In our country, which has a huge collection of manuscripts, has no special care been given to preserve the historical books at libraries and museums under proper environmental and climatic conditions.In fact, books, which, apart from their cultural and historic values, are also very significant documents from artistic aspect, are to be preserved under appropriate conditions, thus being conveyed to future.In this study, the types of the leather bindings of those books in the Rare Books Section in the Library of the Faculty of Letters of Istanbul University have been described; the problems and the sources of the problems have been determined; and suggestions have been made to eliminate and/or prevent their deterioration.In Chapter-I of the study that we conducted for this purpose, the historical development and use of leather, how raw hide is processed, and the trimming techniques are described,In Chapter-II, the historical development, parts and types of leather bindings are described; and bindings produced in eastern and western countries are compared.In Chapter-III, the phases of protection are described, and the deterioration of the book bindings and its sources are studied. Furthermore, environmental conditions of the Library of Faculty of Letters in Istanbul University and the Rare Books Section are assessed, and the results are evaluated.In Chapter-IV, the leather bindings of 10 books of diverse periods selected from the Rare Books Section of the Faculty of Letters are studied. The descriptions of the said books have been made in details; their photographs have been taken; and the methods of the tanning of their leather binding have been determined by using spot testsand SEM-EDS analysis. Further, the conditions of the books are studied and the types of decomposition are evaluated along with the degrees and reasons. Besides, an experimental study is carried out as an example for the studies and researches for protection and restoration with a view to eliminating and/or stopping the problems in the binding of a manuscript that is equivalent to the books in the library.Finally, the data obtained are discussed and some suggestions are given in the Chapter of Results.

Bu çalışmada, İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Kütüphanesi, Nadir Eserler Bölümünde bulunan kitapların, deri ciltlerinin nitelikleri, oluşan problemleri ve sebepleri tespit edilmiş, bozulmaları geriye döndürmek ve/veya durdurmak amacıyla uygulamalar önerilmiştir.