Rare Books and Manuscripts
Their Care, Preservation and Restoration

POLLY LADA-MOCARSKI and LAURA S. YOUNG
 

The Council of the Friends of the Columbia Libraries has appointed a Com¬
mittee to encourage study of the specialized problems concerned with the
care, preservation and repair of rare books and manuscripts. There is an
urgent need for competent advice on these questions and the Conmiittee
plans to develop this subject further from time to time in future issues of
Columbia Library Colmnvs. In the meantime, anyone desiring further in¬
formation may write to the Committee on the Binding and Preservation of
Books and Manuscripts, in care of the Friends of the Columbia Libraries.
 

' HAT makes a book rare—whar makes it a desirable
acquisition—what makes it worth preserving? There
are many criteria which can be used to answer these
questions. Some things are rare because they are "unusually
excellent" in their workmanship or production; some because they
are "exceedingly uncommon"; others because they are "of a rela¬
tively small class"; and still others are valuable, perhaps not rare,
because they represent milestones in human progress, or because
of their association with an individual or an institution. These are
the materials that constitute, for the most part, our Collectors'
items and fill to ox'erflowing our "rare book rooms"; rhese are the
materials that bring joy and prestige to their owners.

Since the turn of the century the number of rare books and
manuscripts which have come to this country has increased pro¬
digiously—and is consrantly increasing. Has the care and preserva¬
tion of this material kept pace with its acquisition? Are the owners
or custodians of all this valuable material, as well as the great
wealth of Americana, properly discharging the responsibility for
these holdings which are in the nature of a trust to be preserved

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