 16mm film being lost — at the University of Utah Marriott Library.



The Restoration of Books, Florence, 1966

Thanks to the Book Arts List for information about this.