Deborah Howe, Dartmouth College Library

The Brut Chronicle: Revived and reconstructed

This talk will address the process of rebinding a medieval manuscript for 21st-century use. How do we treat a fragile book so that it can continue to be used as a physical object? In this case, the treatment solution benefited from dialogue, experimentation and an open time frame for completion.

In 2006, Dartmouth College acquired from a private collection a copy of the Middle English Prose Brut, also known as “The Brut Chronicle” or the “Chronicles of England” (MS 003183). The Brut contains the standard account of England’s history in the late middle Ages and early Renaissance. There are 181 extant manuscripts. Dartmouth’s copy, long unrecorded, has a unique combination of textual features, an unusual historical binding, and many marginal notes, all enhancing its inherent interest and importance to scholars. The Brut arrived in a 16th-century stationers binding, sometimes referred to as an account binding. It was in unstable condition so without proper treatment, the binding was mechanically self-destructing with every use. Although the pages would be scanned to make the contents accessible as part of Dartmouth’s digital library collection, the book was also intended for regular teaching instruction as a physical object. The treatment outcome therefore needed to be functional so the book could be used on a regular basis. With the benefit of time to consider various treatment options and intended outcomes, I fabricated a facsimile to help illustrate the option of rebinding the text back into a new stationers binding.

In 2011 at a symposium organized around the manuscript, I was invited to present the conservation work I had done up to that point. The Brut text was presented re-sewn on tanned leather supports as it had been in the stationers binding, but without any cover attached. At the conclusion of the presentation, a philosophical discussion ensued on what should happen with the binding. Some scholars thought it best to bind it as it would have been originally, in wooden boards; others leaned toward binding the Brut in a new stationers binding. As the dialog continued a consensus developed that perhaps a completely different binding style would be best. As evidenced from the stationers binding (normally a binding for business records) I concluded that perhaps the Brut had been rebound by a merchant in the 16th century in a manner most familiar to him. Now in the 21st century, the book’s use is quite different.It was agreed that some sort of hybrid would be appropriate for the binding, something that would suit our needs in the context of its use today yet maintain the binding’s historical provenance and identity.

This talk covers the development and collaborative thinking that eventually resulted in a non-adhesive conservation treatment that provides protection to the manuscript, can be used for teaching and remains true to its provenance.