Leather Revival - Stanford's Library Map of Europe, 1878.

Attempting to bring the leather on this map case for Stanford's Library Map of Europe published in 1878.

The leather was dusty and beginning to rot so we had to moisturise it using D&M's Neetsfoot and Beeswax polish.

I used a soft bristled brush to apply the wax, with half an hour or so between applications.

The leather is darkened somewhat by this process as you can see in the below photograph, the area above the gilt titles has had a small coat applied. 

The spine of the case after three layers of the wax, as you can see in comparison to the first photograph, the difference is night and day. The darker leather makes the gilt titles pop out a lot more.

The wax had an almost immediate effect on the dried leather, preventing it from being crumbly and dusty.

I will leave the wax to soak in over night and buff it tomorrow and post an update with the results.