Collection Care blog

Following part 1 of the Conservation of Maps in the digitisation project: Qatar Foundation Partnership, this second blog post will present the treatments of two maps belonging to the IOR collection of the British Library: IOR/X/10065 and IOR/X/10066. Similar to the maps presented in the first blog post, these maps also have cloth as a secondary support. In these cases, the maps were fragmented and lined on a cloth support which allowed them to be folded (picture 1 & 2). A difference with the first group of maps is that they did not have textile or silk ribbons on the edges.

Picture 1: IOR/X/10065 recto before treatment

Picture 2: Detail of the joints (cloth) that allow the folds of IOR/X/10065

These two items had the same main damage. The substrate, a paper lined with cloth, was broken or weakened in various areas of the joints where the maps used to be folded (picture 3 & 4).

Picture 3: Upper part of the IOR/X/10066 recto before treatment

Picture 4: Detail of IOR/X/10065 with broken joints

The paper support on the IOR/X/10066 map is thicker and distorted, with the distortions possibly caused by its large format and the broken joins no longer creating tension (picture 5). On both maps, there were small paper tears and folds around the edges. There were also loose threads due to the fraying of the cloth along the edges (picture 6). The condition of both maps made handling and digitisation very difficult, especially due to their oversize format, IOR/X/10065 measuring 1014x750 mm and IOR/X/10066 1235x1073 mm.

Picture 5: Upper part of the IOR/X/10066 verso before treatment

Picture 6: Detail of IOR/X/10065 fraying

Decision making

The aim of the conservation treatment was to stabilise the items to function in their current role and to ease handling for the next stages of the workflow: cataloguing and digitisation.

For the decision-making process we considered the condition of the maps and their original use, to be folded and unfolded many times when used. In addition, minimal intervention, re-treatability and fit-for-purpose, principles from our guidelines, were taken into account, as well as the 5 hours limit for the treatment of each item.

Selecting and preparing materials for treatment

Our treatment proposal was then focused on re-establishing the ability to fold the maps which is convenient for handling and storage. We decided on using a cloth lined with Japanese tissue for the joint repairs, similar to the construction of the maps.

Selection of the cloth

A thick Japanese tissue would not be enough to repair areas that are to be folded multiple times. We decided on Aerocotton, a material commonly used by book conservators to reinforce book joints which is a light but strong cloth. The cloth was washed with hot tap water before its use to remove any possible sizing and additives.

Selection of the Japanese tissue

We chose an 11g/m² Japanese tissue with kozo fibers, which is strong and thick enough to give support to the cloth and the tear repairs.

Lining the Aerocotton

Aerocotton is difficult to cut after washing, (see picture 7). Therefore, it was lined using Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste (WSP). This helps to stiffen the Aerocotton, with the Japanese tissue working as a support to make it easier to handle and to limit frayed edges. The cloth lined with the paper was left to dry on a wooden board similar to a karibari, to ensure it dried with tension (picture 7).

Picture 7: On the left Aerocotton dried after washing and on the right lined Aerocotton with Japanese tissue

A second lining of Japanese tissue (11g/m² with kozo fibers) was pasted to the lined cloth strips, since it reinforced the repairs without adding any thickness. This was carried out again on a wooden board. A plastic strip was placed between the board and the strip. This would function as a barrier and prevent a section of Japanese tissue strips adhering on the board. This way, our second lining dried stretched on the board as it protruded from the plastic strip like it would on a karibari, (video 1).

Video 1: Preparing and applying the second lining of Japanese tissue on the lined cloth strips

Once the Japanese tissue was dry, we lifted them from the karibari with a bamboo spatula. The plastic strips delimited the area that we used to paste on the map. Finally, we cut them with a water brush so that the edges had a water-cut finish: this gave a stronger attachment to the tear repairs when pasted on the maps, (pictures 8 and 9).

Picture 8: Cutting the edges with a water brush

Picture 9: Close-up of the prepared strips

Treatment

Once the materials were ready, we placed the maps on a blotter and Bondina, verso facing up. Because the maps were of a large format, we treated each half separately. Once they were dry, we reattached them together.

For both maps we squared and positioned the fragments of the maps carefully, leaving 3mm space gap for the joints, and kept them in place under weights. Wheat starch paste was applied with a noribake to the prepared strips previously placed on plastic strip. This made the handling easier and the application on the joint to be repaired. Once the strip was on the map, we applied some pressure with a shirobake over the plastic strip. The plastic strip was then removed, leaving the prepared strip on the map and we applied more pressure with a nadebake and with a Teflon spatula. It was left to dry with a Bondina, blotter and weights on top, (video 2 and picture 10).

Video 2: Pasting the prepared strips on the tears of IOR/X/10066

Finally, strips of Japanese tissue (7.3g/m² with kozo fibers) were applied on the joints of the recto of the maps to reinforce the hinge on both sides of the map, (picture 11).

Picture 10: Detail of the Aerocotton lined with Japanese tissue applied into the verso of IOR/X/10065 to mend the tears

Picture 11: Detail of the Japanese strips applied on the same map

Results

This treatment was successful on both maps. They can now be handled and stored safely. See video 3 and after treatment pictures 12 and 13.

Video 3: Handling both maps after treatment

Picture 12: IOR/X/10065 recto after treatment

Picture 13: IOR/X/10065 verso after treatment

Picture 14: Upper part of IOR/X/10066 recto after treatment

Picture 15: Upper part of IOR/X/10066 verso after treatment

Tania Estrada Valadez and Camille Dekeyser

The British Library Qatar Foundation Partnership (BLQFP) is a digitisation project that began in 2012 to create the Qatar Digital Library (QDL). For over ten years this free bilingual online portal has been fed from the British Library´s collections related to the history of the Persia Gulf and scientific manuscripts of the Arabic-speaking world. The items that are selected and digitised include India Office Records, maps, personal papers, catalogued and uncatalogued Arabic manuscripts, sound and video recordings, photographs and much more.

At the beginning of 2022, in the last part of Phase 3, 120 maps entered the digitisation workflow. One of the first stages of the workflow is conservation assessment, where items are assessed and stabilised for safe digitisation and handling. The majority of the maps needed minimal intervention, with only 5 needing a more interventive conservation approach. This blog will focus on the treatment of the following maps: IOR/X/3174, IOR/X/3150/2, IOR/X/9921, IOR/X/10065 and IOR/X/10066.

In order to organise our treatments, we divided the maps into 2 groups according to their similarity in manufacture, their condition and treatment strategy. The first group, which is the focus of the first part of this blog, included IOR/X/3174, IOR/X/3150/2, IOR/X/9921, and had a silk ribbon sewn on the edges of each map. The silk ribbon was placed to protect and give a nice finish to the edge of the maps, since all 3 have cloth as a backing support. We think this was placed because either the paper is too big, or small pieces of paper have been attached together, so the secondary support would give the primary paper support extra protection and ease handling. The silk ribbon protects the edge of the maps and helps to stop the fraying of the textile. We talked to the map’s curator from the Qatar team, Nick Krebs, and he mentioned the possibility that these ribbons were placed when the maps were at the India Office Records.

IOR/X/3174 recto before treatment

IOR/X/3174 verso before treatment

On these 3 maps the silk ribbon was detached from the edges in some places, due to a broken thread that used to attach the ribbon to the map. Also, the ribbon was very thin and fraying, causing further losses. Apart from this, the general condition of the maps was good.

Detail of the condition of the silk ribbon of IOR/X/3174

Detail of the condition of IOR/X/3150/2

As paper and book conservators unfamiliar with the treatment of textiles, we took this opportunity to seek advice from the appointed textile conservator at the British Library, Liz Rose. This had the advantage of providing a moisture and solvent free application technique to the damaged silk ribbon, which can be easily damaged by the introduction of moisture. Liz Rose showed us how to prepare the adhesive on crepeline silk and nylon net in the following way:

The adhesive used was a mix 1:1 of two different Lascauxs: 408 HV and 303 HV. The first one dries hard, while the second is extremely elastic and dries tacky. Both are thermoplastic acrylics (AIC - Adhesives & Tapes, 2022), therefore a combination of these two is ideal for reactivating the adhesive with a hot spatula or with solvent (like acetone) to consolidate fragile textiles, depending on the condition of the item.

We prepared two different percentages of the 1:1 adhesive mix, 15% and 25%, to test which of the two had better results on a new silk ribbon. When we had the adhesive ready, this was applied with a brush to a crepeline silk and nylon net, provided by Liz Rose. Fortunately, the crepeline silk and nylon net were already dyed in different tones of green and we only needed to choose the best tone to suit the different ribbons.

Choosing the best tone of crepeline silk

Applying the adhesive to the chosen crepeline silk and nylon net

Once the adhesive applied to the crepeline silk and nylon net had dried, it was cut to the desired size and heated with a hot spatula to mend the damaged parts of the silk ribbon. As mentioned before, we first tested it on a new ribbon and over cotton textile. From these tests, we determined the best percentage of adhesive to use was 15%, and the appropriate length of time to reactivate the adhesive was 1 minute. We observed in this test that the nylon net melted with both the new ribbon and cotton fabric if heated for too long and if the spatula was too hot. Also, we realized that the nylon net consolidation did not have good results when the consolidation needed to be folded back, due to the fact that some of these maps are oversized and folded multiple times. This was not the case with the silk crepeline, therefore we decided to use this, because we had better results with it being a more sympathetic material with the silk ribbon, and giving us the most satisfying visual result.

Tests over new silk ribbon and cotton textile

Tests over new silk ribbon and cotton textile

Treatment on the maps: IOR/X/3174, IOR/X/3150/2, IOR/X/9921

After completing tests on the silk samples, we dry cleaned the recto and verso of the maps and then the most damaged sections of silk ribbons were delicately removed from the maps by cutting the sewing stitches. Next, we consolidated the bond between the paper and the lining cloth using Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste.

Consolidation of the maps supports: paper and linen - before

Consolidation of the maps supports: paper and linen - after

We then applied the pre-coated crepeline silk to the inside of the ribbon using a hot spatula to consolidate the fragile segments. The width of the crepeline consolidation was cut to fit in between the edges of the ribbon and its length was cut into small sections (no longer than 7 cm). We noticed that longer repair creates distortion. The crepeline segments were overlapped by 1 mm when it was necessary to cover a longer part.

Before consolidation of the damaged silk with the prepared precoated heat-set on crepeline silk

After consolidation of the damaged silk with the prepared precoated heat-set on crepeline silk

A close up after consolidation.

In some cases, where the ribbon was particularly damaged, we also needed to consolidate the outside of the ribbon. This helped to further reinforce the zones where the ribbon was completely broken and the zones where the ribbon was folded as the map had been stored in this way.

As the ribbon was attached to the map folded, we applied the crepeline on the outer part on a folded ribbon. The pre-coated crepeline was folded and fitted over the original folded ribbon and then applied with the hot spatula one side at a time.

Silk crepeline applied on the outside of the silk ribbon

After consolidating the damaged ribbon, we then re-attached the consolidated ribbons onto the maps by sewing them back in place using a green silk thread, similar to the original.

Re-sewing the ribbon

The ribbon sewn back on.

Finally, after documenting the treatment, the smaller maps (that fit flat in the storage drawer) were placed in a Melinex sleeve to protect them from frictions and limit direct handling. The oversized maps were placed in a blue folder to protect them from friction in the storage.

IOR/X/3174 recto after treatment

IOR/X/3174 verso after treatment

Stay tuned for Part 2!

Camille Dekeyser and Tania Estrada-Valadez

Heather Murphy

Recently, within the conservation studio of the British Library Qatar Foundation Partnership, watermarks have been a theme. Throughout the months leading up to lockdown, my colleague Camille and I began developing a project based around some interesting examples of watermarks we discovered in a series of IOR Ship’s Journals dating from 1605-1705 being digitised by the project.  We have since been developing various aspects of this, one of which has been to create a (very) short instructional video on how to make paper, complete with personal watermarks, and the delivery of a paper-making workshop to the BLQFP team. (Another aspect of which has been the remote collaboration with Jordi Clopes-Masjuan and Matt Lee from the BLQFP Imaging team to develop digital tools for the viewing and analysis of watermarks in the collection). 

Having begun our research into watermarks, it was decided that we should attempt to make our own in the hope of learning more about their construction, and to demonstrate to the wider team how they are made. This led to the conclusion that, logically, we would also need to make paper to trial these watermarks. Researching how to make a homemade paper-making mould and deckle, we enlisted some expert carpentry skills, sourced the finest conservation grade chicken wire B&Q had to offer, some mesh, and some metal wire which we combined into a mould and deckle.

Home-made paper-making mould and deckle with watermarks attached.

This was taking place in September, during which was also scheduled the annual BLQFP away day, a chance for the team to both review the progress of the project so far and discuss possible future steps. However, as is happily a common ethos within the project, this is also a time where colleagues are encouraged to contribute and collaborate to make the day more interesting, allowing different teams to share aspects of their work. The format this year involved a series of two minute lightning talks, followed in the afternoon by a series of workshops. We decided that conservation’s contribution should therefore be a two minute video on paper-making, followed by a workshop where our colleagues could make their own papers. This involved some small re-arrangements within the studio, but with the aid of a Go-pro camera and a Gorillapod, we were able to film the paper-making process in action.

Having compiled the video, the next challenge was to figure out how to successfully replicate the setup outside the studio in order to deliver the workshop. This involved a lot of forward planning and, among other things, a blender, plastic sheeting and mason jars full of paper pulp. After a loaded taxi ride we were able to arrive at the meeting room and set up a makeshift paper-making station.

Delivery of the paper-making workshop at the BLQFP away day

Other brilliant workshops delivered during the day included a ‘write your name in Arabic’ session with the translation team, where people were introduced to some basics of the Arabic language and learned to write their names.

Arabic language workshop in progress.

The second was a cyanotype printing workshop with the imaging team, where people were able to learn about and experiment with the process. As another possible development to this watermarks work, we are hoping to undertake a collaborative experiment involving cyanotype printing on our handmade papers, complete with bespoke watermark designs.

Cyanotype workshop in progress.

During the away day, we were able to deliver what seemed like a well-received workshop, where our colleagues could use our two moulds (with watermarks attached) to dip into the ‘vats’ of paper pulp, forming their own handmade papers. These were then couched between sheets of Sympatex and Bondina and pressed in stacks throughout the day.

Making papers and couching the sheets.

Workshops underway.

When the day was over, we collected the equipment, delivered it back to the studio, and provided the newly made papers with fresh interleaving. These were left in the press to dry, and when we returned we were able to unveil some fine examples of handmade papers.

Examples of the handmade papers shown on the light-box.

This is a guest post by Heather Murphy, Conservator from the British Library Qatar Foundation Partnership. You can follow the British Library Qatar Foundation Partnership on Twitter @BLQatar.

Description: Part time (0.6 FTE / 21.6 hours per week), fixed term contract to 31 December 2018

The full job description and application process can be found here.

Caring for the world’s knowledge

The British Library leads and collaborates in growing the world’s knowledge base. We have signed a major partnership to make thousands of digitised historic documents and ancient manuscripts – relating to centuries of history of the Gulf – available online to researchers, scholars and the general public across the Gulf region and around the world. The Collection Care department, which comprises some 40 people, is responsible for the care of one of the largest, richest and most diverse research collections in the world.

This is an opportunity for an experienced conservator to work in a small, busy team. You will be carrying out conservation and preparation treatments on a wide range of collection items relating to the Gulf region that are being digitised as part of this project. You’ll operate with minimal supervision and have the skills and knowledge to plan, manage and track your work to ensure that deadlines are met. You must be able to communicate effectively with people at all levels, and be able to keep clear, consistent and accurate records of all treatments undertaken.

You need to have either a degree in conservation or equivalent knowledge and skills sets, and practical hands-on experience in conservation of library materials for digitisation and/or large-scale conservation projects; a broad knowledge of available conservation treatments within the field of book conservation together with the ability to diagnose conservation problems and to develop and evaluate options for solutions. You should also have a high level of manual dexterity and the ability to treat fragile and delicate materials, together with knowledge of materials chemistry and the properties, behaviours and interaction of a wide range of organic and inorganic materials. A good knowledge of preventive conservation issues is also required with the ability to deliver training on the handling of library material to support and implement best practices within the British Library/Qatar Foundation partnership project and collaboration with the colleagues in the main British Library Conservation Studio (BLCC).

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Flavio Marzo, Gulf History Arabic Science Project Conservator on 0207 412 7740.


Closing Date: 11 February 2018

Interview Date: 22 or 23 February 2018

Flavio Marzo reports on the conservation of a unique manuscript from the Delhi Arabic collection.

I have recently undertaken the conservation of a very interesting Arabic manuscript that is a good example of how the mixture of features means richness and beauty.

The manuscript, produced in the first half of the XIX century, contains two different texts bound together, about cosmology and astronomy. This book, measuring 285 x 175 x 30 mm, is one of the scientific volumes that we are presently digitising within the project sponsored by the Qatar Foundation, here on the 6th floor of the British Library, for the Qatar Digital Library web site.

Right/front and left/back cover of Delhi Arabic 1928.

The spine of the book.

This manuscript is also another item from the Delhi Arabic Collection; a fantastic series housed at the British Library that has been the subject of other previous blog posts of mine, written for the British Library Collection Care blog.

The book came to us because it needed extensive conservation before any further handling, from cataloguing to photography, would have been possible. Something needed to be done, but as soon as I started to examine the book in detail I realised how interesting and unique its binding was.

Categories are essential to communicate, we need a common language to share information and a common vocabulary to be able to understand each other, but this inevitably often requires simplification. The history of book binding and the craft of book making are not different, we have created a vocabulary that helps us to categorise styles, techniques and features, assigning to specific definitions chronologically and geographically defined areas.

‘Islamic style binding’ is one of them; it identifies books that are bound following specific techniques and are characterised by specific codified and agreed upon features.

At a first look, this book seemed to bear all of those characteristics:

1. A type of decoration with inlays made of tooled toned paper was applied to the leather, as well as being framed with lines of drawn gold pigment. 
2. The boards were not larger than the book block (no squares).
3. It had a flat spine.
4. The burnished shining paper of the pages bore Arabic writing.

One of the paper inlays, lifting.

I was also expecting an unsupported sewing (without sewing supports) and Islamic style end bands, but this was not the case.

The sewing, made with a very thick linen thread was actually made on strips of tanned leather with the thread passing behind them in the so called ‘French style technique’ (link stitch) where the thread passages are linked together during the sewing, as visible in the following image.

The leather strips and the passages of the sewing thread in the ‘French style’.

The end bands, or at least what was left of them (only the one at the tail survived almost entirely) were also a surprise, they were in a western style, sewn with two silk threads (pink and green) onto a round core made of linen cord.

Detail of the surviving 'western style' end band at the tail of the book spine.

What a magnificent multicultural binding! An Islamic style cover with French sewing and western end bands; how many stories this damaged little book is telling all at once - not only the fascinating content of the text but also the intriguing mixture of features that speaks of a binder obviously bridging two different worlds and their book binding craftsmanship.

The book was made in the XIX century, a time when the western domination of the Far East (the book was part of the Imperial Mughal Library so possibly produced in India) was already quite established, and so the reciprocated exchange in craftswork and tastes.

Was the binder a westerner or an easterner artisan? It is hard to tell even if the predominance of eastern features, like the attachment of the leather cover to the book block achieved by only adhering the leather to the spine without any lacing of the supports, makes me favour the second option.

The challenge here was then how to treat the book. The leather strips were completely gone and the sewing very loose. A huge amount of insect damage, especially on the spine folds of the bifolia, had made most of the pages detached. Likewise, the leather on the spine and the board edges were almost completely gone.

Approaches in modern conservation are based on some clear principles and ethics, two of which are ‘minimal intervention’ and ‘fit for purpose’. In this specific case I chose the ‘minimal’ approach aimed at keeping all the historical evidence of an object undisturbed as much as possible. I decided to work ‘in situ’ and try to restore all the elements of the binding leaving them as they were.

This was a very ‘minimal’ but not at all ‘fit for purpose’ approach. Digitisation project workflows are based on the constant processing of material to be imaged and uploaded online. Conservation within these work streams is there to support this flow, making sure that the items processed are stabilized and safely handled to produce good quality images. In this context, the ‘fit for purpose’ approach means that conservation treatments on single items should not take more than 5 to 10 hours to be completed. To repair the manuscript, however, took me one week. The time was needed and it was found within the scope of the project, but making sure that we were also keeping a steady flow of material to work on for the rest of the workflow strands.

A new spine lining made of Japanese paper was applied onto the spine to secure the book block as much as possible and to support in place the remnants of the end bands before starting to work on the pages.

The spine of the book and the remnants of the end bands are reinforced with Japanese paper layers adhered with wheat starch paste and the new linen tapes inserted under the passage of the sewing.

New cotton tapes were inserted under the sewing thread passages where the leather strip supports were originally placed. In most of the sections the sewing thread was secured in place with small pieces of Japanese paper and wheat starch paste. The loose pages were secured with hinges of Japanese paper, making sure that the correct collation was maintained.

The boards were re-attached to the book block as they had been by attaching the original linen spine lining and the remnants of the old leather supports reinforced with the new cotton tapes.

All the remnants of the covering leather on the spine were secured to the spine lining now supported by a new Japanese paper hollow. No infill with new leather was made, but the spine was repaired only with thin toned Japanese paper instead, leaving the linen fabric of the original lining exposed.

The book after the conservation work.

During the conservation of the book block, a note was also found inserted. Written on this note are the shelf mark and probably a request from the cataloguer for the restoration of the book (‘Repairs & binding’).

The note was most surely inserted at the time the book was being catalogued since the handwriting on it matches the calligraphy on the cataloguing labels adhered on the right and left boards.

Pink slip with handwritten shelf mark and annotation compared with the shelf mark written on the labels adhered on the right/front board.

At the British Library, the practice of inserting pink slips to highlight the need for urgent conservation work is still in use today. This procedure obviously dates back quite far.

We know that the manuscripts in the Delhi collection were moved from Calcutta to the India Office in London, and at a certain point divided into their respective language collections. This arrangement was made after they were catalogued in 1937, so it is reasonable to assume that the labels were placed not much later than this date.

The request on the slip was obviously ignored and the book was not restored, a ‘negligence’ that probably saved the manuscript from a complete rebinding that would have destroyed all the historical evidences of this unique artefact.

The perception of beauty is another very controversial topic; this work of mine was meant to preserve as much as possible all the evidence of a very unique and fascinating item, keeping the original features in place and preserving all the possibly hidden information for future research.

The tattered look of the damaged book was also preserved, arguably not a pleasing look, but time has left its marks and that has its own beauty.

Flavio Marzo

Everyone loves a good puzzle - and this was definitely found to be the case when Flavio Marzo, conservation team lead for the Qatar/British Library Project, sent an email around to colleagues with a series of mysterious symbols attached. What did they mean? The ancient doodles were uncovered by Flavio during conservation work of a manuscript from the Delhi Collection. Could the code be deciphered by British Library experts? Flavio reports.

Digitisation processes can be quite repetitive. Here at the British Library Qatar Digitisation Project we try to achieve the best we can and this means a lot of quality checks to ensure high levels of efficiency through standardised processes.

There is no difference in our approach to the conservation strand of these digitisation projects. Standardised treatments are applied daily to a great number of items that are processed and prepared to enable a good final result and to ensure safe handling of library material. Unsurprisingly, these items are unique and their content extremely fascinating.

Recently, as part of the material scoped for the second phase of the project, I had to repair a manuscript before imaging and uploading onto the Qatar Digital Library.

This manuscript contains two mathematical treaties bound together dating back to the beginning of the XVIII century. It was in need of conservation treatment because the sewing of a previous restoration attempt was impairing the opening making some of the text inaccessible and impossible to be imaged.

The manuscript is one of 36 scoped for the project belonging to the Delhi Collection. The Delhi Collection encompasses more than 2900 manuscripts stored across the British Library. The manuscripts are all that is left of the Imperial Mughal Library that was acquired by the English run Government in Delhi after the final destruction of the Delhi Red Fortress.

Those texts are now finally becoming available to readers for the first time thanks to the surrogates that we are uploading onto the Qatar Digital Library website. They all are in very poor condition and for this reason many of them have never been made available to readers in our reading rooms.

The prime concern for conservation when treating items is to find the right balance between the level of intervention necessary to make a book strong enough to be safely handled while still preserving the unique and invaluable physical features related to its history and use. These concerns are even more apparent for the Delhi Collection manuscripts since their history and the vicissitudes relating to their move to London are still quite confused.

This manuscript and the treatments carried out to conserve it are a very good example of how challenging it can be to decide what to do and where to stop, but also a very unique case of a fascinating discovery. When the little manuscript (measuring just 182 mm high, 120 mm long and only 7 mm thick) was brought to the studio its book block was detached from its cover.

At a certain point of its life the manuscript was restored and a new over-casted sewing was made to keep the loose, badly damaged pages together.

Diagram of the construction of the book block and the full leather cover.

This new sewing, even if achieving its purpose, was badly impairing the opening of the book making some of the marginal notes illegible.

Annotation disappearing into the gutter before (left) and after (right) the removal of the over-casted sewing passages.

We know from historical sources that these manuscripts were moved from Delhi to Calcutta for evaluation in the view to be then transferred to London; it was during this time that they were left neglected and befell extensive damage. It was most likely around the same time that the manuscripts were crudely restored and the present cover was applied to the text.

Changes are unavoidable during restoration processes, but conservation is committed to keeping this to a minimal level and always trying to preserve evidence of past treatments while keeping detailed treatment documentation.

After consultation with the curators it was decided to remove the over-casted sewing to improve the opening. The passage holes of the sewing thread were left undisturbed and even the passages of thread on the first and last sheets, not causing any harm to the book, were left and secured in place with wheat starch paste.

Unfortunately most of the pages of the two small manuscripts, repaired even before this last restoration campaign, became loose with no clear evidence of the original construction of the sections.

Many of the sheets were attached to each other at the inner joint and it was decided, after discussion with the curators, to keep this arrangement since no other evidence of thread passages was found. New joints were made with Japanese paper to create the bifolia for the quires.

Diagram of the construction of the manuscripts after conservation.

Diagram of the construction of the manuscripts after conservation.

The three sections were sewn together with an unsupported sewing using the holes found in only three conjoint bifolia. This is represented in the previous diagram by continuous black lines.

The different layers of original spine lining were re-adhered as they were originally. The end leaves were re-connected to the book-block by gluing them along the spine edges to the first and last leaves of the book, as they were previously.

Only the front right paste down, originally attached to the inner face of the board was left detached and this was due to a very interesting discovery. During the conservation treatment of the end-leaves some hidden manuscript annotations came to light.

The right board of the cover was made from reused manuscript material. A couple of signatures (now under investigation) appeared, accompanied by what looked like a series of squiggles almost entirely hidden by the leather cover.

After a more careful examination it became clear that these symbols were actually much more than simple doodles. I decided to figure out how to decode them.

The line of symbols emerged partially obscured by the turn in of the leather cover on the fore edge of the inner right board.

An email was written with images attached and it was sent to all colleagues working here at the 6th floor within the British Library/Qatar Partnership: an open invitation to participate in the decoding. Less than an hour later the mystery was solved. The squiggles were in fact a rebus - a puzzle where words are represented by pictures and letters, and its translation came out as: I see you but you cannot see me

The breakdown is shown below:

What an incredible and exciting discovery!

This really is the most appropriate motto to what I am always saying about conservation and the challenges in preserving evidence of historical clues: they are there, they look at you, but we are not necessarily able to see them.

The curator of the Arabic manuscript strand of the project, Bink Hallum, was the person who cracked most of the code. This demonstrates how tasks can be resolved through collaboration and sharing of expertise.

So many invisible pieces of information, during our careers, look at us from the items we handle everyday. We don't always have the necessary knowledge to see them, but surely we have the responsibility to preserve and convey them for posterity.

Flavio Marzo

Flavio Marzo ACR, Conservation Studio Manager for the British Library/Qatar Foundation digitisation project reflects on his visit to the Arab and Islamic Heritage Collection Library:

 Doha, Qatar

During a recent trip to Doha, Qatar, I was invited to speak at the ‘Past to Present: Art Conservation Conference’ at the Museum of Islamic Art, held on 28 November 2013. I was invited to visit the Arab and Islamic Heritage Collection Library by Dr Joachim Gierlichs, Associate Director for Special Collections and Archives at the Qatar National Library, and Mark T. Paul, Head of Partnerships at the Qatar National Library. As I presently manage the conservation studio that has been created for the British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership at the British Library, my trip to Doha was a chance for me to meet some of my colleagues for the first time.

I spent the morning after my arrival visiting one of the Library’s main collections, the private study library of Sheikh Hassan Bin Mohammed Bin Ali Al-Thani, founder of Mathaf, the Arab Museum of Modern Art, and a prominent scholar on the history and culture of Arabia. The collection includes rare and valuable texts and manuscripts relating to Arab-Islamic civilization, as well as books, periodicals and maps from European orientalists, travellers and explorers who were fascinated by Arab-Islamic cultural heritage.

Arab and Islamic Heritage Collection Library.

One of the highlights of the visit for me was the opportunity to meet the three conservators working at the library and to visit the conservation studio. The studio, although limited in space, is well equipped for carrying out full treatments of printed and manuscript items.

Chanaca Perera, conservator in charge of the studio, with his team.

Dr Stavroula Golfomitsou and Flavio Marzo.

The afternoon was spent visiting the new facilities of the UCL Qatar Centre for the Study of Cultural Heritage in Education City, opened in partnership with the Qatar Foundation and the Qatar Museums Authority in 2012.

Main studio in the UCL Qatar Centre for the Study of Cultural Heritage.

While there, I visited the classrooms, met some of the students and spent time with Dr Stavroula Golfomitsou, who has developed and led the Conservation Studies Programme at UCL Qatar since its beginning in 2012.

My impression of Doha and the different institutions and people I met there was very positive: while there are difficulties due to bureaucracy and the nature of the sometime unbearably hot local environment in summer, these difficulties have not restrained or threatened the hope for the future and the proactive spirit that I felt. This is in no small part due to the support given by this rich and fast-developing country, which is investing so much in the field of cultural heritage and research – perhaps something we might like to learn?! I really hope so.

Flavio Marzo