Repair on vintage Héliogravures

I have around 35 of these late 19Th to very early 20th century Héliogravures by Braun & Clement. ( they are from the Museum series, Paintings in the Louvre).
Most of them are in very good shape, i have 3 that have some staining as you will be able to see in the pictures provided.
I wanted to ask what is the best way to get rid of the water stains on them. The Rubens and Coypel prints are not bad as the stains don't affect the inked Etching ,the Delacroix has some staining on the ink.
Thanks in advance for any help. they are a good size, paper is heavy Japanese style.
Paper size 54CM X 40CM and the printed area is 35CM X 25CM.

 

Removing/reducing stains on paper is best left to an experienced conservator. An amateur project rarely ends well. As the subject matter of these prints is not original (they are reproducing well known paintings), their value would probably not justify the time and expense of having them restored.

 

Simple water stains can easily be removed by re-wetting the entire piece. You will need a tank or large tray to do that. That is the easy part- the water stain will disappear.
Drying the piece afterwards can be a challenge as it will want to curl and warp. If you do it yourself you will need many blotters much larger than the print and a weight e.g. sheet of glass.
On a flat surface, lay the wet print on several sheets of blotter, then more again on top of it and finally the weight.
Change blotters every 3 to 4 hours for 12-24 hours and you'll be ok.

This technique should only be done with colourfast inks and at your own risk!

 

@moreotherstuff

 

Actually I agree with both the previous comments. Any attempt at stain removal comes with real risk. I've done what blooey suggested a couple of times and gotten away with it. A soak (distilled water) will probably reduce the staining but not eliminate it entirely. Hydrogen peroxide can be used to remove stains, but it's bleach and doesn't differentiate between stain and image. That's best left to professionals. Remember that soaking the paper will make it both heavier and weaker. You need to be aware of that when moving the paper around... it can easily tear.

For a valuable print: definitely leave to an expert. I think these prints are pretty much decorative value and if you want to take the risk: best of luck!

 

If they were mine I would just get some acid free mount board and cut new bevel mounts to hide the stains and frame them up.
Sorry can’t help with the ones where the actual image is stained.

 

If they are just water stains, they will completely disappear. Hot water can help .

 

Please note that you will most likely lose the plate mark with any form of washing.

 

If you decide that you want to give this a try.
I suggest you take one or two of the worst to try it on. If you ruin them, you can console yourself with the fact that they were already in very bad condition.

Being the worst ones, they probably won't clean up entirely. However, this will give you an idea if the method is working, whether or not you can handle the paper without tearing, whether you can dry it without curling, and whether or not it is worth your time to do the others.

 

If you are going to try it, place a piece of plastic window screening, larger than the print, in the wash tray to use to help lift the paper out when it is wet and fragile.

 

JMHO.
these are later copies made between 1889 and 1910. after 1910 the name was Braun et Cie..
the originals were made by the founder Adolphe Braun in carbon print with "a little help from" crazy Ludwig II from Bavaria ( the Neuschwanstein guy).

 

Thanks Fid
These are carbon Prints made in France (Paris) and they are pre- 1910 as you Mentioned, Braun, Clement et Cie.
They are the medium sized ones,(Plate III's) they had 5 size of plates for the more know works of arts.

Here is a small catalogue from the U.S Branch of Braun,Clement & Cie based in New-York.
These sold for 5$ U.S back in the early 1900's, with inflation that comes to around 150$U.S a pop in 2019.

https://archive.org/details/someillustration00brau

Thanks for all the tips on the cleaning process, don't know if i will be that adventurous...like I said only 3 out of 36 Have water stains...the rest are pristine and those 3 are not the nicest ones.....might try the worst one The Delacroix.

Have some plates from Velasquez,Jan Van goyen,Rousseau, Murillo,Daddi, Ingres, Baron Gros,Teniers, Backhuisen,Poussin, Carpaccio, the le Nain Brothers....Etc.