The ‘Brittle Books Problem’: A Turn-of-the-Century Perspective

Turn-of-the-century librarians wrote and spoke at great length about the preservation of the external book-its sewing and binding-yet many also feared the implications of the poor quality and short life of contemporary book papers and newsprint; for relief, they looked to the paper research conducted by the federal government and ideas of printing library editions on special papers. The same factors that motivated our forebears' interest in paper deterioration-the expansion and aging of their collections, coupled with a mission to preserve for future generations that which was worthwhile-prompted the late twentieth century's serious examination of the "brittle books problem."