Programme and abstracts 2023

Parchment of Icelandic manuscripts

Jiří Vnouček, Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen, Denmark, Matthew Teasdale, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom and Sarah Fiddyment, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Icelandic manuscripts are admired for the use of very specific parchment which differs from the parchment used in Medieval Europe. 

The difference is noticeable at first glance, as the parchment is often much darker and its surface is treated in a rougher manner. While the details of the process by which the calfskins were converted to parchment (often called vellum) have been lost, it is clear that the methods of manufacture of parchment in Iceland vary from those used in continental Europe at that time. The crucial element seems to be the choice of method for removing the hair from the pelt. While slaked lime baths were widely used for hair removal in other countries in Europe, some alternative methods were probably used in Iceland.

This contribution brings information from several years of research on Icelandic parchment, which is based on a holistic biocodicological approach.

It consists of visual observation of manuscripts, supported by identification of types of animal with the help of biomolecular methods including eZooMS and ancient DNA (aDNA) analyses. 

From the traces left by various tools on the parchment folia of manuscripts, the methods of surface treatment used in the preparation of the parchment were reconstructed. Anatomical observations of the animal skins helped to understand the methods used to turn parchment sheets into the quires, as well as documenting the animal sizes through measurements.

Outdoor parchment making experiments carried out in Icelandic in unstable weather conditions helped to understand the local reality and to imagine the working conditions to which the parchment makers were exposed during the preparation of the parchment. Skins from local sources were used for experiments and although these can not be directly compared with the historical ones, interesting results came up from comparison of various methods used for the preparation of modern parchment. Finally aDNA analyses of the skins that produced the historic parchment is hoped to shed some light on the animals used and husbandry practices in medieval Iceland.

The present state of Flateyjarbók

Vasarė Rastonis, Árni Magnússon Institute, Reykjavík, Iceland

The latest phase in the continuum of Flateyjarbók: media analysis and rebinding

A continuation of “The Conservation of Flateyjarbók”, presented in 2021 as part of the Care and Conservation of Manuscripts 18, this presentation will share the results of pigment analysis conducted in 2021 and describe the rebinding of the fourteenth century Icelandic manuscript. Flateyjarbók (Codex Flateyensis) was written in Northern Iceland, possibly at the monastery in Þingeyrar in the years 1387-1394, with an additional twenty-three leaves most likely added in the late fifteenth century. The manuscript is comprised of 225 calf parchment leaves arranged into twenty-nine gatherings. The text blocks are arranged in two columns of black and dark brown inks and include 1367 minor initials and 77 major initials applied in red, yellow, green, and blue pigments.

The recent Flateyjarbók conservation project began in 1994 and continued in intervals until a pause in late 2019, which allowed for media analysis to be performed while the manuscript was disbound. Pigment and ink analysis was conducted using fibre optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) and x-ray fluorescence (XRF) by Dr. Maurizio Aceto and Dr. Angelo Agostino in late August 2021. The results of the media analysis confirmed the identity of several colours and included a few surprise findings. In addition, the Flateyjarbók project´s fund allowed for media analysis of an additional twenty-two Icelandic manuscripts; ten of which are attributed to the monastery in Þingeyrar where Flateyjarbók was likely produced.

Following the media survey, planning for the rebinding continued. Although the question of how the manuscript was to be rebound had been a topic of interest, earnest discussions about the rebinding with the manuscript department at Stofnun Árna Magnússonar began in 2018. Bookbinding models were constructed to work out structural concerns, materials were considered, then reconsidered and slowly the manuscript came together. The adaptation and conservation of Flateyjarbók has been ongoing. The manuscript has been in a state of flux for some time, between bindings, with repairs made prior to the 1930s and conservation efforts initiated in the mid-20th century. This recent conservation phase began in discussion in 1994 and now, almost thirty years later, the rebound fourteenth century manuscript enters a new stage.

The Material History of Portolan Maps

Raymond Clemens, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA, Richard Hark, Yale University, West Haven, Connecticut, USA and Paula Zyats, Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

Much is unknown about how portolan charts were made. These vibrant sea maps were usually drawn on a single skin, with the neck of the animal serving to tie the chart into a roll for safekeeping. Composed for the use of sailors traveling trade routes for merchants and pilgrims, portolan charts depicted coastline details, initially of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and windrose lines to aid in navigation between harbors. The first surviving portolan dates from the thirteenth century, and the tradition continues into the modern period. Yale is fortunate to have a deep collection that spans many different periods and regions, making it an ideal place to begin testing the materials used in their composition. Carbon-14 dating and peptide mass fingerprinting provided information on the age and animal source of the parchment, respectively, while spectroscopic analysis afforded insight into the pigments used to create the colorful decorative elements. A total of 16 maps dating from the 15th to the 18th centuries were examined, along with two modern portolan forgeries. Information on selected portolans and the cartographers who created them, a description of the conservation treatments that were performed, and insights gained from the analytical results will be presented.

The archaeological restoration of the “English Psalter of Imola” (a 13th-century parchment manuscript) and the use of PVA-Borax hydrogel for some cleaning phases

Camilla Roversi Monaco, Accademia di Belle Arti of Bologna, Italy and Carlotta Letizia Zanasi, Accademia di Belle Arti of Bologna, Italy.

The Psalter, manufactured in England in the very early 13th century, is a precious manuscript on parchment rich in magnificent full-page miniatures and finely figured and filigreed initials.

The main aims of the restoration of the psalter, which is housed at the Municipal Library of Imola, were the structural recovery of the volume, respecting its originality, and the preservation of the artifact given the exceptional materials and techniques with which it was made. The restoration treatment was preceded by the evaluation of the miniatures’ pictorial film state of conservation through diagnostic investigations and the digitization of the entire volume. Furthermore, it was possible to conduct an archaeological study of the book and the material components of the binding, in particular as it concerns the reuse of the boards.

The psalter to date shows changes in size made over the centuries, as a result of perimeter trimming that has removed parts of the initials miniatures and reduced the original format of the volume. The new binding in full-leather and wooden boards, dating from the late 1500s to the early 1600s, was manufactured in England as well as the book block and adjusted to its new size.

The body of the book consists of twenty-nine fascicles of four parchment bifolium, except for some formed by a bifolium and a folium. The last fascicle, which is not coeval with the rest of the pages, is the only one made of paper along with the front and rear-guard papers.

The development of an appropriate intervention methodology was based both on the psalter’s state of preservation and the in-depth study of the changes it has undergone over the centuries.

The previous 20th restoration treatment, which was very invasive and deontologically incorrect, consisted in the ex-novo remaking of the spine, the hinges and a new sewing, using materials and adhesives unsuitable for conservation that caused further structural problems over time.

In fact, the volume was split into two blocks, due to the of the breakage of the sewing thread and the rupture of the nerves in several places and at the anchorage of the supports to the plates. The leather appeared with decohesion and losses, located at the head cap and the hinges. The fascicles’ spines appeared stiffened and stained due to crystallization and biological deterioration of the starch adhesive used. The parchment showed coherent and incoherent deposits and stains of various kinds with tide lines at the outer edges.

Therefore, a restoration treatment was preformed to completely unsew the card block and to detach the spine, in order to allow to intervene on its reinforcement and to enlarge the hinges by creating a new leather spine to which the existing one was then applied onto. The parchment folios and the paper pages, which were also unsewn, were dry-cleaned and treated with a controlled minimum amount of humidity, using PVA-Borax hydrogel, and the losses were filled with Japanese papers. The volume was sewn on 5 cords following the trace of the last stitching that has come down to us. The assembly of the book body to the cover was done by gluing the spine and the endpapers to the inner boards. In the end, the volume was conditioned in a conservation box along with the findings.

Eco-friendly nanomaterials evaluation and utilization for sustainable preservation of documentary heritage based on parchment against microbial biodeterioration

Nagah Sabry Saada, Cairo University, Egypt

Philosophical and cultural Evidence of the human labors can be originated in historic documents, including those made of parchment. These parchments were ordinarily utilized as a writing support from the second century BC until the end of the middle Ages.

Biodeterioration is a vigorous agent impairing aesthetic, functional and other characteristics of parchment specifically under provision of high relative humidity, as ancient parchment affords decent atmosphere for the growth of proteolytic microorganisms.

Nanomaterials have come to light as innovative antimicrobial agents, owing to their exceptional chemical and physical characteristics. Due to their excellent surface area and apparent antimicrobial efficacy, different nanomaterials are considered the most proficient antimicrobial agents against various microorganisms.

Silver nanoparticles are one of the most effective metal nanoparticles used as disinfectants and are widely used in various fields. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles as well are among the most nanomaterial brought to use in heritage preservation. The interaction between silver and TiO2 nanoparticles allows to enhance the properties of each nanomaterial separately.

Eco-friendly biodegradable polymers can be barriers in front of external degradation factors such as humidity, and soluble substances. These polymers are suitable containers for the addition of various additives, likewise antimicrobials. Gelatin which is collagen-based biopolymer, compatible with parchment, and provided a strong bond with it.

A protective Multifunctional coating was created by adding silver-titanium dioxide nanocomposite to the gelatin biopolymer matrix which aid to protect historical parchments against microbial and light aging, and aggressive oxidation processes through eco-friendly approaches.

On the other hand, essential oils (EOs) are aromatic oily liquids known for their antimicrobial properties; EOs comprise a large number of components vary in concentrations and properties. The mono- and sesquiterpenes and phenylpropane derivatives, including hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, esters and ethers are the main components. These compounds can easily be oxidized resulting in less biologically effective products. The nano-encapsulation of these oils improves the solubility, stability, and efficacy of essential oil-based formulations.

The nanoemulsions characterized by higher solubilization capacity and thermodynamic stability in comparison to unstable emulsions and suspensions. Thus, leads to unique transport system due to the surface area and free energy makes. Also the incorporating of essential oils and nanoemulsion enhanced the antimicrobial action.

The antimicrobial activity of lemongrass oil nanoemulsion, against microbial strains previously isolated from a historical parchment manuscript dated back to the third century AH (9th century AD) was assessed for the first time.

The effect of the protective coating as well as the lemongrass oil nanoemulsion on the chemical, mechanical, morphological, and optical characteristic of treated parchment were assessed via micro analytical techniques before and after accelerated aging.

The both nano-formulations aforementioned above proved their efficiency in treating already infected parchment and also their sustainable preservative effect against future infection, without impairing any adverse effect on treated parchment. Though those nanomaterials strongly recommended for disinfection of documentary culture heritage specially those on parchment, after assessing their reaction and effect on other structural elements of the manuscript.

Gevil, the Jewish parchment: Is it truly parchment?

Roni Anaki, West Dean College, United Kingdom

Gevil/gewil/gwil (Hebrew-גויל), is a material with a rich history. It is made from the skins of mammals, and through a distinct process, results in a material which is somewhat similar to both parchment and vegetable tanned leather, and used as a substrate for writing Jewish liturgical manuscripts (Figure 1). There are many questions surrounding this material, not many people practice its manufacture today, and only few academic studies regard this material, most of them focus on the ancient material of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1st and 2nd century BC). Although the Dead Sea Scrolls are the first example for gevil material. The material was in constant use by certain Jewish communities ever since, resulting in a variety of traditions and materials under the umbrella of gevil. The wide variety of gevil, and the fact that it may share features and characteristics with parchment and leather, especially in degraded material, or if the gevil was not manufactured to a high standard, result in difficulty of identifying the material, and misuse of terminology: Museums and libraries that have gevil scrolls in their collection, normally catalogue it as parchment or leather, and previous academic writings often name gevil in other terms. This leads to the difficulty in estimating the extent gevil’ existence within collections and the significant lack of knowledge regarding gevil’s conservation.

This study, (as part of MA in books conservation at West Dean College) aimed to outline several fundamental characteristics of gevil, and understand its relation to parchment and leather, to afford a better understanding of this material for future research and conservation. Samples of modern gevil, parchment, and leather were subjected to three environment groups: control, thermal, and hydrothermal for 47 days before being tested for chemical characteristics, physical structure, hydrothermal stability, and degradation mechanisms. Although gevil demonstrated distinctive results in most criteria, it also proved to have many similarities to leather: Both materials showed similar hydrothermal stability, with a 𝑇 𝑠 average of 75.15°c and 76.88°c respectively. Their chemical composition however was different. Gevil's average pH value (5.87), was between parchment (7.25) and leather (4.76). Gevil also absorbed epi-LED illumination in the cross-section’s center, indicating only partial penetration of the tannins, unlike leather. Although the FT-IR spectra of leather and gevil both had similar peaks of tannins, while the parchment exhibited peaks of lime, all spectra were very similar. Gevil did not show conclusive degradation mechanisms in the FT-IR spectra; however, in the spectrophotography analysis, both gevil and leather demonstrated a shift towards yellow, red and overall darkening due to the degradation. The microanalysis examination found the physical structure of gevil distinctive, including all layers of the skin from grain to flesh.

Ruling and pricking in Irish manuscripts: An evaluation of practice in manuscripts dating pre-900

Nicole Volmering, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

I propose to present a paper within the context of my new project "Early Irish Hands", which explores script and writing techniques in the earliest surviving Irish manuscripts. While a significant part of the project is concerned with palaeography, its approach is much broader, since the processes of writing I seek to capture include more techniques than script alone, such as ruling of the page and parchment preparation. In this paper I wish to concentrate on ruling and pricking. Previous studies have indicated, for instance, that ruling a quire for writing after folding it is typically an insular feature, which is therefore often considered an indicator of insular origin. However, it is unclear exactly how many of the earliest Irish manuscripts are ruled this way. In this scoping paper I aim to reconsider the available evidence anew by combining analyses of a corpus of nearly one hundred pre-900 manuscripts. It is hoped that a better understanding of early practice will ultimately contribute to understanding the development of Irish writing culture as well as to our methodologies for identifying and dating insular manuscripts.

Hidden in plain sight: The binding boards of the Book of Armagh

John Gillis, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

The Book of Armagh (TCD MS 52) is an early ninth-century composite vellum manuscript of the Insular period. Its contents include a complete copy of the New Testament, along with documents relating to St Patrick and St Martin of Tours. The manuscript has been attributed to the scribe and artist Ferdomanch, whose name appears on its pages. One inscription records that the manuscript was produced for Torbach, who was Abbot of the monastic foundation at Armagh, in the north of Ireland for just one year in 807. This colophon allows for an atypically accurate dating for its production. Two additional items have been historically associated with the Book of Armagh; a fifteenth-century, highly decorated leather satchel and a pair of oak binding boards, considered to be the original binding boards of the manuscript. Expert examination of these boards thus far includes two studies, over twenty years apart, neither of which was published in detail. This paper intends to address the lack of codicological details relating to the boards and examine the possible scenarios as to their intended original function as they relate to the manuscript.

Over and under: Revealing the inner workings of the Irish manuscript tradition

Fenella G. France, Library of Congress, Washington D.C., USA,  Andrew Forsberg, Library of Congress, Washington D.C., USA and Pádraig Ó Macháin, University College Cork, Ireland.

Inks & Skins https://inksandskins.org/ is a collaborative and interdisciplinary project led by Professor Pádraig Ó Macháin, University College Cork. Its focus is the materiality of late-medieval Gaelic manuscripts. Through combining traditional philology with heritage science the project seeks to explore the techniques and modalities that attended the making of these manuscripts.

The manuscripts studied by this project were written in Gaelic and created by secular scholars in the period 1100-1600. The central, target manuscript is the Book of Uí Mhaine (Royal Irish Academy MS D ii 1), a large vellum manuscript assembled c. 1390 for the Ó Ceallaigh (O’Kelly) ruling family of Uí Mhaine.

In this presentation, we concentrate on a single quire in the Book of Uí Mhaine, quire 10, a stand-alone unit where the identity of both scribe and patron is known. It contains texts mainly relating to early Irish synchronistic history. While this is the most ornate section of the Book of Uí Mhaine, it shares with the rest of the Book, and with most other contemporary manuscripts, the fact that it was exposed to damp and other harmful conditions over the centuries, and remained unbound until the nineteenth century. This physical history is detectable on the pages today, where staining, degradation and the consequent obscuring of texts is common.

The primary analysis of the Book of Uí Mhaine, including quire 10, was multi-spectral imaging (MSI). MSI not only revealed obscured text, but also helped to better understand the scribal process, identify inks and stints, analyze pen-tests, and explore a range of scholarly questions. Making the MSI and other data (parchment, ink, pigment) available to humanities scholars is a critical concern for effective interdisciplinary collaboration.

A visualization was created using the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) canvas as the digital surrogate for the manuscript to permit ease of engagement and scholarly discussion.  Quire 10 was the template for developing the visualization model, which was established by working closely with scholars to understand how best the MSI data and images could be made available, and what online tools – scrolling, zooming, reorganizing etc. – were most useful for users. False color images, provided to expose the obscured text under staining, were most effective initially to garner interest in what the MSI imaging data could reveal. Also well received was the ability to compare image data with side-by-side comparisons for different views of the same page, and across pages whether from the same quire, manuscript, or a variety of manuscripts. In order to represent a wide range of knowledge and expertise from diverse disciplines modifications and extensions were made to currently available IIIF tools, and a suitable platform was built on these to aggregate and coordinate heritage science and humanities data. Examples of the latter include audio files and transcriptions for contextual and descriptive data provided by codicological and philological scholars, modern calligraphers and conservators.

This presentation will discuss the evolution of the visualization, lessons learned and invite engagement from other experts in aligned fields of study.   

Twists, turns and tackets: Designing and undertaking a survey to study The National Archives’ (UK) early limp parchment binding collection

Holly Smith, The National Archives, United Kingdom and Katerina Williams, The National Archives, United Kingdom.

As the UK’s largest archive, The National Archives’ (TNA) collection is unique in holding a multitude of examples of stationery bindings throughout their development from the 13th century to the present day. In 2019 the Collection Care Department conceived a project to study TNA’s vast and singular limp parchment binding collection. A previous survey from several decades earlier had identified over 600 limp parchment bindings dating between the 13th and 16th centuries. As a unique collection of early, predominantly English, stationery bindings, this discovery provided an opportunity to study this binding style in more detail. Historically, it has been largely overlooked by codicologists, perhaps due to their plain and simple appearance. However, any close scrutiny of these bindings shows that they are anything but simple. Huge variations in their features and structural elements makes them an incredibly rich and complex group to study and there have been several research projects focussing on these bindings in recent years.

Building on the work carried out by Fred Bearman at the archives several years earlier, conservators Holly Smith and Katerina Williams designed and implemented a survey to capture information on this collection.

The project had three main aims:

• The survey would collect structural and codicological data about the bindings to gain

a richer understanding of this singular collection and track how the different structural

features developed across a timeline

• The survey team should be made up of a diverse group of volunteers or staff who

had not trained in conservation, providing a learning opportunity to those who

struggle to access the heritage sector through the traditional channels.

• The data should be collected in a way which is compatible with the Linked Data

approach so that it may be easily shared across organisations and platforms and can benefit the most number of people.

One of the main challenges was to design a simple-to-use survey that could capture the complexities of the limp parchment binding structures. At the same time, we questioned past and current survey practices to determine a way to protect the legacy of the data far into the future. This work reflects the general evaluation at TNA of conservation documentation practice and opportunities as provided by the development of new technologies like Linked Data. The design of the survey in the context of a new knowledge system has allowed for capturing research to a much fuller extent but also demanded a deeper understanding of modelling knowledge generated throughout the survey.

The recruitment of the survey team coincided with a government-funded scheme providing work placements for young adults on benefits. This presented a timely opportunity to diversify our team, fulfilling one of our project aims, but also came with its own set of challenges.

This talk will give an introduction to the project, sharing some of our initial findings and discussing the challenges and successes of the project overall.

Parchment covers and leather tackets: Notarial bindings from the General State Archives of Greece

Angeliki Stassinou, General State Archives of Greece, Greece, Konstantinos Choulis, University of West Attica, Greece, Ioannis Kokkonas, Ionian University, Greece and Athena-Georgia Alexopoulou, University of West Attica, Greece.

Although various types of bookbinding structures have been extensively described, archival bindings have received little attention by researchers in the past. Among the different binding structures used for archive purposes, notarial ledgers were used for keeping records (deeds, contracts etc.) and usually have simple yet stable binding structures. Currently, numerous bindings of this type are preserved in the collections of the General State Archives of Greece (G.S.A.), in Athens and regional archives. A PhD research project is recently undertaken to study notarial bindings kept in Greek archives and libraries, aiming to classify the different types of binding structures, record their present condition and give explanations of deterioration mechanisms and styling influences.

This paper will discuss a type of bindings, recorded in notarial ledgers produced between the 17th-19th centuries, presently belonging to the collections of the G.S.A. These bindings are constructed, with certain features, to withstand extensive use.  The gatherings of the textblock, usually consisting of 10-12 bifolia, are securely sewn with linen thread on double leather supports reinforced with stiffeners. The semi-limp parchment covers  are placed over a primary cover made of thick handmade paper and brown leather tackets are used to attach the cover to the bookblock. The back cover has a flap extension embracing the foredge of the sewn gatherings, covering the front cover by 1/3. The parchment cover is decorated with blind-tooled lines and a tie made of white leather, attached in the middle of the foredge flap, is used to give more protection to secure the textblock. Modern technology is adopted for the documentation of the individual materials and techniques used in the bookbinding process (e.g. parchment, sewing, attachment of the cover to the textblock etc.). The results of the documentation as well as the condition assessment of the individual features of the bindings are stored in a database, specially designed for this project.

Many of these lightweight and flexible bindings present mainly mechanical wearing, caused usually by extensive use. Comparative study with notarial bindings produced the same period, kept in other institutions, is indispensable for any attempt of possible provenance. Various issues concerning the function of this binding structure and preservation matters will be discussed.

Conservation of a 14th-century limp binding: How much intervention is necessary?

Ágnes Ádám, Austrian National Library, Austria.

Codex 4909 from the Collection of Manuscripts and Rare Books of the Austrian National Library, an earlier Latin manuscript in a flexible parchment binding made with a special link-stitch sewing was a challenge because of its heavily damaged condition.

As result of a historic severe water damage, microorganisms had heavily degraded the limp binding and the paper pages including the sewing, making the manuscript unreadable.

The goal of the conservation was to make the pages of the codex usable again. The limp binding should be preserved as a historic book cover and keep the book from further deterioration.

The main issues were: Which ethical aspects need to be considered for the conservation and reconstruction of the codex? How to disinfect and stabilize the pages, if the sewing of the book is broken and unstable? Is it inevitable to take apart the binding because of the partially missing sewing? Which materials are suitable to fill losses and gaps in the parchment cover?

Before working on the manuscript, a model book was made to study the original binding technique. The first conservation step was stitching using the original method. The total re-stitching and addition of link-stitches were executed with a dyed cotton thread. After this stabilisation of the book, the sheets were disinfect locally and the losses filled with Japanese tissue. The cockled and severely creased parchment was flattened out. Losses in the parchment cover were filled in with a specially produced material: leaf-casted parchment and Japanese tissue. During the conservation process, a focus was to minimize the use of moisture, to use only natural materials and to keep the book from further deterioration.

The study of the original binding technique allowed adapting the conservation steps in order to preserve the book cover and the book block without taking them apart. Function and accessibility of the manuscript could be re-establisched.

Outlining Intellectual Boundaries for the Book: Carolingian and Romanesque Manuscript Bindings from Cambrai (Northern France)

Antoine Brix, Namur University, Belgium.

Cambrai Medieval Manuscripts and bindings

CaReMe, in collaboration with Beast to Craft, proposes to study the making of medieval European books from the 8th to 13th centuries – the idea of gathering manuscript texts into structures in order to access, use and preserve them. The starting point will be an analysis of the manufacture of books through studying the bindings of a large corpus of manuscripts from Cambrai religious institutions. These Carolingian and Romanesque bindings have never previously been studied or inventoried.

This project aims to investigate the cultural history and the archaeology of the book by:

• Understanding how medieval religious institutions manufactured and used their books;
• Contextualising the production of lay bindings, in social, cultural and religious terms; and,
• Studying the bindings as a material and structural object in parallel with the history of writing practices.

The project, supported by the Belgian FNRS, will be piloted by UCLouvain and UNamur, in collaboration with Beast to Craft (Copenhagen University) the LABO médiathèque in Cambrai, in conjunction with the Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes.

Paper 1:

While they constitute the outermost physical confinement of medieval manuscripts, bookbindings also delineate intellectual boundaries. As it either brings together, or on the contrary separates, texts or codicological units, the process of binding itself shapes patterns of knowledge, which prove essential in the perspective of intellectual history.

The relative scarcity of medieval bindings extant often proves a challenge for medievalists aiming at reconstructing the ordinance of book contents generated by binding activities. As such systems of classification typically vary from one medieval institution to the next, only on rare occasions does one have sufficient documentary evidence, i.e. preserved manuscript bindings from just one religious house or university college, to actually research this topic.

The Belgium-based CaReMe project (Cambrai Reliures Médiévales) intends to do just that. It takes advantage of the exceptional collection of pre-1300 manuscript-bindings extant at Cambrai municipal library (Northern France). Out of the 44 manuscripts identified (6 with Carolingian to late-Carolingian bindings and 38 with Romanesque ones), most come from the library of the cathedral chapter. They therefore provide ample documentary material for a study of the intellectual landscape instituted by, and reflected by, the association and the dissociation of texts/codicological units through binding campaigns.

This paper serves as an introduction to the research project and focuses on its proposition as a historical survey into the architecture of knowledge. While a significant fraction of the project team’s effort is dedicated at conducting biocodicological analyses of the 44 volumes and their bindings (as illustrated by the two following papers), CaReMe also ambitions to bring about a significant contribution to the history of book and writing practices in pre-14th-century Northern France.

In bringing together data from the biocodicological analyses of bindings and structure visualizations with somewhat more traditional book and textual studies, the project allows for the description, qualification and dating of various campaigns of binding throughout the history of the cathedral library. Whether they can be detected through the use of common binding materials, similar techniques, comparable quire/book structures, manuscript fragments used for consolidation, types of literary contents addressed, etc., such key operations in the conservation history of these books reflect stages in the chronology of the volume understood as an entity, both physical and intellectual. Pinpointing what goes together in just one volume at one time, and what is consigned to several entities at another date, grants access to the evolution of book practices and contributes at anchoring the medieval representation of written knowledge into the material it stems from.

Late Carolingian-style bindings from the North East of France

Alberto Campagnolo, KU Leuven, Belgium.

Cambrai Medieval Manuscripts and bindings

CaReMe, in collaboration with Beast to Craft, proposes to study the making of medieval European books from the 8th to 13th centuries – the idea of gathering manuscript texts into structures in order to access, use and preserve them. The starting point will be an analysis of the manufacture of books through studying the bindings of a large corpus of manuscripts from Cambrai religious institutions. These Carolingian and Romanesque bindings have never previously been studied or inventoried.

This project aims to investigate the cultural history and the archaeology of the book by:

• Understanding how medieval religious institutions manufactured and used their books;
• Contextualising the production of lay bindings, in social, cultural and religious terms; and,
• Studying the bindings as a material and structural object in parallel with the history of writing practices.

The project, supported by the Belgian FNRS, will be piloted by UCLouvain and UNamur, in collaboration with Beast to Craft (Copenhagen University) the LABO médiathèque in Cambrai, in conjunction with the Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes.

Paper 2:

Bookbinding techniques in the Middle Ages evolved gradually, with some structures changing faster than others in response to technical, technological, and material shifts. The herringbone sewing, for instance, introduced with the Carolingian-style bindings, remained in use for centuries, while other structures are typically used to define distinct binding styles. A key point of interest of the CaReMe project is the description and the identification of the binding structures found in the Carolingian and the early Romanesque-style bindings to add crucial information to the history of the manuscript through their codicological and archaeological examination (in tandem with the biocodicological data collected and described by Élodie Lévêque and Sarah Fiddyment here below).

We put together a binding descriptive model (expressed as an XML schema), based on the schema developed by Ligatus for the Saint Catherine Monastery Project, but more general in its aim, even though with a clear focus on Carolingian and Romanesque bindings, to capture the information needed for a granular description. Preliminary visualizations (based on XSLT script transformations from the XML description data to vector visualization in SVG) have also been prepared to confirm data quality. These also function as data acquisition control to minimize recording errors and to provide clues on lacing manufacture and sewing history showing alignments and automatically calculating angles. In parallel, we assembled an inspection kit for binding descriptions, including a small camera probe that can be inserted into the open spine of the volumes (if the binding affords sufficient space) to inspect the sewing structure and lacing when not visible otherwise.

Preliminary results point to the Carolingian-style bindings in Cambrai as having been rebound as a coherent group (similar covering material and style) in the late Carolingian period-beginning of the Romanesque period. The board attachment method is mentioned in the literature as the distinct technical characteristic of Romanesque bindings due to the introduction of the sewing frame. Evidence from our bindings, however, tells a more gradual story, with Carolingian-style board lacing overlapping (or following) Romanesque ones. The sewing supports appear to be split straps laced in the common v-shaped Carolingian style but not following the typical asymmetric lacing pattern between the left and right board, having the textblock most likely been sewn on a sewing frame. One volume shows evidence of possibly having been first bound in a Romanesque style on three supports and rebound on two in Carolingian style. The mixing and overlapping of the two board lacing styles are also found in other manuscripts from the region.

This presentation will illustrate the binding description tools and visualizations and present results from our investigations into late Carolingian-style / early Romanesque binding structures from the North East of France.

The use of Wild Animal skins on Carolingian Bindings: origin and manufacture

Élodie Lévêque, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Panthéon-Sorbonne University, France and Sarah Fiddyment, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Cambrai Medieval Manuscripts and bindings

CaReMe, in collaboration with Beast to Craft, proposes to study the making of medieval European books from the 8th to 13th centuries – the idea of gathering manuscript texts into structures in order to access, use and preserve them. The starting point will be an analysis of the manufacture of books through studying the bindings of a large corpus of manuscripts from Cambrai religious institutions. These Carolingian and Romanesque bindings have never previously been studied or inventoried.

This project aims to investigate the cultural history and the archaeology of the book by:

• Understanding how medieval religious institutions manufactured and used their books;
• Contextualising the production of lay bindings, in social, cultural and religious terms; and,
• Studying the bindings as a material and structural object in parallel with the history of writing practices.

The project, supported by the Belgian FNRS, will be piloted by UCLouvain and UNamur, in collaboration with Beast to Craft (Copenhagen University) the LABO médiathèque in Cambrai, in conjunction with the Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes.

Paper 3:

One of the main objectives of CaReMe is the identification, in collaboration with Beast to Craft, of the material used to make the manuscripts. Of course, the parchment used to write the Cambrai manuscripts is of great interest to researchers, but our main question was about the covers that are not identifiable by visual examination, especially the Carolingian and the early Romanesque bindings. They are of white-grey appearance and suede-like at the surface and have lost their grain layer, exposing the junction between the corium and the grain, where there is no follicle.

eZooMS analysis was conducted and revealed the presence of a large number of deer skins on the Cambrai manuscripts. These results were compared with bindings of the same period but of other origins (Fleury and Saint-Amand) so we could understand if the use of deerskins was common practice in the Middle Ages or if they were the preserve of certain monasteries.

While it is rare to be able to identify deerskins on medieval bindings by visual examination, some texts inform us that deer skins were used to bind Carolingian manuscripts. For instance, in 774 Charlemagne donated a forest to the Diocese of Saint-Denis to allow the monks to hunt deer that would supply the necessary skins to bind their manuscripts. In 800, he gave the same right to hunt to the abbey of Saint-Bertin.

The number of Carolingian bindings remaining today is small, so we chose to sample the largest French collections in order to give a better representation of the period. Fleury is situated much further away geographically from Cambrai and is also of monastic origin, while Saint-Amand is nearby; however, Saint-Amand’s library was reconstructed in the 12th C. after it had burnt down, using donations of varied provenance. Comparing Cambrai with Fleury and Saint-Amand would give us a good perspective on our preliminary results.

The results were the same: only 5% of skins used are from domesticated animals. All other manuscripts are covered with deer skins. This means that the use of deerskin was general in the Carolingian period (but not exclusive). Despite a general belief that Carolingian manuscripts were bound with boar skin, to date we haven’t found any.

Why is deer skin not identifiable by visual examination? We will explain by presenting a reconstitution of deerskin leather making following some medieval recipes of alum/oil tannage.

Bembo’s Milieu: Contextualizing the influences, materials, and production of the Visconti-Sforza tarocchi cards within 15th-century northern Italian artistic and manuscript practice

Lydia Aikenhead, Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA, Marie-France Lemay, Yale University Library, USA and Francisco H. Trujillo, The Morgan Library, USA.

This proposed panel consists of three related talks based on a long-term analytical study of the Visconti tarocchi, or tarot, cards conducted by a collaborative team of conservators, conservation scientists, and curators from several institutions in the United States and Europe (*). Preliminary results of this ongoing investigation were presented at a study day organized by the Morgan Library & Museum in June of 2022. Building off the study day, which established the materials and techniques employed to produce the tarocchi cards, this panel will focus on the tarocchi cards within the context of 15th century Milanese manuscript production.

Three decks of tarocchi cards produced between the early 1440s and late 1450s have been included in our study thus far: the Visconti di Modrone deck at Yale University, the Brambilla deck at the Pinacoteca da Brera, and the Visconti-Sforza deck that is split between the Morgan Library & Museum, the Accademia Carrara, and a private collection. Tarocchi was conceived to use the cards in a game of trick-taking and gambling, but these elaborate gilded and hand-painted decks were likely created to be admired rather than used for play. The Visconti di Modrone and the Brambilla decks, believed to be the two oldest surviving decks, were both commissioned by Filippo Maria Visconti, duke of Milan from 1412 to 1447, while the Visconti-Sforza deck was commissioned by Francesco I Sforza, son in law of Filippo Maria and his successor as fourth duke of Milan in 1450. The cards are now generally attributed to Bonifacio Bembo, with the Yale deck possibly attributed to his brother, Andrea Bembo. Collectively, these cards reflect the synthesis of panel painting and manuscript illumination on a new medium – adhered layers of paper, or early cardstock. This synthesis is reflected in material, technique, and scale, and, because of the numerous cards within each deck, our analysis has provided a wealth of information that can shed light on tarocchi card production and manuscript workshop practice in Milan around 1450.

The first talk in this panel will contextualize the cards within wider Milanese artistic practice of the 15th century, connecting the imagery and pigment palettes of the cards to contemporary painted imagery in a range of media and tracing the lineage of the various artists to whom the cards have been attributed over time, including Michelino da Besozzo, Francesco Zavattari, Bonifacio Bembo and Andrea Bembo. Like many artists of this period in Northern Italy, these artists and workshops frequently worked across media to fulfill commissions from their patrons, as evidenced by surviving attributed examples of wall and panel paintings, and manuscript illumination. Art historical and technical analysis support the conclusion that tarocchi cards were not isolated productions but created very much within this sphere of artistic production.

A second talk will center the cards more narrowly within manuscript illumination, comparing the analysis of the cards to that of a slightly earlier manuscript by Michelino da Besozzo (Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.944, c. 1430), as well as analysis of manuscript clippings by Franco dei Russi, to whom six slightly later “replacement” cards in the Morgan/Carrara deck are attributed. This talk will seek to establish the materials and techniques of the cards within a chronology of Milanese manuscript production spanning the middle half of the 15th century.

A third talk will summarize the analytical findings of the ongoing study and identify similarities and differences in material and technique between the three decks, highlighting the combination of both panel and manuscript painting techniques in hopes of shedding some light on the workshop practices that produced them. The talk will also establish their continued influence on later examples of manuscript illumination on paper and tarocchi card production.

While each individual card can be viewed as a small-scale painting – a freestanding object with a gilt and tooled background – it is important to remember that these cards were made in multiples and as collective sets of images, much as illuminations in a manuscript were produced. Visual connections to larger works like panel and wall paintings are abundant but should not overshadow the material and technical links to manuscript illumination. Taken together, these presentations will provide an overview of how manuscript painting practices changed and adapted, becoming standardized or streamlined, depending on medium and market demand, and will illustrate how the tarocchi cards reflect these changes.

*Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale Library’s Center for Preservation and Conservation, Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, Yale University, New Haven, CT; Thaw Conservation Center, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY; Network Initiative for Conservation Science, Department of Scientific Research, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Center for Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage “La Venaria Reale”, Venaria Reale (Torino), Italy; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, Italy; Fondazione Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, Italy; Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts, Philadelphia, PA.

A view into a 13th-century workshop for book illumination

Robert Fuchs, Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences, TH Köln, Germany and Doris Oltrogge, Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences, TH Köln, Germany.

A few years ago it was possible to examine in St. Gall one of the most important German manuscripts of the early Gothic period with the help of a portable examination equipment, the World Chronicle of Rudolf von Ems.

The author is the first known poet in Vorarlberg. He was born about 1200 in Hohenems as son of an important noble family in Vorarlberg. In the service of the Count of Montfort, and later also of the Staufer King Conrad IV, he became one of the most productive and influential German authors of the Staufer period. Between about 1215/20 to the mid-1250s, he wrote a series of equally outstanding and successful novels, legends and, above all, a world chronicle conceived as an all-encompassing bible, memoria and educational work.

The World Chronicle was an absolute bestseller of the time. The most beautiful copy has been preserved in the Vadian Collection of the Cantonal Library of St. Gall. This manuscript was probably decorated in Zurich around 1300 with 58 monumental pictures, one of the major works of book illumination of the time. The World Chronicle is supplemented by the biography of Charlemagne by an author called "Stricker". Analyses of the colouring agents and the painting technique of the illumination revealed a well-organised collaboration in what must have been the Zurich scriptorium. The magnificent book is not only written world history, but also evidence of the enduring esteem in which the Vorarlberg poet was held in the region between the High and Upper Rhine. Here one can afford to acquire the most precious book art of the time!

Medieval book illumination shines through the use of strong colours as well as gold and silver effects. The colours were obtained in the most diverse ways from minerals, vegetable and animal substances as well as precious metals. The gold ground and luminous colours of the World Chronicle are excellently preserved to this day. Their full splendour and fineness, however, are only revealed under a magnifying glass and microscope. And the techniques of the illuminators can also be deciphered in such detail, so that we gain a fascinating insight into a 700-year-old artist's workshop. More than four types of under drawing and at least five painters worked on the illumination of the manuscript. The result is a magnificent masterpiece of book illumination from around 1300.

The Wittert 41 manuscript: Technical approaches to a 19th-century illuminated manuscript

Lisa Havelange, University of Liege, Belgium.

This paper aims to discuss the contribution of archaeometry, macrophotography, transmitted light photography and a practical approach to painting in the technical understanding of an illuminated manuscript.

Produced in Bruges in 1853, the illuminated manuscript Wittert 41 is now part of the collections of the University of Liège in Belgium. The book was studied as part of a master's thesis project, which included the analysis of the pigments and dyes using X-ray fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy. This presentation will highlight the results of these analyses, and the presence of so-called "traditional" (such as lead white) and modern pigments (such as Paris green) both used by the artist’s workshop.

The painting technique was furthermore investigated using macro- and transmitted light photography. Both techniques revealed the presence of important details, such as underlying drawings or the superposition of layers of colour.

The illumination process was thereafter studied throughout a more practical approach and five motifs from the Wittert 41 manuscript were copied. This exercise allowed a better understanding of the painting process and the techniques used by the artist. As there is currently insufficient documentation regarding this kind of practical approach, the scientific framework for those copies was inspired by those existing for oil painting (1).

Research on the renowned family workshop of Ferdinand, François and Charles de Pape, contextualizes this technical study. The illuminations will also be considered from an iconographic and stylistic point of view to enrich their pigmentary and technical study.

Studies devoted to the technical aspects of occidental illuminated manuscripts in the 19th century are rare, and this is the first study concerning those aspects in an illuminated manuscript from this period in Belgium. This paper would thus contribute to the history of books, and more particularly of illuminated manuscripts in Belgium in the 19th century. Moreover, the study of the materials and painting techniques would greatly contribute to the conservation of similar objects.

Non-exhaustive bibliography

1. Carlyle L. The artist’s assistant: oil painting instruction manuals and handbooks in Britain, 1800-1900, with reference to selected eighteenth-century sources. London: Archetype Publications; 2001.

Touched, sworn, used and restored: The study and conservation of the 11th-century illuminated Evangeliarium of Susteren

Lieve Watteeuw, KU Leuven, Belgium.

The Evangeliarium of Susteren, which dates from the 11th century (Meuse region) is an intriguing manuscript that has been kept in the small community of South Limburg until today. In 1174, the manuscript was donated to the Susteren Abbey by the abbess Imago of Loon (ca. 1120-1180), daughter of Count Arnulf II of Loon and Rieneck and Viscount of Mainz (1096–1139). On the occasion of the donation, the presentation miniature, an inventory of the church goods, a crucifixion, and the Eusebian tabels were added to the Evangeliarium. Originally, new abbesses, canonesses, canons, and vicars were obliged to swear an oath on the crucifixion miniature in the manuscript. This image suffered from severe damage caused by its frequent touching by dirty hands. Late in the 15th century, a splendid second crucifixion miniature was inserted into the Evangeliarium as the first was too dull to swear on. From the 17th century onwards, oath formulas were inscribed in the gospel folio’s, so it was no longer necessary to take the pledge on the crucifixion. During the 19th century, the manuscript was restored and rebound in a particular way by a local craftsman, as it was bound in a wooden box. In 2020, the manuscript was brought to the lab for digitalization, study and conservation.

The paper will showcase the fascinating life of the codex, reflecting the intense use during centuries, the earlier 19th century cleaning and restoration treatments, the laboratory research to pinpoint inks and pigments (MA-XRF, Hirox, Imaging with Photometric stereo-multispectral-microdome) and the new conservation treatment and binding.

Paper use and print influence in Irish legal manuscripts, c. 1500–1800

Chantal Kobel, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Ireland.

Recent studies have shed important light on the use of paper and the influence of print in the late medieval and Early Modern Irish manuscript tradition (see, for instance, essays in Ó Macháin 2019; Driscoll and Mac Cathmhaoil 2022). These studies, which discuss manuscripts compiled by members of the Irish poetic, historical and medical learned classes and later professional scribes, have shown the extent to which scholarly innovation and intercultural contact occurred in the Irish manuscript tradition. However, the evidence from Irish legal manuscripts has not yet been considered. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap.

A substantial number of manuscripts produced in late medieval Irish legal professional schools survive today. Many of these were compiled in the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries. They are often bound into complex composite volumes, many of which still require extensive codicological examinations and descriptive catalogues. Although vellum is the material of choice throughout these manuscripts, there is also evidence of paper used as writing medium or binding material. Moreover, evidence of the influence of print is found in Irish legal manuscripts produced from the seventeenth century onwards.

Based mainly on my codicological research on the collection of Irish legal manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College Dublin, I provide a survey study of the evidence and differentiate between the various types of use and influence of paper and print. Drawing on individual case-studies, I demonstrate that the compilation and binding of legal manuscripts did not remain untouched by the intercultural contact and influence witnessed elsewhere in Ireland’s scribal tradition but that their compilers were also willingly engaging with the new media. 

References

Matthew James Driscoll and Nioclás Mac Cathmhaoil (eds), Hidden harmonies: manuscript and print on the North Atlantic fringe, 1500–1900 (Copenhagen, 2022).

Pádraig Ó Macháin (ed.), Paper and the paper manuscript: a context for the transmission of Gaelic literature (Cork, 2019).

Pulled from the rubble: Conserving Ireland’s “lost” archive

Jessica Baldwin, National Archives, Ireland.

A casualty of Ireland's Civil War (1921-23), the Public Record Office of Ireland (PROI) was destroyed on 30 June 1922, resulting in the loss of 700 years of Irish history. Three weeks after the explosion, PROI staff were granted access to begin the momentous task of retrieving documents from the rubble of the building. They spent nearly a year gathering, sorting and identifying over 25,000 sheets of paper and parchment, which were carefully wrapped in brown paper and labelled. The fact that any records survived the impact of the blast is extraordinary. This paper will start by briefly outlining the events that led to the destruction of the PROI and the salvage operation.

Everything retrieved is now housed in the National Archives (Ireland) in Dublin.  A small number of distinct collections have been conserved across the decades, however the majority of the 400 bundles of salvaged records remained relatively untouched until 2017, when the first full condition survey was carried out. At this time the National Archives also became a key founding partner of the Beyond 2022: Ireland's Virtual Record Treasury Research Project. This high-profile international collaboration brought together conservators, archivists, historians and technical experts to locate archival material and sources to digitally reconstruct the collections that were destroyed. Sponsored by the Irish Government and led by Trinity College Dublin (TCD), the project has combined historical research, archival discovery, and technical innovation to create an open-access virtual archive for the salvaged records. The online resource was launched on the centenary of the fire in June 2022 (www.virtualtreasury.ie).

Conservation has played a crucial role in allowing access to the exceptionally important remnants of Ireland’s destroyed national archive, which were previously thought inaccessible to researchers and scholars. With the help of heritage scientists, it is also hoped that the material that is currently beyond treatment options can be analysed in more depth through the use of high-resolution multispectral imaging and X-ray microtomography (XMT or micro-CT), providing the tantalising possibility of recovering text thought to be lost forever. This paper will focus on the conservation challenges faced when treating archival manuscript collections that were impact and fire damaged during the destruction of the Public Record Office and then water and mould damaged before they could be recovered.

The registers of the Archbishops of Armagh: Assessing condition, composition and previous repairs to inform future treatment

Sarah Graham, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Ireland.

The Registers of the Archbishops of Armagh are deposited with the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) by the Diocese of Armagh. The earliest seven registers in particular are a very significant source of medieval material within Ireland. They are composite volumes which contain manuscripts loosely contemporary with Archbishops Sweteman (1361-1380), Fleming (1404-1439), Swayne (1418-1439), Prene (1439-1443), Mey (1443-1456), Octavian (1478-1513) and Cromer (1521-1543).

The Registers are a mixture of paper and parchment that had sustained significant water damage which caused felting and losses to the paper. There was some attempt to stabilise the edges before they were compiled and bound by Archbishop James Ussher in the 17th century. This binding format gave the Registers a consistent appearance; full leather bindings (calf) with pasteboards and sewn onto alum tawed supports. However, sections of the text block were still vulnerable to the strains of handling and access to the volumes for transcription and microfilming since then has caused further deterioration.

There have been attempts on two occasions to repair three of the volumes (thought to date from the 1930’s and 1970’s). Whilst they have prevented further loss of paper, they have obscured understanding of the text, materiality of the text block and binding features.

The condition of the Registers prevents public access and planning recent centenaries has caused conservation treatment to be re-evaluated for these volumes. Interdisciplinary discussion has informed planning so that possible interventive treatment to the Registers provide the most practical availability of the historical content.

Collection Management of Islamic Manuscripts at the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo: Study for Conservation and Digitization

Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Abd el-Salam Mohamed, Ain Shams University, Egypt.

I have choose Islamic Manuscripts at the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo (MIA) for my research project, that will be held me for deeper thinking about the manuscripts collections, which is will be helped me to get the ideal way for conservation, classification, and cataloging for (MIA) manuscripts. The Islamic Manuscripts at the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo has including over 2700 manuscripts, which is covering eastern and western Islamic World with in all ages in Islamic history. In addition to the Arabic, Persian and Turkish manuscripts, MIA preserves manuscripts in other oriental languages. Among these are texts in Sanskrit, Syriac, Mongolian, Samaritan, Armenian, Bengali, Hebrew and Hindi. One language is often represented by only a single volume. The collection also includes at least eight Ethiopian, ten Hebrew and thirteen Javanese manuscripts as well as eleven volumes written in Sanskrit. So, it will be perfect choose as a case study for cataloging and put basics of Conservation and Digitization.

Research Importance

• This project will be the first project for the cataloging for 2700 manuscripts at the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo, all of them without classification, just the Museum has general information in original museum's registration records.
• This project will be help the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo for digitization for the manuscripts online collections.

Research goals

The main goal for this research project, which is put general policy for conservation, cataloging, and digitization for the manuscripts at the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo with the same patterns of Manuscript policies for care and conservation on international Libraries & Museums.

Finally, if I get opportunity to publish my research results in the 19^th International Seminar on the Care and Conservation of Manuscripts, University of Copenhagen, these results will be the work plan for the collection management team at MIA for cataloging the Museum's manuscripts collections.

The effect of the text-focused interest on the preservation of Coptic bookbinding

Eliana Dal Sasso, Universität Hamburg, Germany.

Looking at late antique and early medieval Egyptian book production reveals a widespread desire not to waste any material, as evidenced by the recurrence of recovery, repair, and reuse practices. Waste materials, that is materials left over from the production of other objects, were recovered and repurposed in the production of the bookblock and the binding of manuscripts. The bookblocks of the codices from the city of Edfu and some of the bindings of the Nag Hammadi codices serve as examples. Bindings were repaired to prolong their existence in their present function, like in the case of the binding in wooden boards preserved in the Museo Egizio in Turin. Finally, pre-existing objects could be reused to create something new, conceptually or materially different. Therefore, fragments of leaves from old, discarded books were often reused as sewing guards to reinforce the centrefolds of the quires or adhered together to provide stiff boards to the leather covering. Since researchers were interested in the content and language of ancient manuscripts, Coptic bindings were often subjected to invasive interventions to facilitate the handling of the leaves, and the boards could even be split to extract the ancient writing fragments. Unfortunately, the binding from which the fragment came was often not annotated. Thus, information on the provenance of many fragments is rather laconic.

The paper argues that the operation was detrimental to both the knowledge of book technology and the texts themselves. On the one hand, many Coptic bookbinding features have been irremediably lost and can no longer be reconstructed. On the other hand, much information about a text’s use, diffusion, circulation, and discard lack context.

The proposed paper is divided into three parts. First, it will set the practices of recovery, repair and reuse within the framework of Late Antique and Early Medieval Egyptian book production.

Second, it will show how the text-focused interest prevailing until the first half of 20th century, had impacted the conservation (and as a consequence our knowledge) of Coptic bookbinding.

Third, it will present how the approach toward the study of the fragments is changed and it is necessary to develop a new methodology that allows the study of both material and textual aspects and at the same time satisfies the conservative needs of the artefacts.

Ethics and decision making in the conservation of codices

Zoitsa Gkinni, National Library pf Greece, Greece. Conservation is a profession that addresses constantly evolving social demands according to historical circumstances. With time, values changed, trends emerged, and practices adapted, leading to a contemporary “conservation ethics” which affect the perception of objects, prioritizing actions, overriding choices, and making decisions on the extent and type of documentation, research, and intervention.

Historical objects have meanings of special value on an aesthetic, social, symbolic, or cognitive level. However, their assigned meanings can change, since the purpose they served under the requirements and values of the wider cultural environment in which they were created, inevitably changes. Codices and rare books are multidimensional objects in construction, arts involved and attributed values and significance. Deciding on their conservation treatment is highly influenced by the owners’ and users’ demands. Historically, they were treated to prolong their use or change their symbolic status. Time and interventions resulted in “versions” of the same object. Their complexity and layered nature though, keep posing questions for their conservation and exhibition approach, that have not been adequately addressed, in the context of conservation theories and conservators’ social role.

The application of conservation actions goes through a decision-making process based on the knowledge gathered on the object, but also on the stated or tacit preferences of the stakeholders involved. The outcome of a treatment produces a unique version of the object according to conservators’ dexterity, knowledge, experience, aesthetics etc.

In the last decades, an increasing interest in ethics and the philosophy of conservation and cultural heritage has been manifested. Focusing on the field of book conservation and through examples of treatments, exhibition, and documentation of codices in different environments, circumstances and target groups, this paper aims to discuss (a) the conservators’ role and the social impact of conservation decision making in the perception of history, (b) the importance of documentation within and beyond the borders of an institution and (c) the importance of stakeholders’ cooperation for the preservation, information management and knowledge production.

The conservation of the jewish scroll of the national library of florence

Alessandro Sidoti, Biblioteca Nazionale Ventrale di Firenze, Italy.

The aim of this research was to give a better understanding of the conservation conditions of the Jewish scroll of the national library of Florence and also to provide information regarding the material components that make up this very little known object.  The Scroll features illustrations of holy sites visited by Jewish, Muslim and Christian pilgrims during the Middle Ages.  It was deemed necessary a conservation treatment to improve handling and display of the object.  The non-invasive analysis applied on the BNCF Jewish Scroll have allowed to obtain important information of constituent materials and, in most cases, have allowed their identification.  The analyzes were also carried out to confirm the dating of the Roll proposed on a paleographic and stylistic basis.  The imaging techniques in the visible and in the ultraviolet also provided documentation of the work and its state of conservation.  The digitization of the roll was obtained through the creation of a viewer, available online, allowing simultaneous viewing of the same image taken in the visible and UV.  During the conservation process, most of the previous damaging repairs have been detached using rigid aqueous gels and to enhance handling of the object, the final part has been humidified and tensioned with magnets, without dismantling the previous sewing of the roll. Repairs of the edges have been made using a isinglass coated japanese and korean papers, thus reducing the amount of water involved into the repairing process. A conservation box has been tailored to the object, and a video linked to a qr code has been added to improve the handling of the object from the scholars.  The materials identified therefore conform to the dating (XIV century) and the manufacturing area of the Roll (Egypt) proposed by the scholar Sarfati.  The object has been presented at an exhibition that was held in Jerusalem during the year 2021. 

Rethinking Digitisation as a Preservation Strategy: Lessons Learnt from the Lotus Sutra Project at the British Library 2017-2022

Marie Kaladgew, The British Library, United Kingdom, Paulina Kralka, The British Library, United Kingdom and Marya Muzart, The British Library, United Kingdom.

Since its inception in 1994, the International Dunhuang Project at the British Library has been a pioneer in conserving and digitising ancient Chinese manuscripts from the Stein collection. The recently concluded, 5-year Lotus Sutra Project conserved and digitised nearly 800 copies of the Buddhist Lotus Sutra. It represents the largest systematic effort at preservation and providing access to this precious body of material undertaken to date at the British Library. Using the experience gained on this project, we aim to rethink digitisation as a sustainable and ethical strategy for the conservation and preservation of continuously growing collections in the era of ever-shrinking public subsidies for collection care-related activities. 

By carrying out the assessment and treatment of thousands of artefacts, the conservation for digitisation approach offers a unique panoramic view of the collection, its needs and where it sits within the broader context. As the example of the Lotus Sutra Project will show, this precious knowledge allows for a more coherent, consistent and sustainable approach to the treatment of items across the collections. A well-executed digitisation strategy which relies on conservators’ leading role and input in planning is not only key for a successful and timely delivery for any given project, but can also serve as a means to empower them in decision-making and gain key skills in the management of workflow and resources. This in turn, leads to better-informed decisions relating to where the efforts should be prioritised and gives the conservators a chance to grow and develop valuable new skills.

This presentation will also discuss the decision-making process, challenges, and outcomes of conservation treatments within that framework. Our approach combines established East Asian techniques of conservation and best storage practices for rolled material, while incorporating creative and innovative solutions that address the specific needs of the collection; existing storage methods and facilities; accessibility, and cost and sustainability in the context of a large-scale digitisation project.

We hope our lessons learnt will provide an inspiring and adaptable model of approach which allows conservation to bring together the aims of various stakeholders and bridge the gaps between different areas within an institution for a more sustainable and democratic access to collections.

Hidden layers: conservation of a 16-17th century Kashmiri birch bark manuscript

Mary Hamilton French, Boston Public Library, Massachusetts, USA and Bexx Caswell-Olson, Northeast Document Conservation Center,  Massachusetts, USA.

When an exceptionally fragile 16th-17th century Kashmiri birch bark codex from the Chapin Library at Williams College was brought to the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) for conservation and digitization, its contents were largely inaccessible. Each text leaf in the manuscript consisted of two to four layers of naturally and/or artificially laminated birch bark, and most leaves had moderate to severe delamination, creases, and loss. The leaves had long horizontal splits in the fore edge and sewing stations that made it impossible to open the text block without abrading vulnerable areas, and whole sections of the text block were crumpled, tangled, and interlocked together. Scholarly interest in both the unknown text and the understudied Kashmiri binding structure created a unique opportunity for a multidisciplinary project that integrated scientific analysis into the conservation and research process.

As a non-western binding structure rarely encountered by conservators in the United States, understanding the historical, cultural, and design aspects of the Kashmiri binding was an important part of creating an appropriate treatment plan. The task of recontextualizing this manuscript was of significant scholarly interest to The Book and the Silk Roads project, which also helped to coordinate the scientific analysis of the object. Radiocarbon dating established the age of the manuscript to approximately 1500-1640CE. Micro-CT scanning informed the conservation process by offering a rare chance to study the book’s internal structure and original condition even in areas not visible to the human eye without disturbing the historic binding. To further assist in the conservation process, a binding model was constructed based on a study of the manuscript and a thorough literature review was also conducted to ensure that the treatment plan was culturally, historically, and materially appropriate. Following conservation and digitization, images of the manuscript were sent to an expert in the Śāradā script, who was able to identify the text and assist the conservator in determining the exact locations of loose fragments of text. Some fragments were able to be reunited with the main body of the text and the remainder were housed in a complex custom encapsulated post binding.

This paper will discuss how a conservation treatment plan was designed and carried out to restore access to the manuscript, address the logistics of managing a project with multiple institutional partners across two countries, and highlight the benefits of an interdisciplinary approach to the care and treatment of manuscripts.

Stationery bindings from the Norwegian Sea Archive, University Library of Bergen

Ekaterina Pasnak, University Library of Bergen, Norway.

Special Collections at the University Library of Bergen and the City Archives of Bergen house an extensive collection of accounting books belonging to various private firms dealing with the stockfish trade stretching from the late 16th century until the 1920’s. It is part of UNESCO documentary heritage, as it describes economic activities not only in Norway but also in the rest of Europe. Since Viking times Bergen was the centre of this trade with northern Norway, but it was organized on a large scale by German merchants from the Hansa league from the beginning of the 14th century, and after the dissolution of Hansa in the late 18th century continued until the late nineteen twenties.

Recently a full survey of this archive was undertaken in the University Library of Bergen. It consists of over two thousand three hundred stationery bindings and occupies over one hundred forty shelf meters. This archive gives a historical overview of the stationery binding as it changed according to the period and the type of accounting.  A few early bindings were rebound in the library, but the majority retain their original bindings. The earliest bindings are usually laced-case bindings, either limp or with boards covered with plain parchment, with or without ties. One rare manuscript (Ms.214) has a red coloured parchment with an envelope flap that is an extension of the right cover. Originally it had a fastening, but now only the hook has been preserved on the left cover. From the late 18th century until the first half of the 19th century, inboard binding with a tight spine predominates. Until the middle of the 19th century all bindings were very simple and functional, with very little decoration, often without endleaves or endbands. The boards of late 18th and early 19th century books were covered with paste paper, which appears to have been locally made. Decorative printed or marbled paper for endleaves starts to appear only after the 1850’s. From the 1850’s case bindings with boards and hollow spine predominate. The attachment of the boards to the textblock is well secured; in spite of heavy use, no detachment of the boards has occurred. Great attention was given to the sturdiness of the sewing. In case bindings the middle of the quire has often been strengthened with linen. The endleaves had hook attachment also made of linen. There is no bypass sewing.

An unusual type of binding is a so-called gesellbok or apprentice notebook. It was the task of apprentices to go to the fishing boats and record the amount of fish received from each fisherman. These notebooks are weather-proof and covered with a thick tanned brown leather; all have a flap that is an extension of the left or right cover and has a tongue that fits into the opening cut on the opposite cover. Inside the board, instead of a pastedown there are inserted pockets for small paper notes and a special leather pouch for a pen or pencil, as most of the records were written with graphite pencil.

Some of these accounting books were used for several centuries, and might list entries from the 17th until the 19th centuries. It was the custom to sell the business with the books; these accounts list the debts fishermen owed to the merchants when they exchanged fish for grain and other goods. If the firm was sold, the new owner had to pay the old owner the amount of outstanding debt accumulated by fishermen, and this was the way of securing dependency of the fishermen on that particular business. Thus, these books were a business asset. Perhaps this explains why attention was given to the quality of these stationery bindings, and most of them preserve their functionality until the present day.

Analysis and Conservation Treatments of a Buddhist Manuscript Preserved in the Tucci Tibetan Collection at the “IsIAO Library”

Michela Clemente, University of Rome, Italy and Federica Delìa, Academy of Fine Arts of Rome, Italy.

This paper will illustrate codicological features and conservation treatments undertaken on a Buddhist manuscript belonging to the Tucci Tibetan Collection of the “IsIAO Library”, which includes thousands of manuscripts and xylographs gathered by Giuseppe Tucci (1894-1984) during his scientific expeditions to Central and Western Tibet in the first half of the twentieth century. Books were brought to Italy and donated by Tucci to the Italian Institute for the Middle and Far East (IsMEO), which was founded by him in 1933. The Collection is currently hosted at the National Central Library of Rome (BNCR) in the dedicated room called “IsIAO Library”, which is managed by ISMEO – The International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies thanks to an agreement with BNCR.

Today Tibetan manuscripts are witnesses of a disappearing culture, therefore any physical interventions on such artefacts should be very carefully approached and carried out by a multidisciplinary team of professionals. This research has been conceived by a conservator with a specific knowledge on Tibetan paper and a Tibetologist especially interested in codicology, also in charge of the Tucci Collection.

In the traditional Tibetan Buddhist context manuscripts are considered as sacred, so that conservation practice has never been developed. Only recently, some treatments have been attempted on books kept in Tibetan Himalayan areas, with the permission of their curators, under the guidance of Western experts. Numerous Tibetan artefacts are preserved in different collections in Western countries, where they have been treated like any other books, often without taking too much into account their provenance, culture and peculiarities. Paper does not present the same characteristics of Western supporting materials, so as inks, pigments and coatings. Our intention is to deal with such artefacts by deeply respecting their tradition, using contemporary conservation techniques and searching for innovative improvements. The idea is to include Himalayan traditional manufactures in the conservation process by applying materials produced today as in the past. This paper will also underline advantages and issues related to this new and interdisciplinary approach in the field, highlighting thoughts and doubts surfaced during this research.

A stitch in time - conserving the fabric sample books for the liberty archive

Ann-Marie Miller, Codex Conservation, United Kingdom.

This paper will focus on the practical conservation treatment of several fabric sample books from the Liberty Archive, London. The collection is of international importance and comprises 300+ volumes dating back to the 1890’s. The paper will begin with a brief history of the collection and how it is used today. The volumes that have been selected for conservation thus far are predominantly stationery bindings and guard books with fabric samples adhered directly onto the support leaves. They have led an active life and their contents have been digitized so that they can be consulted by the Liberty designers as an ongoing and active resource. The physical fabric samples evidence their printing and manufacture, therefore making them an essential material resource for the team. Following initial interest in the project to repair the books, it was necessary to provide a coherent and sustainable plan that was underpinned with a pragmatic approach to their repair. Recreating the engineered structured of the bindings was a priority as they are working objects that are required to function for the display and protection of the pages therein.

During the imaging process, it was noted that many of the volumes are extremely vulnerable, being made from degraded modern materials and severely damaged from handling. They are covered with a thick layer of surface dirt; the pages are frequently in an advanced state of decay with multiple tears and losses. There are earlier passages of repair to the pages, various samples have been removed or are lost and they frequently contain numerous inserts including drawings on tracing paper. Most alarmingly, once the bindings had failed structurally, with detached boards and collapsed spine linings, they were “repaired” by one ill-advised care-taker, using multiple layers of black, plastic “gaffer” tape. These were applied to the coverings, boards and occasionally the pages themselves and have become stiff and acidic over time. This paper will outline the concerns raised by the volumes, in terms of their ongoing usage and deterioration and how the work has been approached.

The overall aims of the conservation approach will be discussed, including the negotiation of an achievable level of repair that enables the wider collection to be more accessible and prevent further damage. The damages are extensive and setting up an approach with realistic aims that can be rolled out over several years means that the conservation of this incredible collection is viable, and hopefully make ad-hoc repairs a thing of the past. 

Caring for Lost Manuscripts

Jérémy Delmulle, National Centre of Scientific Research, France, Hanno Wijsman, National Centre of Scientific Research, France, Krista Murchison, Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands, Claudia Rabel, National Centre of Scientific Research, France and Joanna Fronska, National Centre of Scientific Research, France.

a) Repairing Losses: How to make manuscripts missing in wartime talk?

Jérémy Delmulle, National Centre of Scientific Research, France.

The project Deperditi. Faire parler les manuscrits disparus (Deperditi. Making Missing Manuscripts Talk), an initiative of the Section de codicologie, histoire des bibliothèques et héraldique of the Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes (IRHT-CNRS), consists of drawing up the “identikit”, so to speak, of destroyed, damaged or missing manuscripts, mainly due to war destructions, based on the various known testimonies (either concordant or discordant): descriptions, transcriptions, collations, use in a text edition, various mentions in bibliography, etc., as well as all available photographic or other reproductions. These data, which will be completed and corrected in the long term as new discoveries are made, will be freely accessible in the dual form of a relational database within the framework of Bibale database (bibale.irht.cnrs.fr) and an associated virtual library. This paper aims to show the plan and first results of this project and to serve as an introduction for the case studies presented in the following papers.

b) The Ephemerous Leuven University Library of the Interwar Period (1917-1940)

Hanno Wijsman, National Centre of Scientific Research, France.

On 25 August 1914, German soldiers set fire to the University Hall and the library. The building and the collections were completely destroyed. The construction and supply of a new library were explicitly decided upon as part of the war reparations by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. A new collection of almost 800 manuscripts was constituted by German and private donations. On 16 May 1940 artillery fire set alight the brand-new library, which was burnt down once again. Only about fifteen of the manuscripts escaped the disaster. The tragic story of the twice burned Leuven University Library is well-known, but the work of reconstructing and analysing what has actually been lost has never been systematically done. This paper will show the first results of a research project currently underway at the IRHT in partnership with KU Leuven Libraries, aiming to reconstruct as much as possible of this former collection in order to make its contents known to the scholarly community. Indeed, numerous and varied sources allow us to apprehend the contents of these manuscripts and their recent and older provenances.

c) The Manuscripts of the Bibliothèque municipale of Metz and the Battle of Metz of 1944

Krista Murchison, Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands.

Among all the significant cultural heritage losses sustained by France during the Second World War, the loss of medieval manuscripts from the Metz municipal library stands out. The collection, which was set ablaze in the prelude to the Battle of Metz of 1944, sustained significant losses. The damage was estimated at an incredible 44,314,000 francs – approximately nine million euros today. But despite the significant cultural and political weight of this damage, several mysteries surrounding it have never been satisfactorily explained, and major questions, such as how many manuscripts were lost in the fire, remain unanswered. Exploring these questions is important, since the collection has historical significance on both regional and transregional levels. This paper is aimed at shedding light on these questions by charting and analysing the remains of this collection and its history.

d) The Manuscripts of the Bibliothèque municipale of Metz and the Battle of Metz of 1944

Claudia Rabel, National Centre of Scientific Research, France and Joanna Fronska, National Centre of Scientific Research, France.

An accidental bombing of the municipal library of Chartres in 1944 hindered for many years further research on its manuscripts, invaluable primary sources for the study of the vibrant Chartrean schools of the 11th and 12th centuries. Many manuscripts were lost in the fire, but at least 248 from the original 518 medieval codices have survived in various states of preservation, their fragments being mostly conserved in the greatest disorder. Since 2006, researchers from the Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes (IRHT-CNRS) have been working on this martyrized collection, almost fully digitised today. Many previously anonymous fragments were identified and a number of fragmented volumes or their parts were digitally reconstructed. The research on the Chartrean manuscripts, even on those entirely destroyed, has been carried out using all kinds of pre-war documents (medieval and modern catalogues, old reproductions, editions of texts...). As some case studies will show, our knowledge of the production of manuscripts in Chartres, the history of their preservation in the local libraries and their use by medieval and modern scholars has thus significantly been expanded.

An Interdisciplinary Approach of Preventive Conservation: Automated Visual Recognition for Deterioration on Manuscripts

Wan-Jen Lin, National Museum of Taiwan Literature, Taiwan and Bor-Tung Jiang, Industial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan.

The National Museum of Taiwan Literature (NMTL) is Taiwan’s first national-level literary museum. NMTL’s mission is to preserve precious literary heritage, and is devoted to its literary promotion, exhibition, and research in the field of Taiwan literature for over 18 years. The majority of the collections in NMTL are paper-based materials such as manuscripts and books. When the collections exceeded 110,000 items, its condition assessment and documentation work becomes more cumbersome and time-consuming. In order to relieve the current situation, the NMTL launched an artificial intelligence (AI) learning research project in cooperation with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in 2021, for the identification of deterioration on paper. Extending from the main axis of museum collection and preservation to the application of new technology, the first stage of this research was to collect representative images of deterioration from manuscript and book collections. These images of deterioration were used to train the AI model through a co-creation competition activity, and the feasibility of AI identification of deterioration has been preliminarily verified.

However, several difficulties were also faced during the AI recognition process. Image data is complicated due to the fact that the diversity of paper substrate background interferes with the deterioration target, which increases the difficulty for accurate recognition. Even the same type of deterioration may have further classifications, and different types of deterioration show very different visual patterns, resulting in a highly complex image that restricts the performance of AI learning. Sufficient quality data collection and input is highly influential towards AI learning quality.

To resolve this, a further research was launched to find the methodology to construct a proper image database for AI learning. Firstly, image characteristic analysis such as contrast and brightness level were conducted to extract the effectiveness of training data from deterioration images. Secondly, the visual patterns of deterioration were then divided into several classes to help improve AI’s learning quality. The analysis method was implemented as operation criterion to improve the quality of labeling data. Finally, the image data collected from the analysis results went through a data augmentation procedure, and were verified with experimental training and testing for AI recognition performance. The system parameters, photography equipment and labeling software were then fine-tuned to meet the standard of NMTL’s digitalization workflow. Reason being, the learning quality of AI is highly dependent on sufficient quality data input.

In this research, automated visual recognition technology for deterioration on manuscripts was verified, and the methods for collecting AI learning data are also evaluated. It is hoped that the maturing AI visual analysis technology and machine learning model can assist collection condition assessment in the future, so as to enhance efficiency and record documentation more comprehensively compared to traditional manual procedures. Through the interdisciplinary research and fusion with AI technology, the digitization and documentation of collections will be implemented to help the NMTL further understand the overall condition of its collections, effectively integrating the accumulated data from the past and the continuous documentation output of the future.

Parchment Biodeterioration: Recent Advances and Contributions

Catarina Pinheiro, Évora University, Portugal, Ana Teresa Caldeira, Évora University, Portugal, Catarina Fernandes Barreira, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal and Conceição Casanova, NOVA University of Lisbon, Potugal.

The biodeterioration of parchment – and specially the one characterized by the appearance of purple stains - has seen incredible advances in the last five years. The introduction of DNA studies brought accuracy to the field of microorganism’s identification but Next Genome Sequencing (NGS) revolutionized our current knowledge on this area as it came to show the microbial populations present since the moment that parchment came to be.

The preparation of the hides seems to be pivotal in this process as the pioneer agents of biodeterioration have been identified as marine halophilic Archaeobacteria and Bacteria. Using a similar approach to the studies advancing this hypothesis our working group is mapping the biological communities of different Medieval collections, namely book collections from the Cistercians Monasteries, such as Mosteiro de Alcobaça and Mosteiro de Lorvão, and also the archival fund of Convents from Oporto’s District Archives.

The results deliver a picture in accordance to international studies that attribute relevance to the presence of marine bacteria such as Halomonas spp. (Proteobacteria) and Saccharopolyspora spp.  (Actinobacteria). According to the succession theory presented by research groups from Italy and Vienna, these would correspond to the second and third tier of biodeterioration, coming just before ubiquitous bacterial and fungal communities. The pioneer microorganism - Halobacterium salinarium and other Archaobacteria – are yet absent from our results, the reason probably being the antiquity (XII century) of the affected parchment sampled so far. Throughout time and use, and as more and more complex communities make their way through the parchment fibers, the environment becomes harsher to the DNA of the first colonizers, rendering it very difficult to obtain and amplify successfully.

The results obtained so far consolidate the discoveries made by international groups and offer perspective on important Portuguese Medieval collections. The incidence of the purple stains biodeterioration problem also offers a valuable insight on the history of each parchment bifolia, the codex containing them and its frequency of use. Also presented are methodology difficulties and the steps used to overcome these.

Rehousing Pothi Format Books from the Harvard-Yenching Library: Considering Materiality and Spirituality

Katherine Beaty, Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA, Rachel Bissonnette, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC, USA and Kathryn Kenney, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC, USA.

Harvard-Yenching Library is the largest collection of East Asian materials outside of Asia, and has been very proactive in digitizing their holdings to make them available to the world. Harvard Yenching Library holds over 1000 volumes of Tibetan and Mongolian pothi-format texts, which primarily contain sacred text. The earliest pothi texts were written on palm leaves, and later paper based pothi retained a similar narrow and long format. The collection discussed in this paper are all paper-based textblocks. These pothi books are not bound in the Western sense, but instead consist of stacks of loose leaves, which are held together by two boards. These stacks are wrapped in cloth and fastened with a strap or buckle, often referred to as bundles.

Preservation issues include improper stacking, disassociation of the boards from the text block, damage from handling and storage, improper handling, manipulating heavy and awkward objects. Harvard Library Preservation Services is embarking on a large-scale project to conserve and rehouse these books so that they are more accessible. The rehousing protocol developed for this project addresses the material/physical needs of the objects, but is also sensitive to the spiritual and cultural needs of the books.

In the religiously observant Buddhist world, books are addressed and handled in the same way as icons and relics, however when Buddhist texts entered Western collecting institutions they were often divorced from their sacred context. Too often conservators have focused only on caring for the materiality of these books. The field of conservation is evolving to consider the preservation of intangible qualities of these objects and Harvard Library Preservation Services took this into consideration when developing their preservation plan for this collection.

In this presentation, we will address these challenges by exploring three case studies.

1. One, a rare, luxury Mongolian Kangyur with multiple fragile wrappings. Harvard faculty,

community stakeholders, and conservators from other specialities were consulted to

better inform treatment decisions and preservation recommendations for this object.

2. A set of the Peking Kangyur composed of 106 wrapped volumes posed a different

challenge. Due to the degrading wool straps, removal from the shelf and unwrapping exacerbated the fragile wool and left fibers and debris all over the bundles and stacks. In order to address this problem, the volumes were kept in their original wrappings, the deteriorating straps were separated from the wraps and retained in the box, and new straps were attached.

3. A collaborative conservation treatment and rehousing of an oversized Tibetan Kangyur. This volume weighed over 100 pounds and due to its size, needed to be stored off-site. The housing included a custom textile wrapper and crate for safe storage and transport.

Each case study highlights some of the challenges and considerations associated with caring for the collection at Harvard while seeking to address both the material and intangible aspects of the collection.

A living tradition: an introduction to the production and use of manuscripts in Ethiopia from the sixth century to the present day

Abigail Quandt, The Walters Art Museum, Maryland, USA.

An investigation into the materials and techniques of Ethiopian manuscripts is currently underway at the Walters Art Museum, in preparation for a major exhibition of Ethiopian art in late 2023. Preliminary results from this research, which is based upon the study and analysis of 35 Ethiopian manuscripts from the Walters and supplemented by the examination of over 50 examples in other American collections, will be presented at the CC19 seminar.

The earliest extant Ethiopian codex has been carbon dated to the sixth century, two centuries after the establishment of Christianity in the country, while most of the surviving manuscripts range in date from the early fourteenth to the twentieth centuries. Depending on how they were to be used, manuscripts were made in different formats including bound codices (mäshaf), small accordion-folded books (sensul), and processional icons made of folded and joined sheets of parchment that were formed into a large fan (maraweht). Monastic scribes and artists produced manuscripts with Christian themes, while priests made healing scrolls (ketab) with magical powers meant to ward off evil and cure the sick. The parchment supports, made primarily from goatskin, were produced using methods and tools that are unique to Ethiopia. Complex ink recipes were based primarily on carbon black, while locally available mineral pigments were used for illumination, with the color palette limited to blue, red, yellow, green, white, and black. There is a notable absence of gold in both Ethiopian manuscripts and icon paintings, with orpiment being used instead for halos and other golden elements of the designs. Native woods were cut and roughly shaped for the boards of codices, sensuls and fans, and goatskin leather was employed for book covers, satchels and scroll cases. Textblocks were sewn with a link stitch using a thread made from sinew, which was replaced with vegetable fiber thread by the twentieth century. Imported textiles were adhered to the inner faces of book boards, used as curtains to cover the miniatures of service books and as wrappers to protect fragile volumes. Although modern inks and pigments have replaced traditional media for writing and illumination, manuscripts continue to be produced today following centuries old practices, affirming the important role that they play in Ethiopian society.

Giuseppe De Marco: A codicological and palaeographical examination of the works of an eighteenth-century medical practitioner

Chanelle Briffa, the Notarial Archives of Malta, Malta and Vanessa Buhagiar, the Notarial Archives of Malta, Malta.

Giuseppe De Marco (1712-1789) was a Maltese medical practitioner and philosopher, who specialised in the fields of physiology and respiratory medicine. Born, raised, and educated in Malta, De Marco enrolled in the medical school at Montpellier in France in 1742. There he studied under the tutelage of Francois de Sauvages de la Croix and successfully defended his thesis Dissertatio phisiologica de respiratione in 1744. Upon his return to Malta, De Marco wrote various treatises on ailments and mechanics, as well as on items like chocolate and wool. His works are to be found at the National Library of Malta (NLM): his collection had been bought by a librarian in the late nineteenth century, albeit it is uncertain whether it had been purchased in toto.

Today, the collection of De Marco’s works at the NLM amounts to twenty-one volumes. During the latter half of the twentieth century these manuscripts had been subject to serious interventions. Indeed, during such exercise, De Marco’s work had been ‘sorted’ and paginated, and evidence suggests that most of the documents were bound and rebound in stiff red cardboard covers. These interventions have made it difficult to gauge the original order and state of De Marco’s work. Indeed, much of the current manuscripts constitute an amalgam of different treatises that are written by a number of idiosyncratic scribes. Since the original state of the volumes had not been recorded, any attempt at a cohesive understanding of De Marco’s collected works has been seriously compromised.

In this respect, the authors of this paper propose to study the twenty-one-volume collection from a book historical perspective and retrieve - to an extent that is possible - the original context. This will be done through a multi-disciplinary methodology that marries codicology, paper conservation, and palaeography. Such exercise aims at identifying past interventions on the volumes and distinguishing these from the original state of the work. This analysis will go hand-in-hand with a palaeographic investigation of the volumes, which aims to analyse the scribal context of these volumes and possibly identify De Marco’s handwriting. This will be done through the use of a high-quality USB-microscope and an ‘alphabet grid’, which maps the findings of the microscopic analysis in a logical organisation. The proposed multi-disciplinary approach to De Marco’s works hopes to bring clarity to the obscured history of his volumes and rationalise their current state. Indeed, it is hoped that such study establishes a more stable ground on which future studies of De Marco and his collection of works can be built.

Curious Cures: the conservation of medieval medical manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

Marina Pelissari, Cambridge University Library, United Kingdom and Rachel Sawicki, Cambridge University Library, United Kingdom.

Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries is a two-year project to digitise, catalogue and conserve over 180 medieval manuscripts. It focusses on manuscripts containing approximately 8,000 unedited medical recipes, bringing together unique and irreplaceable handwritten books from the world-class collections of the University Library, Fitzwilliam Museum and a dozen Cambridge Colleges.

Most of the manuscripts date to the 14th and 15th centuries, with some examples from earlier centuries, the oldest being 1,000 years old. They include richly illuminated manuscripts, academic treatises with elaborate medical diagrams, and practical pocketbooks designed to be carried around and perhaps made by medical practitioners themselves. A substantial number are in centuries-old bindings, with some in need of significant conservation before digitisation can begin.

Our talk will focus on the conservation aspects of the project, as well as providing an overview of the recipes and where they are found. Using case studies, we will discuss the condition of collection, historical repair techniques, our treatment options and decisions, and how we carried them out within the constraints of an externally funded digitisation project.

One case study will illustrate the codicology and materiality of an unusual 15th century medical prescription book. Bound in a limp parchment binding with secondary tackets passing through a pierced rigid spine plate, this is a unique example of a book used in the day-to-day life of a medieval medical specialist. The conservation approach chosen was one of minimal intervention to the binding structure and paper textblock, looking to preserve all the unique features. The non-professional characteristics of this manuscript contrast with other more refined bindings containing medical recipes, which we will also discuss.

In addition to sharing information about notable binding structures within the project, our talk will also explore the challenges of conserving the medieval manuscript palette. Cambridge’s medical recipes feature in a vast array of formats, from simple unornamented notebooks to gloriously illuminated works with full-page illustrations. Inks and pigments deteriorate for a number of reasons; these can include improper preparation of the substrate, paint or binder, mechanical stresses such as abrasion or flexing of the substrate, inherent flaws in the chemistry of the pigments, accidental damage, and natural aging. The conservation team will discuss some challenging examples of pigment deterioration and the techniques used to stabilise them.

Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries is a unique project, filled with intriguing and interesting material, that will help illuminate medieval medical culture in Europe. The project is the first concentrated effort by a group of libraries to make all of its medical recipes available online to researchers. It is hoped that our talk will shine a light on what these 180 medical manuscripts can tell us about medical book culture in the Middle Ages and the precarity of medieval life.

The stratification of historic repairs: Complex decisions in the conservation of the 11th century Materia Medica

Godelieva van der Randen, University Libraries Leiden, The Netherlands.

The Materia Medica in the collection of the University Libraries Leiden is an 11th century Islamic manuscript containing an Arabic translation of a treatise about medicinal plants by the Greek Pedanius Dioscurides (40-90 AD). The text is accompanied by many illustrations of plants and animals. This remarkable manuscript is one of the top pieces of the collection and is often requested for loans and used for educational purposes. Over the centuries the manuscript was repaired several times, resewn and trimmed. Before its transfer from the Middle East to the West in the 17th century, it was rebound in its current Ottoman binding. The last intervention was carried out in the 19th century when the manuscript was resewn using western methods. In the textblock itself, approximately five different types of repair papers are present. They are primarily located in the spine-folds and at edges and corners. Repairs in illustrated areas often contain a retouch.

Some of the earliest, local mends followed considerable water damage, which affected the structure of the paper leaving large stains, and causing copper corrosion. The accumulation of repairs, especially those in the spine-folds, eventually caused tension and damage in the folios. Other repairs lost their function, or new tears formed at the edge of the repairs. The manuscript further suffered from extensive handling, transportation, and exhibitions. Though a digital version had been made available, and the volume had been excluded from use in the reading room, the original manuscript was still being requested for loans. In 2021, however, it was decided that due to the extremely fragile condition, the manuscript could no longer be safely handled for any purpose. A conservation project was then set up, aiming to stabilise the manuscript while keeping the traces of historic use and repairs. Several treatment scenarios were discussed, eventually leading to a different approach than first envisaged.

This presentation will focus on the decision making regarding the numerous historic repairs in the manuscript. Generally, we want to preserve such traces as they are important for our understanding of the object’s history and context. However, it becomes more complex when they lose their function, start to cause more harm, have become a blend of original cultural interventions and western library repairs, or become so numerous that they distract our view from the object itself. If we decide to remove them, which criteria do we use and does this weigh up against their historical value? The complexity of the treatment was not so much the practical implementation, as it concerned mostly straightforward paper repair work, but the decision making regarding the variety of the historic repairs and the way they affected the manuscript. Once that major hurdle was taken and all the folios were stabilised, the gatherings were sewn according to the Islamic tradition and the textblock was returned in its former binding.

Are old conservation treatments the new challenges? The case of st. Mark's Books

Claudia Benvestito, Marciana National Library, Italy, Jarmila Kodrič, Italy, Elena Badea, ICPI Research Division, Romania, Cristina Carsote, National Museum of Romanian History, Romania and Andrea Pataki-Hundt, TH Köln-University of Applied Sciences, Germany.

This paper aims to discuss the challenge of a conservator who is asked to re-treat manuscripts that have already been treated in the past. Every treatment that a manuscript undergoes affects the chemistry of its materials, such as writing media, inks, pigments and binding media, and such changes can have dramatic consequences over time. Previous treatments of a manuscript should be studied and analysed both for planning a new treatment and for historical research based on material evidence.

Thanks to continuing advances in the analysis of heritage materials, new portable, non-invasive instruments have recently achieved the required analytical sensitivity to facilitate treatment decisions and materials selection.

In 2021, for the celebration of 1600th anniversary of the birth of the city of Venice, the Marciana Library benefited from a collaboration among conservators and heritage scientists regarding the conservation proposals for three of the most precious 14th century illuminated manuscripts in its collection. Known as ‘St Mark's books’ these manuscripts supposedly originated from the same workshop. Over the centuries they suffered from the moisture with high salt content of the Venetian tide and in the 1930s they were subjected to extensive and invasive conservation treatments. Affected by the same type of damage, each was given a different treatment. Today, the flaking, cracking, and detachment of pigments from their substrates called for a new consolidation treatment, mainly to allow for further handling to facilitate digitization and display of the Missale on display.

The manuscripts were comprehensively characterized using a non-invasive in-situ analytical protocol based on the joint use of XRF and (Raman and FTIR) vibrational spectroscopies, and microscopy. This approach allowed for identification of the inks and a majority of the pigments. We were also able to unveil complex pigment mixtures and reconstitute the pigment layers sequences. Information about the original ground and bole materials was obtained. Collagen lyses and deep structural damage was documented by microscopy while the presence of gelatine was confirmed by FTIR analyses.

Based on the analytical data, adhesives of different chemical composition were designed and tested in type, dilution, and method of application as well as solvent, to avoid repeating the past errors made in the previous consolidation treatments. A plan was set up to monitor the applied consolidation solution and guarantee the long-term stability of the pigments.

With this paper we aim to present the historical evidence of pigments used in manufacture, and contrast the previous conservation practices with the new methods used, highlighting the results of the most recent St. Mark’s Missal conservation project.

A comparative technical analysis of pigments used in 12 mediaeval manuscripts from The Arnamagnaean Collection

Esben Bukh Glindvad, Det Kongelige Akademi, Denmark.

A comparative technical analysis of blue, red, and black pigments in 12 Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish 14th century manuscripts. The assumption that the Icelandic manuscripts differ from the manuscripts from the three other countries due to the pigments used in them was investigated.

12 manuscripts from the Arnamagæan Collection were chosen for analysis based on the common criteria geographical origin, time of manufacturing and occurrence of blue, red and black pigments in either illuminations or text.

Pigment identification were carried out using the nondestructive technical analytical methods multispectral scanning, FORS (fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy) and XRF-scanning. The micro destructive test method microfading was used for the investigation of the lightfastness of the pigments. Results from the different analysis were then compared to see if interrelation between the manuscripts’ geographical origin and the pigments used within them occurred.

When comparing the different results for pigment identification obtained through analyses on each of the manuscripts included in this work, it was observed that the use of red ochre occurred exclusively in manuscripts of Icelandic origin. Furthermore, the use of ultramarine occurred predominantly in Icelandic manuscripts. Based on these observations, the aforementioned assumption that Icelandic manuscripts differ in the use of pigments used within them, was confirmed. Microfading tests were carried out on the same areas as those analyzed for identification of pigments. The results showed that the test areas showing the highest sensitivity towards light deterioration were areas where use of red ochre and ultramarine were detected. 

The results obtained in this work and the observations and conclusions based upon them, points towards a tendency that use of pigments in Nordic medieval manuscripts is in some degree dictated by the geographic origin of said manuscripts.

Questions to Dagulf

Christa Hofmann, Austrian National Library, Austria, Dubravka Jemrih-Simbürger, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria, Maurizio Aceto, Univerità degli Stufi del Piemonte Orientale, Italy, Jiřì Vnouček, Royal Library, Copenhagen, Denmark and Thomas Rainer, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

The early Carolingian psalter (Austrian National Library Codex 1861), the so-called Dagulf psalter has fascinated people for many centuries. Dagulf and presumably a second scribe created the manuscript on the court of Charlemagne between 782 and 795. The book was originally dedicated to Pope Hadrian I. The manuscript is a testimony to the Carolingian minuscule and the reform of the liturgy. The precious materials of the psalter have changed their appearance but still strike the viewer in their splendour.

In a multi-disciplinary effort, we have tried to discover how the manuscript was created and how its initial appearance might have looked like. The investigation was initiated by Thomas Rainer and his research on medieval purple manuscripts at the University of Zurich. We investigated the parchment, the gold and silver inks, the pigments of the initials and the three decorative pages on folios 25r, 67v and 108v. The non-invasive methods included Fibre optical reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), both point analysis and elemental mappings. The results of analysis were compared with visual observations of the parchment, the writing and painting technique. Microscopic images and analytical data were put in context. In material and digital reconstructions, we try to imagine the original appearance. In our discussions the view points of art history, conservation and natural science were brought together.

The scribes used pure gold inks of similar composition. The initials show the colour scheme of orcein-based purple, ultramarine and indigo. Degradation patterns of silver ink and purple parchment were compared with the 6th century manuscript, the Vienna Genesis. In both manuscripts the silver ink contains chlorine but has led to different forms of corrosion and parchment degradation. We will present the results of our investigations, our theories on the art technology and the open questions to the scribe Dagulf.

Recovering the missing aura: the conservation strategy and treatment of Sakinu Ahronglong’s fire-damaged manuscripts

Hsuan-Yu Chen, National Museum of Taiwan Literature, Taiwan and Yi-Hsium Chen, National Museum of Taiwan Literature, Taiwan.

The aura in the literary manuscripts shows an author's creative inspiration, but there was a streak of wisdom light dimmed in the night because of the blaze in May 2019. In this case, a series of manuscripts were burned and delivered to the National Museum of Taiwan Literature (NMTL) after salvaging from the writer's residence. Those were written by a significant Taiwanese indigenous writer, Sakinu Ahronglong. Their content includes the author's diaries, essays, notes, sketches, etc. Sakinu's life experiences and memories can be observed through these manuscripts spanning decades. Moreover, those could be seen as essential to his literary creations. NMTL collects objects related to the representative writers in Taiwan, and this batch of unique manuscripts is expected to be reborn from the ashes over here.

After being burned, extinguished by water and dried in the air, the paper left the deterioration of mildew, bleeding media, offset, stains, distortion and dirt residues. The condition affects the manuscripts' further preservation, paper structure and appearance. The subsequent problems of collecting and application have been greatly challenged, but fortunately, the size and content of most of the residual manuscripts still show approximately 2/3 in proportion.

Before treating the manuscripts, they are sorted according to the paper's integrity, whether it can be clearly distinguished from individual volumes and the quantities of remaining pages. The wet treatment can be evaluated to deal with the existing deterioration. However, a large amount of mildew will become a significant issue. The paper is composed of cotton fibers, and most of the fiber's structure is still intact. There was a two-stage experiment done for further treatment. In the first stage, gamma radiation of 3kGy was chosen to completely eliminate the activity of mold. Then, the folding endurance of experimental paper was tested to evaluate the change of paper strength, which dealt with burning, irradiation and washing. The results indicated the interaction of cross-linking and the gel effect observed in the composition of paper. Compared with the unburnt form, the folding endurance for machine direction decreased by approximately 7-8%, instead of the CD having an increase of nearly 10%. The loss of paper strength after burning and irradiation is limited; moreover, it can be recovered by washing. Accordingly, the feasibility of treating the paper structure of fire-damaged manuscripts is improved.

The original binding of the manuscripts is a ring-bound sketchbook. The structure was damaged entirely and appeared in bulk. Although it is feasible to recover the book structure through previous research, the appearance of book binding is bound to be changed. This study aims to determine the key basis for deciding the conserving degree of fire-damaged manuscripts. This study discusses the viewpoints, including the future application of manuscripts, the purpose of conservation and the maintenance of fire-damage history with conservators, curators and the author. According to those, the follow-up treatments are carried out appropriately. As a result, we hope to seek balance and benefit between collecting, exhibiting, and researching. And it is also responsible for the author and donations.

Keywords: fire-damaged manuscript, conservation strategy, conservation purpose, treatment of book binding

New technologies for the conservation of fire-damaged manuscript heritage

Melania Zanetti, Ca’ Foscari University, Italy, Anne-Laurence Dupont, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, France and Alfonso Zoleo, University of Padua, Italy.

Fires in buildings housing historical collections of books and papers have occurred throughout history and all over the world. The impact on written cultural heritage has frequently been disastrous and its preservation in libraries and archives is still an open issue. The application of traditional conservation materials and techniques on charred paper has so far been unsatisfactory. As a consequence, a large number of paper manuscripts harmed by fire have been left untouched since the devastations, excluded from access and even from simple handling due to their extreme fragility and to the tendency to fragmentation.

This contribution presents the results of a research project aimed at developing an innovative green chemistry conservation treatment for the strengthening of burnt paper, with a specific focus on handmade rag paper, which was the support for writing from the 13th to the 19th century in the western Latin world.

The research work involved the Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes – IRHT, CNRS (Paris), the Centre de Recherche sur la Conservation – MNHN, CNRS (Paris) and the Italian University of Padua. It advanced through progressive steps through the study and characterization of historic papers damaged by fire, to the production of burnt samples to be used in the experimental part, to the development of an innovative treatment for the reinforcing of the charred paper areas and the performance of some test applications in loco carried out in library.

The proposed methodology makes use of a nanocomposite formulation highly compatible with the burnt paper matrix and based on nanocelluloses, both alone and combined with polysiloxanes. When applied with an airbrush, it limits the fragmentation and loss of material, as assessed by the

critical folding angle measurements carried out on handmade samples. Physico-chemical characteristics of the treated paper samples evaluated using FTIR, SEM-EDS and XRD ensured the persistence of the original cellulosic material, as expected from the minute amount of nanocomposite introduced. The tests carried on charred historic written documents showed that the readability of the textual information 'hidden' in the blackened areas was perfectly accessible using multispectral imaging techniques, confirming that this conservation treatment can effectively contribute to securing the written cultural heritage victim of fire, allowing cautious and safe access to the text for the purpose of their reproduction for the benefit of the wider scholarly community.

"...sculptor et fabricator falsorum sigilorum emanatorque et scriptor falsarum litterarum..." Forged charters in the 14th-century Hungarian Kingdom: Investigation of a crime in the past and the present

Krisxtina Rábai, University of Szeged, Hungary.

Medieval charters recording legal acts of the past are fascinating sources for investigating bygone crimes.

In the 14th century, a new dynasty, the Angevin, ascended to the throne of the Hungarian Kingdom. The new king, Charles I. (1301-1342) strengthened his rule after numerous bloody battles. All over the kingdom, in order to retain or recover some property, evidence had to be provided by the landlords. The confusing situation not only favoured dubious property acquisitions but also created an increased need to replace perished (or never existed) documentary evidence. It is not surprising, that more forgery cases unfold from the preserved written sources of the 14th century.

In my presentation, I focus on the examination of diplomas and the question of their authenticity in the past and the present. My aim is to demonstrate how ecclesiastical institutes and families kept and cared about their very precious manuscripts, the charters, which could prove their rights and ownership. Furthermore, through the investigation of forgery cases, I intend to represent the examination process of proving a document's authenticity in case of suspicion. Authorities thoroughly examined not only the external but also internal features of the charter in question. These examples also show how much care they took to issue charters and preserve their manuscripts. I am also looking for the answer to the questions:  Who were the criminals, how did they work and what was their punishment?

Conserving six 17th-century MS OGDEN “doomed by design” manuscripts bound in parchment

Laurent Gérard Cruveillier, Stanford University, California, USA.

During a project funded by the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust (UK), the Conservation Department of University College London - Special Collections studied and treated six first half of the 17th century limp and semi-limp vellum bindings held in MS OGDEN / BACON TOTTEL collection, all sharing a connection with William Drake — a unique witnesses to the political and textual culture of that period. These manuscripts are also a unique location- and period-consistent capsule gathering several bindings with similar structures. The conservation work involved re-thinking the documentation process, leading to a comprehensive form allowing conservators to present condition assessments in a uniform, database-ready, structured way, without the risk of bypassing important details.

On the one hand, the project highlights the common structural features of these bindings that inherently lead to their degradation and presents 6 different conservation cases with detailed protocols and images, including a reflection on how to address cartonnages distorted by shrunk covers. On the other hand, singularities indicate that some books might have been bound by the same binder, hence opening the field for a broader research within the remaining collection. Along the way, interesting features were found such as palm imprint-deformations of covers; a unique appendix sewing structure; or reclaimed manuscript spine linings, the removal of which raised ethical issues.

A tale of two bookbinders: a reclamation of artisan history at the Cape of Good Hope, 1795 – 1860

Mary Minicka, Western Cape Archives and Records Service, South Africa.

Ensconced within the 45 linear kilometres of shelved records of the Western Cape Archives and Records Service’s holdings are bindings made at the Cape of Good Hope in the early nineteenth century. These books are marked out from other bindings by a stationer/bookbinder label (or “ticket”) pasted inside the front cover. These small paper labels point towards a history of bookbinding at the Cape, and a possible (if tentative-) reclamation of that history. 

Located at the southern-most part of the African continent, the Cape of Good Hope was founded as refreshment station by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1651 CE. As the world’s first multi-national trading company, it remained the world’s most successful maritime trading company for approximately 200-years. Reliant on a vast bureaucratic network to communicate its business and operational matters across the globe, that today can be found in archives across the world. 

Books, manuscripts and document forms are more than just the information they contain. They are objects of human material culture, lying nested within a welter of social and artisanal practises.

Preservation decisions require an understanding of the context of objects under care: their history, manufacture and material composition, format and construction all influence care and treatment. This contextual understanding is important in justifying preservation decisions. Especially so for collections originating within the conflicted intersections of the histories of European expansion and colonialism. Compared to many other collections across the world, the materiality of the holdings of WCARS remain relatively understudied.  

This presentation is an exploration of the lives and production of two bookbinders through the surviving records and bindings held by WCARS. A small step towards the reclamation of a history of artisan production at the Cape using surviving exemplars and archival records of the lives of these two bookbinders. A history complicated by the VOC’s longstanding prohibition on any manufacturing at its overseas settlements and stations. Both were European immigrant-settlers at the Cape settlement, and both applied to be the official Government Bookbinder at the Cape in 1810, but with differing outcomes and life-trajectories.  These two bookbinders who worked at the Cape, their lives and bookbinding intersecting at the of transition of the Cape from the decline of the VOC and the rise of the British Empire, at a time when the Cape was still deeply embedded in an economy of slavery.  For one of these bookbinders, the institution of human enslavement at the Cape was to profoundly shape his life trajectory.

Working with the notion of a “distributed collection” to gather the surviving evidence of early artisanal work at the Cape to create a tentative reconstruction of biography of these two men, along with the social biography of their books and the documentary evidence of their lives that they left behind. It pushes up against the limitations of recoverability:  some things are so profoundly lost to the passage of time that reconstruction can only be partial at best. This tale of these two bookbinders is an intertwined tale of objects, collection materials, institutions, history and legacy of colonialism and slavery shaping society and its institutions.

The Castle Acre Processional: assessing 15thC oak boards and historical slip repairs using micro-CT scanning and carbon dating

Bridget Warrington, Independent Library and Archives Conservator, United Kingdom and James D. Sargan, Durham University, United Kingdom.

Norfolk Museums Service (NMS) is currently undertaking a major redevelopment project at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The new visitor experience will highlight the architectural sophistication of Norwich Castle Keep. The 'Norwich Castle: Royal Palace Reborn' project transforms the Grade I listed building while interpretive narratives are being developed for the gallery in association with the British Museum.

In 2019, two Early Modern NMS manuscripts were selected for display, including the Castle Acre Processional, a fifteenth-century manuscript which originally belonged to the Cluniac community at Castle Acre Priory in Norfolk. 

The Castle Acre Processional is a manuscript with early music notation on parchment comprising 18 quires/sections, bound in alum-tawed skin over wooden boards. It was sewn on three double sewing stations (alum-tawed skin) laced into both boards and secured with wooden pegs – a gothic-style binding.

When it was fully assessed for conservation work in 2021, the textblock sewing had broken down resulting in many detached and detaching sections, creating the risk of constant abrasion (with potential loss of pigments) when the manuscript was opened and accessed. 

Once conservation work began and the alum-tawed covering skin was carefully removed from the boards, all three, double alum-tawed skin sewing supports were found to be intact and remain laced into the boards. Removal of the alum-tawed skin revealed:

• impressive historical parchment repairs to the slips of the sewing supports
• different lacing-in channels for the two boards (the front board has been ‘flipped over’) as well as quite different dimensions (a later replacement?)
• extensive insect holes and tunnels to both boards, but particularly the front board, potentially compromising strength for further repair.

At this stage in the conservation assessment, it was agreed that additional analysis was required to provide greater understanding of how the manuscript had been bound and subsequently repaired (inc. the repair ‘route’ for the parchment strips), and the extent of insect damage affecting general board density and repair potential.

Analysis advice was sought from Dr James Sargan, ZKS-Lendrum Assistant Professor (Research) in the Scientific Study of Manuscripts and Inscriptions at Durham University. James was in the process of setting up a new analysis project utilising a hand-held micro-CT scanner, but the equipment was not yet in place at the time when the Processional needed scanning. Fortunately, James was able to set up a collaborative session at the Wolfson Laboratory, School of History, Classics & Archaeology, Newcastle University on a SkyScan 1273 in March 2022. 

The micro-CT scans revealed how the historical repairs had been executed and the extent of insect damage within the boards, informing both the conservation of the manuscript and the development of the Norwich Castle keep display. Carbon dating of the repair material is also in progress and results will be available in autumn 2022 to further assist the display curators. 

The presentation to C&C19 will outline the analysis techniques, the collaborative approach adopted, and how the results informed the conservation decision-making process.

Treatment strategies and decisions: Conservator's choices in iron gall ink preservation

Yoshiko Kondo, KONDO Book Paper & Photograph Conservation Studio, Italy and Luana Maekawa, Northeast Document Conservation Center, USA.

Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz conserves 126 manuscripts dating from the 16th to the 20th century. The majority are on paper supports some on transparent tracing papers of various kinds - a rich collection of hand-drawn coats of arms, architectural drawings, diaries, registers, letters and manuscript copies of books bound in leather, parchment, silk or paper cardboard.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Max-Planck Institute, the conservation project for the manuscript collection was able to begin in 2016. As a preliminary step, we conducted condition surveys of all materials of the collection and made preservation assessments to help plan for conservation strategies.

Some manuscripts were unable to be consulted as the pages adhered to each other, or had a high risk factor of paper fragmenting and it was difficult to turn the pages. Some showed the crystallization of iron salts on the surface.

Bathophenanthoroline indicator paper for Iron (Fe II) was used to detect the presence of free iron (Fe II) ions and a majority of objects resulted positive.

25 volumes were selected for minor repairs limited to mending holes and breaks in the paper supports.

More complex treatments were applied to 13 badly deteriorated manuscripts and where iron gall ink damage was extremely serious. The items were unbound for chemical treatment and then rebound following treatment. These steps consisted of pre-treatment with ethanol, then calcium phytate bath, rinse baths, deacidification, sizing with gelatin, and mending or backing when necessary.

Mending and backing were done with machine-made Japanese tengujo tissue using 5% Klucel G in alcohol solution. Also gelatin remoistenable tissue was used for small perforated areas with the aid of agar-agar pads.

Some bindings required repairs on the cover, spine, corners, and hinges. Custom-made clamshell boxes, wrappers or folders were constructed using archival materials.

Before re-storing the volumes, the flat file drawers were vacuum-cleaned to remove residues of iron corrosion powders and dust. The treated objects are now conserved in a climate-controlled storage room.

Following conservation treatment over 2,800 images of coats of arms were digitalized and now are consultable on line for scholars.

Following calcium phytate treatment, the objects were re-tested with Iron II indicator paper to verify the presence of Iron II. The tests were negative indicating that the free iron ions were converted and stabilized by the calcium phytate treatment.

That said, we noted that the phytate method is an aggressive procedure: immersion in the aqueous solution increased the risk of the deteriorated paper supports flaking, and we concluded that treatment should be performed only in absolute extreme cases.

Obviously, conservators can evaluate whether to treat or not to treat with phytate considering the pros and cons, and should examine and analyze all circumstances, and consulting with the curator in planning.

The Mappa Mundi of Albi – materials identification of an 8th century manuscript

Laurianne Robinet, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, France, Jocelyne Deschaux, Médiathèque Pierre-Amalric d’Albi, France, Aurélie Tournié, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, France, Gaël Latour, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France, Anne Michelin, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, France, Sylvie Heu-Thao, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, France, Christine Andraud, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, France and Marie-Claire Schanne-Klein, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France.

The Mappa mundi of Albi is one of the oldest examples of representation of the occidental world (Figure 1). The non-symbolic and non-abstract map was drawn on parchment and was probably made in the 8th century in the south of France or northern Spain. The Mappa mundi with the associated Index of winds and seas on the adjacent page, is included in a 77 folio manuscript (Ms29) conserved at the médiathèque Pierre Amalric in Albi (Tarn, France). Because it is a document of exceptional importance for global cartographic history and more widely for the history of the representation of space, the map together with the index were recorded in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2015.

A detailed study was performed on the map to examine the structure of the manuscript in which it is inserted, and to characterize the different constitutive materials. Observations and physico-chemical analyses were performed from the micro to the macroscale, using mostly non-invasive analytical techniques, in order to increase the knowledge on the manufacturing technique of this document and its conservation state.

The observations evidenced the presence of three main parts in the manuscript which quires differ in their assembly and parchment quality. Hyperspectral imaging in the visible and near-infrared ranges combined with statistical data treatments, helped visualize the spatial distribution of the different components and revealed peculiar areas. Punctual spectroscopic analyses combining X-ray fluorescence, Fiber Optical Reflectance Spectroscopy (FORS), reflectance infrared and micro-Raman spectroscopies allowed the characterization of the ink, the colouring materials and organic compounds presents. For the parchment, the animal species of the skin was identified by proteomic analyses, and its conservation state examined in-situ at the micrometer scale using nonlinear optical microscopy. The results obtained from these analyses will be put in perspective with the studies led by historians on this map, as well as the existing material studies carried out on manuscripts produced in that period in Europe.

Technical analysis of colouring materials used in the preparation of black and red inks for writing historical Gurmukhi Manuscripts

Surjit Singh, Chandigarh, India.

Scientific information on colouring materials used in the preparation of historical inks for writing Gurmukhi manuscripts is rarely found in the available literature, although one or two types of different references on the preparation of black inks are generally found written at the end pages of the historical Gurmukhi manuscripts, which tells about the use of Carbon black, for the black colour.  This paper will use scientific methods to find the materiality of black and red inks used in writing Gurmukhi manuscripts.

The first part of my paper includes the codicological examinations of three dated Gurmukhi manuscripts to establish their identity linked with historical Islamic codices as well as would be putting light on some development/modifications in binding techniques for Gurmukhi manuscripts. This will set up basic standards for the identification of historical Gurmukhi manuscripts without in-depth research or in the case of undated manuscripts.

The second part of my paper will technically analyze the colouring material of black and red inks using XRF, USB digital microscope, and Raman Spectroscopy and will compare the results of technical analysis with already published papers on various ink studies especially, carbon black and iron gall inks.

The final part of my paper will conclude the results of the technical analysis and will explain the presence of carbon black, Iron gall ink and Cinnabar in writing Gurmukhi manuscripts. This will help identify various inks while future conservation projects on Gurmukhi manuscripts.

Pollen in The Gutter: Preliminary Efforts to Locate and Identify Pollen in a 16th Century Manuscript as Evidence of Provenance

Keira McKee, University of Glasgow, Scotland, Eileen Tisdall, University of Stirling, Scotland and Kathryl Rudy, University of St. Andrews, Scotland.

The Historia de Tlaxcala (University of Glasgow, MS Hunter 242), a 16th century manuscript, is a detailed narrative history of the state of Tlaxcala in Mexico, accompanied by an illustrated chronicle of 156 drawings and two hand-painted calendars in the form of wheels. The narrative history is believed to be a fair copy of an earlier text, written out in Spain before being bound with the other two pictorial sections of the manuscript which are thought to have their origins in Mexico.

Access to the manuscript had been limited for many years due to condition issues, and the manuscript underwent conservation in 2021-2022, with the generous support of the National Manuscript Conservation Trust (NMCT). The work included the stabilisation of the remaining sewing, repairing damage to the paper textblock, and the selection and implementation of a suitable conservation binding that would not place the remaining sewing under undue stress. The existing distorted parchment cover was found to be attached with tawed tackets pierced through the shoulder of the text block. Evidence suggestive of an earlier binding was revealed during conservation work (leather patches adhered over raised bands on the spine, and coloured tie-downs not associated with the endband).

During the conservation project for the stabilisation of the manuscript, a light surface clean was undertaken and the gutter debris from each of the two main sections was collected and stored in separate bags. This debris was processed and examined for the presence of pollen grains. The questions were twofold: can pollen survive in a book for this long and, if so, can it offer clues as to the manuscript’s provenance. One grain of pollen was found in the narrative portion of the manuscript, and identified as a variety of Mediterranean cedar, which would fit with the manuscript’s known location in Spain for many years.

Analysing pollen in manuscripts as a marker of where they have been used stems from a Leverhulme project by Prof Kathryn Rudy, Measuring medieval users’ responses to manuscripts: New technological approaches. The project was first trialled at the University of Glasgow Library.

This paper will summarise the conservation project of MS Hunter 242, and then Dr Eileen Tisdall will explain the steps taken to process and analyse the gutter debris. A future workflow based on lessons learned will be proposed.

Customization of Preservation Policy for Local Literary Institution: Case Study of Zi-Xia Hall

Ying-Chern Chen, National Museum of Taiwan Literature, Taiwan and Wan-Jen Lin, National Museum of Taiwan Literature, Taiwan.

Since its establishment in 2003, the National Museum of Taiwan Literature (NMTL) has shouldered the important task of preserving precious heritage of Taiwanese literature. In addition to the museum’s own rich collections, since 2016, it has successively established relations with various literature museums, writers’ memorial halls and other institutions all over Taiwan. Uninterrupted communication has begun since 2020 to carry out close interactions and cooperation. For the purpose of jointly maintaining important literary materials, NMTL provides professional assistance and consultation on collection maintenance to more than 30 literary institutions. Due to the high temperature and humidity in Taiwan, the preservation of manuscripts, books and other cultural relics is quite challenging. In particular, small-scale museums often have relatively limited manpower and resources, and are unable to deal with the preservation of a large amount of collections.

Zi-Xia Hall—one of the member of the literature institution group in close relations with the NMTL—collects rare books, diaries, essays, photographs and paintings of the Han scholar, Jiazhen Zheng and his student, Ruizhu Zheng, both famous sinology researchers. Although Zi-Xia Hall has made a lot of effort to preserve these precious treasures of knowledge, the centuries-old collections have damages such as insects, broken binding and corrosion. Due to Zi-Xia Hall’s very limited manpower for collection management, it is urgent for them to seek assistance. From 2020 to 2021, NMTL launched a conservation and preservation project, and completed up to 930 items for cataloging and condition assessment, the digitization of 120 items, and the conservation of 30 manuscripts. After the project, all of the items have been stored in appropriate acid-free boxes and dry cabinets in its existing storage location, which increases the stability of the collection and its preservation management in the future.

After preservation policies most suited for the existing environments were adapted and implemented through the project, collections from private institutions and museums could last longer and benefit the greater public. In particular, the environmental conditions in Taiwan are quite unfavorable for paper preservation. With relatively abundant resources, national level museums have professional facilities and storage conditions which are in contrast, not always affordable options for private collections. On top of the experience of cooperating with the literary museums and the institutions, the issues of adapting to the different collections’ exhibition conditions and requirements, and its preservation in varying environments are still needed to be considered. To design a relatively cost-saving preservation plan, taking into account management, regular inspections, exhibitions and even education and promotion, etc., furthers the preservation of the precious literary treasures, and also drive the concept of museum-level preservation system to be implemented in various places to the greatest extent.

Keyword: Collection Management, Local Preservation, Manuscript Conservation, Collaborative Preservation, Archival Conservation.

The conservation and digitisation of a Choir Book of 1715: a passion to be revealed

Tania Estrada Valadez, The British Library, United Kingdom and Patricia de la Garza Cabrera, National Institute of Anthropology and History, Mexico.

By chance of fate our undergraduate final project was the proposal to conserve a Choir Book of 1715 from the National Museum of History (MNH – INAH) in Mexico City. It was brought to the Documentary Heritage Conservation Studio (CNCPC – INAH) to be conserved in 1977, but for an unknown reason it stayed all those years waiting to be treated. We both started working at this studio at the end of 2010 and as recent finishers of our studies we were eager to find the perfect project to graduate. Our manager proposed this book and we decided to give it a go. It was an exciting challenge, we had never seen a book so big, its measurement was: 912 x 669 x 147 mm and weighing almost 30 kilograms! It was definitely a job for two book conservators and it ended up becoming a seed that would germinate and produce different interesting projects and rewarding results, but most importantly: a passion for the conservation of Choir Books.

This talk will focus on the decision-making process for the conservation and digitisation of the 1715 Choir book, but we will also mention the conservation and preservation projects that resulted from our work. We will start by showing the archaeological study of the binding, its manufacture and materials. Then the historical context in which it was created to understand past and current uses, a historical investigation of its transit and copyist, as well as the comparative study of its manufacture with other choir books copied by the same copyist. Also, we will mention the condition assessment, the treatment proposal and its discussion with curators of the museum. All these factors were taken into account to create a strong foundation for the decision-making process during its conservation. We will also describe the conservation treatments and results.

Finally, we will mention that due to this experience and our love of Choir books we have been able to collaborate or manage Preservation and Digitisation Projects for Choir book collections in the following museums: the National Museum of Viceroyalty (MNV – INAH) in 2013, the National Museum of History (MNH – INAH) in 2017 and Regional Museum of Queretaro in 2019. Thanks to this, 101 Choir books are now in good condition, properly housed and can also be consulted completely at INAH´s Digital Library: Mediateca INAH.

The Charter Collection – Care, Management and Stretching the Limits

Marianne, Paasche, University of Bergen Library, Norway and Sverre Andreas Fekjan, University of Bergen Library, Norway.

The Special Collection at the University of Bergen Library manages a decent collection of charters of both national and Scandinavian cultural value. As a part of our strategy, we wanted to elevate the charter collection, aiming to make every charter digitally accessible. The charters are an important part of our common cultural heritage and collective identity. With a timespan stretching from the 1200s, they are important primary source material from an era with few textual sources.

In short, the main aim of the project was to make available a digital representation of every charter online, for scholars and the general public to have access, independent of time and location.

Stretching the limits applies to three main areas of our management of the collection: The digital mediation, the scholarly involvement, and the physical conditions. We found that stretching the limits added value to the collection and offered greater understanding of each charter in context. This again establishes a solidified foundation for further research and contributes to the democratization of knowledge.

In this paper we will walk you through the revision process and explore how the areas are interconnected. Validation of metadata improves the contextual knowledge graph of our database improving accessibility. Digital accessibility of the collection, on the other hand, increases the demand for the physical object in research and studies. Further down the road this reflects on the physical handling and managing of the objects. We also hope that this will inspire other institutions for larger revision projects on whole collections.

The IOR/F collection from the Adam Matthew Digitisation project at the British Library: Managing workflow and collaborations

Claire Valero, British Library, United Kingdom, Margaux Lapierre, British Library, United Kingdom, Alex Coxall, British Library, United Kingdom and Rebecca Dabnor, British Library, United Kingdom.

The India Office Record collection (IOR) is part of a digitisation project between the publisher Adam Matthew and the British Library. Ongoing since 2014, it looks into the East India Company’s history through a large collection from the British Library. The latest part of this long collaboration project, the AMD project, focuses on IOR/F. It consists of correspondence between the East India Company and various Boards, Presidencies and governments and showed the Company’s rising interest for more territorial power. This section contains nearly 3000 items of various conditions of conservation, some in good conservation state and other very degraded, according to the survey led in 2019 by the previous conservation team.

One aspect to particularly take into account is that the IOR/F collection is public and is heavily used daily by a lot of readers. This impacts both the conservation and digitisation teams during the project in terms of ordering, treatment and solutions to work on the items while the demand for them is high. This calls for a high need of collaboration between different staffs throughout the Library.

Indeed, the AMD project is unique in terms of its organisation and its collaborative nature. In this article, we will first explore the background of the AMD project, with its survey and colour code used for determining treatment times, and how the conservation team manages the workflow using Sharepoint, a web-based collaborative platform integrated in Microsoft Office. We will then see how the conservation team needs to collaborate with MAX Communication, an external digitisation team, and the AMD team. Finally, we will show several other collaborations with a wide range of actors that are needed to keep the project on track with tight deadlines: from the Qatar Digitisation project, to curators, to Library staff and the Reading Rooms.

Recycled Materials in Manuscripts: The case of the Pierre Barbatre “Account of a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land” from the Louvre Abu Dhabi Collection

Theofanis Karafotias, Louvre Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and Fakhera Ahmed Mubarak AlKindi, Louvre Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The reuse of heritage elements has been a common practice throughout history, as it offered a convenient solution for sourcing low-cost raw material. The phenomenon has been widely observed in architecture, where structural materials from older buildings have regularly been recycled. Painters too have often reused canvases for new creations when the luxury of sourcing new materials was not possible. Following the same logic, the reuse of older waste has also been observed in manuscripts. The Pierre Barbatre manuscript entitled "Account of a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land" from the Louvre Abu Dhabi collection is one such case. The manuscript dates from 1490-1500; however, its cover is produced from the waste of a parchment leaf from an 11th century Codex with dark brown ink handwriting. The front paper board is also strengthened by two paper fragments of older manuscripts.

The manuscript was acquired in 2019 by Louvre Abu Dhabi and was treated in 2021 before being displayed in the museum's permanent galleries for the first time. The conservation treatment aimed to stabilize and strengthen the structure of the manuscript, as the parchment cover and part of the textblock have become quite fragile, even for basic handling. Necessary aesthetic improvements were also considered to achieve an enhanced display quality for the museum public.

The treatment undertaken in the Louvre Abu Dhabi labs has also helped the curatorial and collection management teams to better document and analyze the different materials used for this manuscript, shedding light on its rich history. All interventions have ensured that the reused elements are clearly preserved, photographed, documented and available for further research and analysis in the future. By presenting the different aspects of this process, this paper aims to highlight how the reuse and recycling of materials affects both conservation treatment and curatorial concerns, possibility raising broader questions about how issues of sustainability are relevant in contemporary museums practices.

Unkindest Cuts:  The Conservation of a Recently Vandalised Twelfth-Century Bible Leaf

Clare Prince, United Kingdom.

The manuscript leaf, measuring approximately 595mm x 392mm, from a large-format twelfth-century lectern Bible is thought to have been written in a St Albans and contains verses from the Book of Ezekiel.  It is written on both sides of the calfskin parchment in black iron-gall ink, and includes one illuminated initial in red and blue pigments.

The parchment leaf had recently been cut with a sharp knife along and through the lines of text into three large pieces.  The top left portion of the leaf, as seen from the recto, had been used as a cover for a modern facsimile book and bound in a laced-cased binding structure with fore-edge cover extensions.  The textblock was sewn on parchment slips laced through new slits in the parchment at the joints, and the head and tail of the spine and corner turn-ins of the parchment cover had been cut and mitred and the fragments discarded and lost.  The other two pieces from the original leaf remained untouched.

The aim of the conservation treatment was to remove the piece of the manuscript which had been used as a book cover from the binding and then to reunite the three parts of the leaf.  Once the cover had been separated from the binding and the adhesive cleaned off, the three parts of the leaf were humidified and tensioned between clips and pins.  As the cover piece of parchment was distorted from adhesive and creasing and had contracted in the turn-in areas, good alignment of the script proved to be a challenge.  Several rounds of humidification, tensioning and flattening with magnets were required before the three pieces of parchment would marry up satisfactorily.

An innovative technique, suggested to me by Abigail Quandt, was employed using a series of narrow ‘under and over’ splints of alum-tawed goldbeater’s skin to unite the cut edges of the manuscript in a zip-like fashion.  The splints had to be thin and translucent and carefully placed between lines of script or between gaps in the letters, yet be robust enough to provide a strong and discrete attachment.  Infills in the lost areas were made up of layers of toned Japanese paper adhered just over the edges on the verso of the skin, with additional goldbeater’s skin reinforcements on the recto.

Finally, the repaired Bible leaf was mounted and framed so that it could be viewed from both sides.  Thin parchment straps were adhered to the verso of the leaf and attached via stainless-steel springs to an inner aluminium frame so that the parchment was kept suspended under light, even tension.  An outer frame of aluminium with non-reflective UV glass and mountboard window matts to cover the spring mechanism, was given a final wooden frame.  The frames were designed and constructed by Conservation-by-Design following discussions with Nicholas Pickwoad.

Overall, the treatment was successful and the Bible leaf is now intact and safe to be exhibited.

The Carolina Maria de Jesus notebooks, a shared treatment report

Caetana Britto, FÓLIO, São Paulo, Brazil, Fernanda M. Auada, FÓLIO, São Paulo, Brazil and Paula Borgo, FÓLIO, São Paulo, Brazil.

The conservation can participate in the contemporary decolonization processes. The notebooks of Brazilian writer Carolina Maria de Jesus have waited six decades to be treated. She left her hometown Sacramento in Minas Gerais State to try a better life  in São Paulo, a rising metropolis of four million people inside an underdeveloped country. Black woman, migrant, single mother, Carolina survived collecting discarded material while living in the former favela of São Paulo (“Canindé”), considered as an informal urban settlement, without infrastructure such as water, sanitation and energy. She wrote by candlelight with whatever she had at hand: cheap notebooks, assorted inks, colored pencils and graphite. Using a box for support or even the back of her sleeping daughter.

Her best-known work, "Quarto de Despejo - o diário de uma  favelada", was published in 1962 and translated into more than 30 languages. Died in 1977 but just now, more than 40 years later, she has her artistic value recognized beyond the label “writer from favela” as she was considered at the time.

The proposed poster will address the conservation treatment of nine of her notebooks, written between 1960 and 1967, describing the particularities and decisions taken. Starting from the materiality of her gestures, aligned with the recent rediscovery of this so unique author, the conservation decisions seek to preserve and highlight:

• Residues of torn pages;
• candle drips on the pages;
• fragments of other papers pasted by the author (past up) were kept;
• original tapes have been restored;
• original bindings (hardcover, plastic cover, paperback) preserved, and in the case of notebooks without cover, a removable conservation envelope was made, with a low reproduction cost.

This collection belongs to the Municipal Public Archive "Cônego Hermógenes Casimiro de Araújo Bruonswik" of the Sacramento Municipality, a small town without resources for its conservation. The treatment was possible because the notebooks were loaned for an exhibition at the 2021 São Paulo Art Biennial, “Faz escuro mas eu canto”. In counterpart for the loan, Bienal has funded the treatment.

The work was carried out by three studios between October 2021 and April 2022, with a single coordination, ensuring decisions and treatment unity, including the type of packaging, considering the archive lack of resources, a common fact in Brazil. Initially, the notebooks were distributed according to the specialty of each studio: works that needed a new binding for a bookbinder's atelier, works whose binding needed restoration for a restorer and the support treatment for the third studio. The initially centralized coordination was later shared among studios due to the coordinator´s health problem. The proposed poster will explore both conservation treatment decisions and the management model adopted.

The Shah Tahmasp album: its makers and their intentions

Paul Hepworth, Turkey.

The Shah Tahmasp album, formerly in the collection of the Rare Books Library of Istanbul University, is an imperial product of Safavid Iran made in the 16th century.  As it had reached the Ottoman imperial library by the 17th century, it probably was an important reference for later album makers at the Ottoman court.  The artistic value of the artworks it contains has long been recognized by modern scholars and they have been the subject of several major art historical studies.  However, the research presented in this paper shifts the perspective from the contents of the album to how it was made.  

As the craftsmen who designed and produced this album are anonymous, they have largely been ignored by art historians.  Yet the album is a snapshot in time of how they conceived of such an entity.  It is not, of course, a random assemblage.  The choice, placement, re-formatting, repurposing and mounting of the artwork to create the album clearly express specific aesthetic values and working principles at the time it was made.  So, by closely examining and articulating what its makers chose to do—as well as, in some cases, what they chose not to do—the conceptual framework underlying this album’s structure and how it would function can be exposed.  The focus is moved away from the patron, who commissioned the album and who tends to get a great deal of scholarly attention, and is restored instead to the people who were actually directly responsible for the manuscript we look at, handle and admire today but about whom we know so little.  Through their work, they defined for that time what an album should be, what they thought its audience would want from it and how it would be used.  This also provides a different methodological approach for comparison with later, potentially related Ottoman albums.  Revealing the ways in which they adhered to or diverged from this earlier model can show how the idea of the album itself developed over time--what the album was intended to do and how it was expected to do it.

Examples will be given to show that the makers of the Shah Tahmasp album sacrificed the narrative meanings originally inherent in the selected artwork to achieve other goals in this new context.  The album’s organic growth, as opposed to the production of a pre-planned structure, will be demonstrated.  Organizational inconsistencies add to the sense of its having been in some ways an experimental production rather than one that was already rigidly formalized. Some changes to the album also indicate that its initial conceptualization was subject to modification fairly early on, probably by the Ottomans.  So, congruent and divergent aspects of this album to their correlates in Ottoman albums will be touched on to show how the methodology can be explored further.

Conservation of a Diary Written by a British Civilian Internee in Singapore

Mariko Watanabe, National Gallery Singapore, Singapore.

The Changi Chapel and Museum, Singapore is an institution that tells the stories of the prisoners of war and civilians who were interned in the Changi prison camp during the Japanese Occupation. An original diary (accession number: 2019-00681-001) written by a British agricultural chemist and naturalist, Arthur Westrop, who was interned in the Changi camp after the fall of Singapore in 1942 was selected for display to celebrate the museum’s reopening in 2021.

While there are several diaries of this kind in the National Collection in Singapore, they are all transcribed and published texts rather than the original, which makes the diary of Westrop significant. His diary was written in the form of a letter to his wife on a few notebooks in different sizes. As the hand-written title “A Letter to My Wife” on the front cover implies, it is likely that approximately 400 pages of the notebooks were bound into one volume by him together with some watercolour paintings, pencil drawings and a few paper ephemera.

When the volume arrived at the Heritage Conservation Centre, it was possible to see some characteristic binding features that would not be commonly seen on books bound by a bookbinder in Western cultures. There was no trace of sewing support nor endband; sewing holes were irregularly pricked; and the sewing thread randomly went through the spine lining. It also seemed that the original sewing was done in several different times, as there are multiple sewing holes positioned very closely to each other, and yet some of the sewing holes were not in use.

Due to its original binding style and how it had been handled, the spine structure was too weak to support the opening of the volume and required interventive treatment. The treatment options were carefully chosen to maintain the volume’s integrity as an original diary written and bound by Westrop while improving the stability of the book. After close examination of the existing sewing, it was possible to resew the text block without pricking new holes. Durability along the spine was one of the concerns, but new sewing was done without sewing support, following the existing sewing style. Instead, the French link stich was used to add more strength. Finally, to better support the spine structure without changing much of its appearance, a paper tube was adhered onto the spine underneath the original cover.

The diary survived the raid in Westrop’s cell and had been kept by his family until today before it was acquired by the museum. With the materiality of the volume successfully preserved by the treatment, museum visitors are now able to get a glimpse of what Westrop experienced in Singapore. The treatment also improved the volume’s stability. The diary and stories its inside have been preserved for posterity and would be further passed onto the next generation.