LAST PAGE
This last page in the book includes an advertisement for the publisher. It reads like a modern advertisement, almost, as it gives copious reviews for The Dictionary of Chronology, and leaves a sense of what the publishing house was known for; i.e. histories, registers, and heraldry for people to figure out their heritage.
Because of the British "occupation" of Ireland, the Irish tended to lean heavily into their heritage to counter the British ideals and histories, so though this was printed in London it makes sense that during this period, books like this one are printed with the intent of helping fuel the knowledge of heritage, place, and personhood in nationality and ethnicity.
To investigate this page, hover over the book and click within the highlighted areas, whichever interests you first, or start scrolling.
To learn more about this book's history, click on the arrow to the right.
ADVERTISEMENTS
Advertisements for similar books or more books in a series from the same publisher or author were often added to the last few pages during this period. Advertisements were put in books because they were the largest medium of communication and entertainment that people engaged with on a daily basis, which today would be television or the internet.
With a book like this the advertisements would have usually spread across more than one page, since the book was large enough to be flipped through more than once and the opportunity for looking through advertisements was higher. This advertisement, and the few preceding it, give insight into the reading habits and intended audience of the book.
To learn more about this book's history and who may have been flipping through advertisements, click on the arrow to the right.
CONSERVATION
Conservation of books can be an involved process and ranges depending on what is desired as the outcome. Most modern, private conservation focuses on making the book readable or at the very least whole again. This may mean a new cover, new endpapers, new spine supports, and possibly even new sewing. If paper is being fixed, either for tears, replacement pages, or pieces pages back together, care can be taken to either make it look exactly as it did when it was printed, or to make it obvious, but still done well, that the book has been fixed, which most book historians and customers appreciate. If a book is fixed with the intention of making it look exactly as it once did, and is going to be resold, it must be well documented and labeled as a modern rebinding or re-backing or it may be mis-judged as intact binding and sold for a price much higher than it should be.
To conserve this book, it would most definitely need to have paper repair and a new cover and spine, though care would be taken to preserve the original cover (since marbled paper is hard to replicate, especially for certain colors).
To see the process of conservation on this particular book, click on the button below.