Bookshoes.

A bookshoe is a kind of protective slip-case developed by Chris Clarkson, former chief conservator of the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

It is generally used to prevent the sagging of a bookblock, between its boards, onto the bookshelf. This sagging is generally a combination of using certain binding techniques which are unsuitable for the book concerned and the pull of gravity. Because of changing binding techniques a lot of 19^th century books are threatened that way. The physical tensions can lead to deformation of the book, tears in the joints and coming loose of the boards.

The concept of the bookshoe, in itself, is very simple but ingenious. It is made like a kind of slip-case of acid-free board, but without top. On the bottom there is a kind of sole which has the form of the underside of the bookblock of the book concerned. When positioned vertically in the bookshoe, the bookblock is supported by the sole and the boards of the binding are resting on the bottom between the sole and the sides of the bookshoe.

Bookshoes are made by hand to the exact measure of the book concerned. They can be made as part of a preservation project by trained institution personnel.