Bread eraser

Description

An old cleaning method that uses pieces of bread to remove dirt and lead pencil marks from paper and parchment. Dry or moist bread crumbs act as a soft abrasive and sorbent material. Larger pieces of fresh bread rolled into a ball have also been used. Neither method is recommended because of the potential for leaving residual flour or grease on the pages.

Synonyms and Related Terms

bread crumbs; breadcrumbs

Authority

• Hermann Kuhn, Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art and Antiquities, Butterworths, London, 1986

• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982