Cleaning grimy uncoated book covers

One common but difficult cleaning job is removing hand grime from boards having uncoated paper that was printed with water-soluble ink. Any application of water immediately begins removing ink and usually damages the paper covering. I have tried several cleaning methods and would like to compare with your experiences.

Acetone
Doesn't damage ink or paper, but has no effect on grime.

Paint Thinner
Also no effect on grime, slight residue and damage. The Absorene product is made from flour, salt, water, and mineral spirits. I would expect its effectiveness to be the same as paint thinner. Any report on this?

Alchohol
Slightly removes grime. Water in the solution affects paper. Isopropyl seems to be slightly better than ethyl alchocol.

White Bread
Supposedly, the oil acts as a solvent and the bread acts as a sponge. I found that it did not remove any grime.

I haven't tried Clean Cover Gel. It is petroleum-based and leaves a residue. How well does it work for this?

Water & Detergent
Very effective but dangerous and requires great patience. I use three very soft rags: dry, wet but not dripping, and soapy. To avoid wet-dry border stains, I do an entire board at once. First, do a very quick and light scrub with the soapy rag, then follow rapidly with the wet and the dry. Allow the paper to dry completely then repeat. I generally start to see a significant difference after four to six cycles. I eventually reach a point where trying to remove further grime does more to damage the paper.

I haven't tried Demco Book Cleaner. It is a solution of sodium carbonate, and I don't understand how that is supposed to work.

I've had some luck with pre-moistened eyeglass cleaner wipes on both buckram and shiny paperback covers. Don't remember if I've tried them on uncoated paper. They have both alcohol and a tiny bit of detergent, so they do get dirt, plus dry super quickly.

Would a good quality eraser help some?

While erasers work well on pencil marks and dry smudges, I did not see that they had any effect on this kind of grime.

Have you tried xylene? All the usual warnings apply (flammability, toxicity, and cautious initial testing being the main ones).

I tried 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner, which contains naphtha, xylene, propane, ethylbenzene, etc. It didn't appear to clean anything, although the naphtha might have something to do with that.

I just happened to find this passage in The Library, by Andrew Lang, 1881.

"...we are sometimes compelled to buy books already dirty and dingy, foxed, or spotted with red, worn by greasy hands, stained with ink spots, or covered with MS. notes... There are "fat stains" on books, as thumb marks, traces of oil (the midnight oil), flakes of old pasty crust left in old Shakespeares, and candle drippings. There are "thin stains," as of mud, scaling-wax, ink, dust, and damp. To clean a book you first carefully unbind it, take off the old covers, cut the old stitching, and separate sheet from sheet. Then take a page with "fat stains" of any kind of grease (except finger-marks), pass a hot flat iron over it, and press on it a clean piece of blotting paper till the paper sucks up the grease. Then charge a camel-hair brush with heated turpentine, and pass it over the places that were stained. If the paper loses its colour press softly over it a delicate handkerchief, soaked in heated spirits of wine. Finger-marks you will cover with clean soap, leave this on for some hours, and then rub with a sponge filled with hot water. Afterwards dip in weak acid and water, and then soak the page in a bath of clean water. Ink-stained pages you will first dip in a strong solution of oxalic acid and then in hydrochloric acid mixed in six times its quantity of water. Then bathe in clean water and allow to dry slowly."

>7 Doppo: There ya go! Simple.