Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/207

Rh middle and gummed to the print, then to the mount. Care should be taken not to use too much moisture on the bank-note paper as the paper of the print is apt to pull when damp and form bad wrinkles when dried. With certain of the Japanese rice papers it is better to make several small hinges instead of one large one, because the paper stretches when wet. When the print has been mounted it should be pressed under a heavy plate glass until thoroughly dry. In the case of prints mounted vertically, the hinge of the cover mount should always be on the left side. With prints mounted horizontally, the hinge should be at the top. The custom of firmly gluing down either the print or the mount has been given up since so much care and study have been bestowed upon the art of the engraver. The back of a print should always be accessible to the student. Where a print comes to a collection already mounted in the old-fashioned manner it may be carefully soaked in cold distilled water by a competent person. Experts in the handling of old prints can restore them in a remarkable way by simple processes of bathing. Brown water spots, for example, can be removed in this manner, and the creases made from improper handling obliterated. Any of the large print collections are in the habit of doing this, and the curator of