Collapsible Book Cradle
I was visiting with my friend Elizabeth Rideout this weekend and she showed me this amazing collapsible book cradle she created. She just completed work at Preservation Services at Dartmouth and was recently named the Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the Northeast Document Conservation Center in Andover, MA.
I’m so psyched for her, but I’ll miss her terribly (clearly MA isn’t VT).
Back to the book cradle. It can be adjusted to accommodate a range of book thicknesses and breaks down to something can be shelved like a book.
Here are some pictures of it:
Cradle open
Cradle open wider
Detail
Cradle pieces
Cradle collapsed
Cradle folded
Seriously, this thing is genius.
And who doesn’t like Velcro?
It’s AWESOME! Giving books the respect and display they deserve. Modest, clean lines. And looks light/portable. Are they for sale?
Monica –
Not sure if they’re for sale – she just finished the prototype. I’ll let her know you’re interested!
Elissa
elissa, this is indeed brilliant! it seems that the velcro is a perfect technology for this application. thank you for sharing it!
Velma –
I’m glad you like it! I’m hoping for a tutorial that will allow the rest of us to make one.
Elissa
This seems very clever and compact. However, I am concerned that the spine of a book would come into direct contact with the velcro when the cradle is adjusted to be open wide. In our library rare book reading room, we’d have to place a cloth or a small, thin cushion in the middle to provide additional protection for book spines.
Barbara –
I passed your feedback on to Elizabeth. I’ll see if she’s addressed your concerns – they seem pretty valid to me!
Elissa
This is actually brilliant. Simple, easy to make, easy to store, and it lends itself to a large variety of book types. I want one so bad I could cry. I don’t care the cost, would you make me one? Or, would you show more pics so that we can make them? I suggest you not do that however. You have invented something that is in demand. It is your concept. You should probably patent it! I’m not kidding.
Carol –
I think that Elizabeth is writing up a tutorial that she plans to publish. Trust me – as soon as I get it in my grubby hands, It’s getting on this blog.
Elissa
Awesome. Please let me know if she is interested in selling these. Thanks!
Stephen –
I’m not sure if they’re for sale – they might just be for use by Dartmouth. I’ll keep you posted if they do end up selling them. They’re so cool!
Elissa
I made one of these after seeing it here and estimating the dimensions from the photo. It came out great and it has come in very handy as a portable cradle. Thanks for the great pics.
[…] (PLCH), on collapsible book cradles. The workshop came about after our conservator shared images of Elizabeth Rideout’s collapsible book cradle with us and explained how beneficial this would be for the special collections holding libraries to […]
Wow. How do I get one to try with my collection?
Peter –
If you’d like, I can pass along your contact information to Elizabeth, the creator. I’m not sure if she’s planning on making any more of these, but I can find out for you.
Elissa
Wow wow wow, I would absolutely love to buy one of these.
Has the master of this brilliance come out with a tutorial or have any for sale?
Thanks
Dan
Dan –
As far as I know, Elizabeth hasn’t made a tutorial. However Chris Voynovich, a conservation technician at University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Public Library, was inspired by this post to create his own tutorial. You can find the downloadable directions at the end of this post.
If you want one made by Elizabeth, I’d be happy to send her your email address, if you like.
Elissa
Hi Elissa,
Very cool, so great to see how this has really inspired so many people.
Well that would be great – Thank you for offering. I would love to hear if that’s even a possibility!
Thanks
Dan
Dan –
I sent your contact information along to Elizabeth. Hopefully she’s available to work with you.
Elissa
Hi, this looks great, what material is used to make the cradle? I need the cradle to be completely black for photographic digitising of the book pages. Any further information would be great.
Stephen –
The cradle is covered in bookcloth – it comes in paper-backed and starched varieties.
You could easily make the cradle using black bookcloth to meet your needs.
Elissa
Can you tell us a price and where we can purchase this glorious object, please?
Cheryl –
The creator of the cradle isn’t taking any orders, but I can make one for you.
Why don’t you send me an email with your specifications and I can come up with an estimate for you.
Elissa