Editing Foxing

{{short description|Age-related process of deterioration occurring on paper products}}
{{refimprove|date=October 2023}}
{{for|the music group|Foxing (band)}}
[[Image:Comstock 1832 title page.jpg|thumb|Heavy foxing on the [[title page]] of an 1832 [[textbook]]]]

'''Foxing''' is an age-related process of deterioration that causes spots and browning on [[paper]] [[document]]s such as [[book]]s, [[postage stamp]]s, old [[paper money]] and [[wikt:certificate|certificate]]s, and on textiles such as clothing and artists' canvasses. The name may be a variant form of the English [[West country]] dialect term ''foust'' and [[Scots language|Scots]] ''foze'', to become moldy.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7DIjAQAAIAAJ&dq=foxed&pg=PA128 |title=Folk-Etymology: A Dictionary of Verbal Corruptions Or Words Perverted in Form Or Meaning, by False Derivation Or Mistaken Analogy |last=Smythe Palmer |first=Abram |website=Google Books |date=1890 |access-date=10 October 2024}}</ref> Alternatively, it may derive from the [[red fox|fox]]-like reddish-brown color of the stains.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.conservation-wiki.com/w/index.php?title=Foxing_(PCC)|title=Foxing (PCC) – Wiki|website=www.conservation-wiki.com|access-date=1 February 2018|archive-date=9 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109100752/http://www.conservation-wiki.com/w/index.php?title=Foxing_%28PCC%29|url-status=live}}</ref> Paper so affected is said to be "foxed".

Foxing is seldom found in [[Incunable|incunabula]], or books printed before 1501.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Iiams |first1=Thomas M. |last2=Beckwith |first2=T. D. |date=October 1935 |title=Notes on the Causes and Prevention of Foxing in Books |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4302211 |journal=The Library Quarterly |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=407–418 |doi=10.1086/613729 |jstor=4302211 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Decrease in rag fibre quality may be a culprit; as demand for paper rose in later centuries, [[papermakers]] used less water and spent less time cleansing the rag fibres used to make paper.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dard |first=Hunter |title=Papermaking : the history and technique of an ancient craft |publisher=Dover |year=1978 |isbn=0-486-23619-6 |location=New York |page=154 |language=en}}</ref> An early work of art to have been affected by foxing is the ''[[Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk]]'', a drawing on paper by [[Leonardo da Vinci]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Piñar |first1=Guadalupe |last2=Tafer |first2=Hakim |last3=Katja |first3=Sterflinger |last4=Flavia |first4=Pinzari |name-list-style=amp |date=2015 |title=Amid the Possible Causes of a Very Famous Foxing: Molecular and Microscopic Insight into Leonardo da Vinci's Self-portrait |journal=Environmental Microbiology Reports |volume=7 |issue=6 |pages=849–859 |doi=10.1111/1758-2229.12313 |doi-access=free |pmid=26111623 |issn=1758-2229|pmc=4959533 |bibcode=2015EnvMR...7..849P }}</ref>

Foxing also occurs in biological study skins or [[Biological specimen|specimens]], as an effect of chemical reactions or [[Mold (fungus)|mold]] on [[melanin]]. Textiles, such as articles of clothing, so affected may also be said to be foxed.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01971360.2019.1674604 |title=Foxy Underpants: Or the Use of Chelators and Enzymes to Reduce Foxing Stains on Early Nineteenth Century Men's Linen Underpants |last=Mina |first=Laura |date=1 November 2019 |journal=Journal of the American Institute for Conservation |volume=59 |pages=3–17 |doi=10.1080/01971360.2019.1674604 |access-date=10 October 2024|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Aside from foxing, other types of age-related paper deterioration include destruction of the [[lignin]] by [[sunlight]] and absorbed [[atmospheric pollution]], typically causing the paper to become brown and crumble at the edges, and [[acid]]-related damage to cheap paper such as [[newsprint]], which manufacturers make without [[Acid-free paper|neutralizing acidic contaminants]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Deterioration and Preservation of Paper: Some Essential Facts –  Collections Care – Resources (Preservation, Library of Congress)|url=https://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/deterioratebrochure.html|access-date=2020-11-25|website=www.loc.gov|archive-date=2015-01-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120175215/http://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/deterioratebrochure.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Causes of foxing ==
The causes of foxing are not well understood. One conjecture is that foxing is caused by a [[fungal]] growth on the paper.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Arai|first=Hideo|date=October 2000|title=Foxing caused by Fungi: twenty-five years of study|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248436693|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=November 24, 2020|website=Research Gate}}</ref> Another is that foxing is caused by the effect on certain [[paper]]s of the [[oxidation]] of [[iron]], [[copper]], or other substances in the [[Wood pulp|pulp]] or [[Cloth|rag]] from which the paper was made.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://kelseyconservation.com/what-causes-foxing-staining-in-paper/ |title=What Causes Foxing and Staining in Paper? |date=21 January 2023 |last=Kelsey |first=Marianne |website=Kelsey Book and Paper Conservation |access-date=10 October 2024}}</ref> It is possible that multiple factors are involved. High [[humidity]] may contribute to foxing.

== Repairing foxed documents ==

Foxed documents can be repaired, with greater or lesser success, using [[sodium borohydride]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/bid/230209/how-to-prevent-and-reverse-foxing-in-rare-books|title=How to Prevent and Reverse Foxing in Rare Books|first=Kristin|last=Masters|publisher=|access-date=1 February 2018|archive-date=9 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109100754/https://blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/bid/230209/how-to-prevent-and-reverse-foxing-in-rare-books|url-status=live}}</ref> proprietary [[Bleach|bleaches]], dilute [[hydrogen peroxide]] or [[Laser|lasers]]. Each method risks side effects or damage to the paper or [[ink]]. 

Another method is to [[Document scanning|scan]] the image and process that image using a high-level [[image processing]] program. This can usually remove the effects of foxing while leaving text and images intact.

== In biological specimens ==
It is generally not advisable to repair study specimens, except perhaps for mechanical damage. [[Type specimen]]s should – if at all possible – not be altered in any way. If foxing affects the study value of a specimen (e.g. in [[Bird skin|bird]] or mammal skins or in [[Insect|insects]], where it may affect diagnostic coloration), this might rather be remarked on the specimen label. Color standards{{sfn|Smithe|1974}} can provide a means of documenting coloration before or in the early stages of foxing.

== See also ==
* [[List of used book conditions]]
* [[Distressing]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}
== Cited Sources ==

*{{cite book|last=Smithe|first=Frank B. |title=Naturalist's Color Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o6gXAQAAIAAJ|year=1974|publisher=American Museum of Natural History|isbn=978-0-913424-04-9}}

== Related Works ==
* Smithe, Frank B (1974): ''Naturalists' Color Guide Supplement''. American Museum of Natural History, NYC. {{ISBN|0-913424-04-8}}.

* Smithe, Frank B (1975-): ''Naturalist's Color Guide''. American Museum of Natural History, NYC. {{ISBN|0-913424-03-X}}.
* Smithe, Frank B (1981): ''Naturalist's Color Guide Part III''. American Museum of Natural History, NYC. {{ISBN|0-913424-05-6}}.
* {{cite book|last1=Roberts|first1= Matt |last2=Etherington|first2= Don|title=Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology|year=1981|publisher=Library of Congress|location=Washington, DC|isbn=978-0844403663|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iTU4rgEACAAJ}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [https://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/paper.html The Library of Congress: 'Preserving Works on Paper']
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170704082955/http://mywingsbooks.com/coll-terms/fxt_.shtml Foxing]

{{Paper}}

[[Category:Book collecting]]
[[Category:Materials degradation]]
[[Category:Papermaking]]
[[Category:Philatelic terminology]]