OT: Opinion requested - to trim or not to trim?

[tschock]

I have a full page 3 from the October 4, 1902 edition of the Doylestown (which has a photo of the AL champion Philadelphia A's) that I am considering cutting and I would like to get opinions on whether or not I should do this. The first pic I attached shows a (not so great) photo of the entire page. The second and third pics show 2 ways I am considering to cut this and get it framed (if I do end up cutting it).

If this was a front page, it would be a no-brainer (to me, anyway) to leave the page intact, however due to it being an interior page, and there is no real "write-up" on the team in the text beyond the caption itself (and there is nothing of note or interesting in the rest of the text, IMHO), I thought it might be more visually appealing if I cut out the "distractions" and reduced the page to not much more than the photo.

One idea is to cut it straight across under the caption, leaving the remaining upper page complete (attachment 2). The other is to trim as much away as possible while still leaving the date of the paper (attachment 3). (If I end up deciding to cut it, I'll have it professionally done).

What would Net54 do?
A ) Leave as is (but get a better frame)?
B ) Trim below the pic but keep the entire page (pic 2)?
C ) Trim as much out as possible (pic 3)?
D ) And now for something completely different???

[TNP777]

I vote "no trim". Either leave it as is and frame it somehow, or take it to a professional copy shop and have them make a nice copy of the desired area and frame that.

edit: just looked at your username. Hey, Taylor!

[EvilKing00]

always a tuff cal with trimming.

A - you dont have a full newspaper
B - like u said there is no text on that page about the team
c - you need to keep the date
d - are you planning on selling it or keeping it?

If i was keeping it - Id keep as much as I can along with the date and the right side of the paper, and frame it.

If i was selling it id keep the whole page

[drmondobueno]

No trim. They aren't printing any more pages from last century. Personally, I think the entire page adds to the charisma of the piece. IMhO

[Prof_Plum]

Increase matte width ? Or, what about folding back parts of the paper you don't want seen ? At least it's not quite as permanent as trimming.

[steve B]

I'd go with not trimming.

Part of the attraction to the whole page is the ads which give a nice feel for the era and how some things were viewed at the time. That's an element of things like this that I really like. Sometimes the articles are also interesting.

Hey, how many eyeglass places would adverise today with an ad showing a ball or globe covered with eyes? That's just surreal. The necktie ad is pretty cool too. Looks like the sort of tie you's see on the Old Judge cards. Either Hopelessly out of style by 1902 or back in style.

I'm guessing the paper may not fold well. Old newsprint can be brittle.


Another thing to consider would be that exposure to light does very bad things to most newsprint. Leave a new paper in a sunny spot for a month or two and see how browned the edges get compared to the bits inside. Framing may not be the best thing for the original, unless it's both deacidified and behind UV blocking glass.

So maybe a copy made from a high res scan framed and the original stored in a nice mylar sleeve out of the light?

Some Museums with a budget are doing that sort of thing with reference materials if the original is fragile and/or significant historically. A high quality copy is made as a master, then working copies are made from that. The originals are only used in special circumstances if at all.

Steve B

[travrosty]

it's yours do what you want with it. trim if you want.

[conor912]

If you want keep its resale value, don't trim it. If you want a nice display piece and were never planning on selling it anyways, then by all means trim it and frame it. I am not a purist and don't believe in keeping things intact if I can enjoy the, another more another way. Keeping something in a box or a drawer when it would better trimmed, framed and on my wall is a no brainier for me. That said, I would leave the entire top section intact like in pic two. Pic 3 looks weird, plus the ad gives it some nice historical context. When framing it, consider having the paper itself de-acidified. It will prevent any further discoloration.

[Chris Counts]

How about framing a high quality scan of the team photo and storing the original away?

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

How about framing a high quality scan of the team photo and storing the original away?

I totally agree. This way you also don't have to worry about UV damage.

[tschock]

Thanks for all the input! There is no "correct" answer as it all depends on the personal constraints. I was mulling to trim it because it does take up quite a bit of wall space, which is at a premium right now.

But as of all the input, I'm thinking that a high quality scan of the picture is the way to go for me. Along with appropriately storing away the original.

Thanks again to all who responded!

[aquarius31]

It would be a shame if you trimmed this item. Not only will it be considered less valuable (which may not be a significant consideration here) but it's also going to be LESS visually appealing. IMHO it will just look like another trimmed item that's better suited for a scrap book than a frame. I'm guessing there are not many of these particular newspapers in existence today and as pointed out by Steve the additional advertising adds to the charm even if it has nothing to do with baseball.

You'll save a few bucks with the frame job by having a trimmed image but that's about it. I'd keep the complete page as is having it deacidified and then framed or simply put in an acid-free sleeve where you can look at when you feel the urge.