bjm
Naturally different
A former colleague had some academic literature on the choice of timber in museum storage when I was looking into this but....he forgot to send it.....I will chase it up.
Library shelves
- Thread starter MikeG.
- Start date
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I've built loads of bookshelves, for my wife and I, probably for around 3000 books, some valuable historic, many academic hence expensive, many paperbacks. In fact I designed my bench as an 8' one to specialise on bookcases. Nothing of the quality level of the BL or of your beautiful examples from the internet, and the relatively small amount of material that we have that really needs preservation is kept in archival quality acid-free boxes. It depends therefore if it is for a working scholarly library like ours, or an architectural/artistic showpiece. The ones you show, with beautiful matched sets of nicely bound books in matched heights, are for show, not for scholarship or reading.
Most of my bookshelves are pine of some sort, with occasional other woods. Oak would be my choice if cost were not a consideration, cherry looks good and is frequently seen in US libraries, walnut too. I never build glass fronts on them as it hinders taking them out for actual reading.
I think you should avoid tropical hardwoods on conservation grounds as well as finding them difficult to get. All Dalbergia species (rosewoods), I think all Swietanias (true mahoganies) are now on the CITES Appendix 2 because they are endangered. This means that one cannot get them except (a) expensively and (b) by using rule-evading dodgy practices. Some mahogany-like woods are available, see their entries in The Wood Database. Good native or European species would be oak, ash, walnut, cherry, maple, Douglas fir. Please persuade your clients to consider the sustainability of whatever they choose. See also Custard's eloquent posts on this topic.
I would definitely avoid a pure oil finish as likely to damage the books. Even with much time to dry, there is still a danger of contamination over time. And oil does need occasional renewal, not an easy task if you have to remove all the books for a month. Almost all of mine are done with some sort of polyurethane finish, usually two coats with denibbing. More recently I have started using Fiddes Hardwax Oil, which does seem impervious to most things, but would want to research this more before using it on a major project. Note that archivists prefer non-organic finishes to eliminate risk of insect damage. Renaissance Wax, designed by the British Museum and commonly used in finishing conserved museum objects (I am an occasional consultant to the Royal College of Music Museum on woodwind instruments), is purely inorganic. I would prefer to avoid shellac for a similar reason and because over long periods of time it can sometimes degrade.
I look forward to seeing how this project develops!
Most of my bookshelves are pine of some sort, with occasional other woods. Oak would be my choice if cost were not a consideration, cherry looks good and is frequently seen in US libraries, walnut too. I never build glass fronts on them as it hinders taking them out for actual reading.
I think you should avoid tropical hardwoods on conservation grounds as well as finding them difficult to get. All Dalbergia species (rosewoods), I think all Swietanias (true mahoganies) are now on the CITES Appendix 2 because they are endangered. This means that one cannot get them except (a) expensively and (b) by using rule-evading dodgy practices. Some mahogany-like woods are available, see their entries in The Wood Database. Good native or European species would be oak, ash, walnut, cherry, maple, Douglas fir. Please persuade your clients to consider the sustainability of whatever they choose. See also Custard's eloquent posts on this topic.
I would definitely avoid a pure oil finish as likely to damage the books. Even with much time to dry, there is still a danger of contamination over time. And oil does need occasional renewal, not an easy task if you have to remove all the books for a month. Almost all of mine are done with some sort of polyurethane finish, usually two coats with denibbing. More recently I have started using Fiddes Hardwax Oil, which does seem impervious to most things, but would want to research this more before using it on a major project. Note that archivists prefer non-organic finishes to eliminate risk of insect damage. Renaissance Wax, designed by the British Museum and commonly used in finishing conserved museum objects (I am an occasional consultant to the Royal College of Music Museum on woodwind instruments), is purely inorganic. I would prefer to avoid shellac for a similar reason and because over long periods of time it can sometimes degrade.
I look forward to seeing how this project develops!
MikeG.
Established Member
Thanks for the thoughtful post, MM. Much appreciated. I'm completely with you on timber choice, and suspect that the final choice is going to boil down to oak, walnut or cherry. I'd never get involved with a project that uses mahogany. I'm afraid that you are never going to see anything of this project, though, as it is for a private client, and the last thing they would want would be publicity.
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As an irrelevant aside, my best buddy teaches at the RCM,
Not all. I know plenty of identical sets of books that are read regularly (or at least were until they were digitised). Some in rooms nearly as grand as Mike's photos.
I have completed an inexpensive upstairs bookcase installation (pine) and realised that my 300 year old house would not take the weight without distributing the weight between wall and floor. Whilst not answering your question it’s worth including this parameter into bookcase planning. I had to buy huge support brackets and reinforce the floor to distribute the weight!
MikeG.
Established Member
There'll definitely be some structural engineering input into this one. Paper is heavy. Wood is heavy.
MikeG.
Established Member
You know if I tell you I'll have to kill you?
There will be one if the client wants one.......and he'll certainly be offered the opportunity.
lurker
Le dullard de la commune
I am sure that this is an egg sucking lesson.
But ages ago Steve Maskery posted about a shelf rack system that I had never come across before. It was quite impressive; although as I understand it was commonly used in posh libraries.
I would not mind seeing that post again if anyone can track it down.
But ages ago Steve Maskery posted about a shelf rack system that I had never come across before. It was quite impressive; although as I understand it was commonly used in posh libraries.
I would not mind seeing that post again if anyone can track it down.
I have just had a library built during lockdown - one of our top priorities on moving into our new house... though I will say that our budget was considerably different to the one that MikeG refers to! My library is built from MDF and then painted - houses currently about 3,500 books of which about 1/3 are first editions... Some thoughts to add to the general mix:
- when I owned an archive (glass plate photos c. 100,000) I was given the old archive shelving from Brent Council - they moved archives, the shelving was a composite board made up of a laminated top and bottom and sides which were a softwood - it was considered inert and strong
- friends who are fortunate to have old houses big enough for libraries seem to be generally oak
- as mentioned above - anything of sufficient value should be in acid-free boxes
- biggest issues with books are: temperature / moisture / dust / sunlight - the last is the one which many people forget to deal with, so in my library, one end of the room gets no sunshine at all so the First Editions sit that end - c. 70% of the value of a first edition is in its jacket and the two biggest loss in value come from torn jackets and faded jackets... if books are older and leather bound, then sun fading can damage the book value considerably, so a big priority would be to protect against sunlight. This can be done in several ways - orientation of shelves / books to avoid where the sun reaches... doors which are silk-lined keeps them in the dark, but then you don't have the same visual effect... even changing the room window glass to a UV blocking glass - or adding a film to cut UV ingress can be a good move... then you look at dust - the little curtains shown above are remarkably effective, dust doesn't affect the books, but the act of dusting them can! alternatively, glass doors cuts down on dust... finally temperature and moisture, could lead to looking at how the room is heated and a climate controlled room would be ideal for valuable books unless the building is fortunate enough to already have the right balance - assuming from the above that it is a big country house, then generally they are damp and books go there to die!
Alasdair
- when I owned an archive (glass plate photos c. 100,000) I was given the old archive shelving from Brent Council - they moved archives, the shelving was a composite board made up of a laminated top and bottom and sides which were a softwood - it was considered inert and strong
- friends who are fortunate to have old houses big enough for libraries seem to be generally oak
- as mentioned above - anything of sufficient value should be in acid-free boxes
- biggest issues with books are: temperature / moisture / dust / sunlight - the last is the one which many people forget to deal with, so in my library, one end of the room gets no sunshine at all so the First Editions sit that end - c. 70% of the value of a first edition is in its jacket and the two biggest loss in value come from torn jackets and faded jackets... if books are older and leather bound, then sun fading can damage the book value considerably, so a big priority would be to protect against sunlight. This can be done in several ways - orientation of shelves / books to avoid where the sun reaches... doors which are silk-lined keeps them in the dark, but then you don't have the same visual effect... even changing the room window glass to a UV blocking glass - or adding a film to cut UV ingress can be a good move... then you look at dust - the little curtains shown above are remarkably effective, dust doesn't affect the books, but the act of dusting them can! alternatively, glass doors cuts down on dust... finally temperature and moisture, could lead to looking at how the room is heated and a climate controlled room would be ideal for valuable books unless the building is fortunate enough to already have the right balance - assuming from the above that it is a big country house, then generally they are damp and books go there to die!
Alasdair
thick_mike
Wood Shortener
Are you going to use OSB as a vapour barrier?
AJB Temple
Finely figured
In the older libraries I have frequented over the years as an alumnus, sun shades are in common use, so akirk is spot on. Thinking about it, there must also be some humidity control. It is clearly quite an involved subject from a conservation perspective. One very significant issue for a rare / valuable collection must be dealing with fire risk. Sprinkler systems over the shelves are clearly not good, so I wonder if there are air exclusion systems available. I listened to a programme on Radio 4 last night about the US Congress library (200,000 books in the early days) burning down twice. It rose from the ashes both times, but avoidance of fire risk and damage from "protection" systems may be worth building in?
MikeG.
Established Member
We'll certainly be having a conversation about that. There are all sorts of consultants involved with this project, and it's big enough that a sprinkler system would be considered.
Interesting project, lots of competing objectives. If conservation is a concern and wood is a design preference, glass fronts would compound the compromise on the conservation side. Budget no object and conservation a priority but wood essential - maybe deploy that gold standard enamelled steel but as shelf liners under and behind (open fronted).
The British Library Reading Rooms are probably the state-of-the-art in shelving and conditions. Definitely both temperature and humidity controlled (55% RH is used for musical instrument museums but not sure about books). And of course, they are internal rooms with no windows. Sunlight is indeed damaging. I believe the shelving is oak and the finish could be Renaissance Wax but I don't know - pretty sure not shellac. In the stacks of course they use (as mentioned above) enamelled steel shelves with a racking system to expose one shelf at a time, but that doesn't have the elegance required for this project!
I do know the Clementinum library also, it is indeed gorgeous. I love the bookcases below supporting the gallery for the upper tier.
Despite my dislike of glass fronts getting in the way of the books, protection against dust, and against water from a sprinkler system, are good points.
Keith
I do know the Clementinum library also, it is indeed gorgeous. I love the bookcases below supporting the gallery for the upper tier.
Despite my dislike of glass fronts getting in the way of the books, protection against dust, and against water from a sprinkler system, are good points.
Keith
Inspector
Nyuck, Nyuck, Nyuck!
I have a reprinted book by George Ellis called Modern Practical Joinery. You likely have the original. It has a couple pages on library cases with a paragraph on shelves. He said "Shelves intended to receive books with expensive bindings should be covered with cowhide, and two pads or rolls of leather inserted in grooves in the standards, to protect the sides of the end books."
He does have a couple illustrations of the special hinges for glass doors. "Special butts were used called butterfly hinges." Basically a butt hinge shared by two doors. The butt hinge fitting between the ears of a piece screwed into the vertical member. The hinge pin having points to hold strips of wood into the verticals so the profile carries through from hinge to hinge. A continuous bead effect. The arrangement allows the doors to open flat against the next, letting you take the book out. I have never seen them commercially sold anywhere but think they would be relatively easy to make a batch for a job like you are doing. If you do make some up make some extras for me.
Pete
It has a couple pages on library cases with a paragraph on shelves. He said "Shelves intended to receive books with expensive bindings should be covered with cowhide, and two pads or rolls of leather inserted in grooves in the standards, to protect the sides of the end books."He does have a couple illustrations of the special hinges for glass doors. "Special butts were used called butterfly hinges." Basically a butt hinge shared by two doors. The butt hinge fitting between the ears of a piece screwed into the vertical member. The hinge pin having points to hold strips of wood into the verticals so the profile carries through from hinge to hinge. A continuous bead effect. The arrangement allows the doors to open flat against the next, letting you take the book out. I have never seen them commercially sold anywhere but think they would be relatively easy to make a batch for a job like you are doing. If you do make some up make some extras for me.
Pete
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Mutley Racers
Established Member
Wowzers! Now that us fine! What a job
Bristol_Rob
Established Member
Does the room have to be in a particular style to match the remainder of the building?
MikeG.
Established Member
I have to be a bit careful with regards client confidentiality, so I won't be talking about the building. I can say, though, that the library will be very much in keeping with its setting.
MikeG.
Established Member
Don't suppose you could post an image or two, could you? I'm struggling to visualise that from the description.
