Collection Care blog

Behind the scenes with our conservators and scientists

53 posts categorized "Research"

03 June 2021

Iron gall ink on paper: Saving the words that eat themselves

Paul Garside & Zoë Miller

Iron gall ink (IGI) will be familiar to most of us as the characteristic brown ink that we associate with the authenticity and softly aged aesthetic of historic documents.  It is the most important writing and drawing ink in Western culture, initially emerging in the first centuries AD and continuing in widespread use until the 20th century.  Many thousands of examples of its use on both parchment and paper can be found in the British Library’s historic collections, ranging from Treasures and other important items, such as the Codex Sinaiticus, the Lindisfarne Gospels, Magna Carta, manuscripts penned by Henry VIII and the works of famous diarists such as John Evelyn, to more commonplace letters, notes, musical scores and records. And IGI documents will form a vital part of our forthcoming exhibition Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens .

Figure 1: Three sheets of paper with dark brown iron gall ink.  The ink on the opposite sides of the papers is starting to show through.

[Figure 1] An example of IGI on paper (Walpole Papers 73898).

However, IGI may damage the surface on which it is written, and paper is at particular risk, leading to characteristic haloing, fragility, fracturing and areas of loss. It has been estimated that up to 80% of European archives contain items at significant risk of this problem. The potential to cause damage has been known for a long time: in 1765 the English chemist William Lewis published a treatise on the stability of IGI, and over one hundred years ago the Vatican Library warned about the impending destruction of many precious manuscripts from the effect.  However, the ink remained popular, not least for its durability and permanence (it adheres firmly to the substrate, and resists rubbing and washing, unlike carbon inks), but also because it was easy and cheap to make, using a wide variety of historic recipes.  Most recipes are based around four principal components: gallic acid, derived from oak galls; iron(II) sulphate (often referred to as green vitriol); water or an aqueous medium; and a binding agent, such as gum Arabic.  When these ingredients are mixed, the acid and the iron sulphate react together then oxidise to form iron(III) gallate, which is strongly coloured; the ink is typically a dark slate grey when first formed, turning brown or orange as it ages.

Figure 2: A magnified image of iron gall ink on paper, lit from the back, showing dark haloing around the text and areas of loss from regions of heavy ink.

[Figure 2] The effects of IGI corrosion.

Why does this ink cause damage? There are two main, interlinked processes. Sulphuric acid is a by-product of the reaction which creates the ink, and this can lead to hydrolysis of the cellulose that forms the building blocks of paper. Excess iron(II) ions, from the initial ingredients, can also speed up the oxidative degradation of cellulose. In conjunction, these two effects are often referred to as IGI corrosion, and in extreme cases inked lines can actually crack and drop out of the paper surface. We have found that imbalanced recipes and impure ingredients can complicate the aging process and damaging properties of these inks, resulting in wide visual differences. The Instituut Collectie Nederland (ICN) has developed a four level system to categorise the damage caused by IGI , from 1 to 4 ('good' to 'very poor' condition), as shown in these examples from the BL's collection:

Figure 3: The four ICN condition levels, illustrated with examples from the British Library’s collection.

[Figure 3] The condition of IGI on paper: 1 (good condition - no/light discoluration and stable to handle); 2 (fair condition - dark discolouration around ink, with no immediate mechanical damage, but this could result from handling); 3 (poor condition - some mechanical damage around ink, and handling is likely to cause more damage); 4 (very poor condition - serious loss of substance, which will be exacerbated by handling).

Historically, treatments for paper documents suffering from IGI corrosion were much more invasive than would now be considered acceptable, including processes such as lamination, simmering or aggressive de-acidification.  Greater understanding of the material and developments in conservation science have allowed a more tailored, less invasive range of options. For some documents, aqueous treatments will be the most appropriate choice: the items are immersed in a calcium phytate solution, to bind and isolate damaging iron(II) ions, accompanied by gentle de-acidification, to remove existing acids and provide an alkaline reserve.  For other documents, low moisture repairs (using gelatine adhesive, which resists IGI attack as well as providing mechanical stabilisation) or the more conventional support of physical damage will be better choices.  The following chart gives an overview of our thought-processes when considering the best approach; we developed it to help visualise the process and explain our decision-making to colleagues.  As can be seen, we would consider a wide range of factors, including:

  • The state of the IGI and the damage it has caused, assessed using the ICN categorisation.
  • The overall condition of the item, taking into account any signs of damage to its composition or structure, the presence of vulnerable components such as water-sensitive materials, and its general stability and ease of handling.
  • Our 'risk appetite' for the item.  This represents our willingness to accept risks when treating the object, and is related to factors such as cultural value, historic significance and rarity. This would obviously be very low for Treasures items, but even with objects assigned a higher risk appetite, we would not act recklessly or without planning – we may, however, be willing to consider more interventive or extensive treatments to enable the item to be more widely accessed.

Figure 4: A flowchart indicating the decision-making process for the treatment of iron gall ink on paper.

[Figure 4] Decision-making for the treatment of IGI on paper.

This scheme is not prescriptive, however, and each object would be assessed and treated on its own merits. Furthermore, sometimes the best conservation decision is to carry out no treatment at all, and in all cases our work is underpinned by good preventive conservation, in the form of appropriate storage, suitable environmental conditions and sympathetic handling.

Figure 5: A British Library conservator carrying out immersion treatment of a paper manuscript with iron gall ink.

[Figure 5] Aqueous treatment of poor condition IGI on paper, in the BL’s conservation studio.

Many thanks to the Thriplow Charitable Trust for supporting this research.

29 November 2018

Dealing with computer viruses in digital collections

Evanthia Samaras, PhD placement - Digital Preservation 

Malware, or ‘malicious software’ such as computer viruses are a significant digital collection care challenge. The British Library collects a large range of digital content, so it is important that we identify any malware that could potentially put the digital collections, or our users, at risk. We also need to properly consider the question: How should we deal with malware-infected materials in digital collections?

Cartoon image of a computer virus

How do we identify malware?

The Library has strict processes in place to check for malware in digital collections. For example:

  • As part of our Flashback disk imaging project, we have scanned over 16,000 floppy, CD and DVD discs from the 1980s to 2000s for malware using anti-virus software. Infected items are then moved to a designated ‘quarantine’ area.
  • For websites collected as part of the UK Web Archive, the Library scans every file collected (over several billion files each year!). Website files infected with malware are quarantined and ‘deactivated’ using an encryption tool so that the files cannot be read or opened (see this blog for more information).

Compared to other institutions around the world, we actually do more virus checking than many other libraries (especially for our web archives).

What are the options for dealing with malware?

The four main options for dealing with malware-infected material are:

  • Discard the malware.
  • Put aside and quarantine (then process at a later date).
  • Fix them (try to remove malware).
  • Try to get another clean version from publisher/donor.

There is also another option: Keeping the malware as a collection in its own right.

Should we collect malware?

Scholars such as Jonathan Farbowitz of New York University argue that we should be preserving malware. He suggests that:

Malware is a form of cultural heritage and an important part of the historical record… If malware were not preserved, a significant portion of contemporary computer users’ experiences as well as the “texture” of the internet and of computing itself would be lost (pp. 10, 12).

If the British Library were to start forming collections of malware, how could we ensure they are maintained safely over time?

Computer security and anti-virus software companies collect examples of malware for research and development (see the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization’s Real-Time Threat List). Therefore, it is indeed possible to keep malware in controlled environments over time to facilitate study.

But it is less clear whether libraries should take custodianship of such material. Could it jeopardise the ongoing care of our digital collections?

Malware in the future

It is expected that the British Library will have to deal with malware for many years to come. Making sure our collections remain safe and usable for our readers is a priority for the Library. Yet it is also important that we consider what our readers may want to access in the future. Perhaps malware could be a collection in its own right? But for now, we will continue to tread with caution when dealing with malware in our digital collections.

19 February 2018

Digitising books as objects: The invisible made visible

Book conservator Flavio Marzo explores how the experience for users of online library material surrogates could be easily improved by enhancing invisible physical features of books.

Working as a book conservator within digitisation projects has been my job for many years. I started in 2006, only one year after joining the British Library Conservation team here in London after leaving my country, Italy.

The subject of that digitisation project was the digitisation and virtual reunification of the Codex Sinaiticus, possibly one of the most known and valuable manuscripts in the Western world. The Codex was compiled in the IV century AD and is the oldest surviving and most complete version of the Old and New Testament. Many years have passed since that project and digitisation has become a common work stream within public institutions. This is especially evident within libraries which now compete in uploading material from their own collections to make them available for scholars, students and readers across the globe.

Technology has improved immensely since then and a lot of ‘ink’ has been spread across physical and virtual pages about the remit, the limitations and the advantages of what is offered to the public through the surrogates uploaded onto countless web portals. This piece is just another little drop into this ocean of ink to share some considerations built upon experience and from the perspective of a book conservator who sees, because of his professional background, the limitations of this, but also the exciting challenges to overcome them.

Books are physical objects and the pleasure of opening them, turning the pages, looking at (when decorated) the illuminations and their pigments, or at the accretions of the ink strokes, even smelling them, cannot be recreated on the screen of a home desktop. This does not mean that we cannot improve the experience and possibly further close the gap between the real object and the two-dimensional images.

I now work for the British Library/Qatar Foundation Digitisation Project and for the past 5 years, with a team of two conservators, I have been repairing documents (printed and hand written) and Scientific Arabic manuscripts for the team of scholars and photographers who are doing the real magic by gifting the world with the content now available on the Qatar Digital Library website (https://www.qdl.qa/en).

I have worked with books all my life since I was a 16 year old apprentice in a Benedictine Monastery. I have to admit that I am not an avid reader but I love books as objects and I get very excited about all the different little features and materials they are made from. How is it possible to please someone like me when offering online surrogates of complex items like books?

Books are recognised as 3D items and a lot of work has been done to migrate the content of those printed and manuscript texts into online, easy to access versions, but very little has been done to capture their physicality as objects.

Photographers, like any other professional, follow strict professional standards defined by general rules and specific project boundaries. Those standards are built to assure that the best possible result is achieved consistently and the meter to measure this result is the quality of the final product i.e. the image to be uploaded. Those images are supposed to reproduce as faithfully as possible the text and the carrier of the content of a book. Very rarely attention is given to the substrate or to the physical features of the object.

Lights for digitisation are carefully positioned to avoid shadows and they help to reduce surface irregularities and anomalies. This is all to the benefit of the written text and/or of the decorations, but with much loss for the lovers of the book as an object!

Here I want to describe some very practical ways to achieve different results and show some ‘behind the scenes’ of items I have been working on and how these very interesting results can be achieved with simple straight-forward techniques that do not require any high-tech equipment.

Raking light

I have mentioned the Codex Sinaiticus and I would like to start with it.

An image from the Codex Sinaiticus showing the page as viewed under normal light conditions.
Revelation, 2:7 - 3:5, British Library folio: 326. This image: Normal light.
The same image from the Codex Sinaiticus showing the page as viewed under raking light conditions, which shows as a much darker image..
Revelation, 2:7 - 3:5, British Library folio: 326. This image: Raking light.

 

All the available remaining pages of the Codex from the different geographical sites where they are presently held (The British library, The Library of the University of Leipzig, The National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg, and the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine’s) were digitised and uploaded onto the purposely created website (http://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/). Contrary to common practice, all the pages were imaged both with normal and ‘raking light’. 

When imaging pages of books with normal light the attention is placed primarily to achieve the full readability of the text. Lights are placed and conditioned to radiate evenly over the surface of the page making sure no shadows are created and paying great attention to colours and tones to ensure they are as close as possible to the real appearance of the object reproduced.

What ‘raking light’ does is very different and the resulting image reveals a completely new landscape. Placing the source of light horizontally relative to the page results in an enhanced texture of the substrate which highlights and brings to life all the physical features present on the surface of the pages. These interesting and unique features can relate to the preparation of the writing surface or more generally to the specific material the substrate is made of e.g. papyrus, parchment or paper.

Here are some details of pages of the Codex Sinaiticus taken with raking light.

A page of the Codex Sinaiticus cast with raking light. This light has revealed the ruling lines, both horizontally and vertically, used to keep the text in place. An image of the Codex Sinaiticus as viewed from the top of the page looking down, under raking light conditions. The light has revealed the scraping of the surface of the parchment. The image also shows pricking holes, circled in red, which was done as an aide for ruling the page as an aide for the scribes.
In the previous images the source of light is now helping us to appreciate this famous manuscript on a completely different level.

Horizontal and vertical lines, holes pierced through the page, and scratch marks now appear clearly. They are traced on the surface of the pages for a purpose; those are features related to the page preparation that happened before the text was traced onto it.

The ‘bounding lines’ (vertical) and the ‘writing lines’ (horizontal) are impressed with a blind (not too sharp) tool onto the parchment sheets. The holes, highlighted with red circles in the second image, are used as a reference. This is known as pricking holes for the ruling of the page to provide the scribes with a guide for writing.

The scratches visible on the surface of the page are most likely the marks left by the pumice stone. The pumice stone was commonly used to prepare the surface of the abraded parchment sheet to make it more absorbent and therefore improve the grasp between the grease substrate and the writing ink.

Thanks to this lighting system it is also possible to see the direction of the indentation of those lines and holes. This information can help codicologists, even from the comfort of their homes, to understand from which side of the folio they were traced and pierced and so recreate the step by step process of the creation of an ancient manuscript.       

One of two images of a letter sent by the Emir of Baghdad to Lord Curzon in 1899. This image is taken under normal light conditions, with clear neat Arabic script contained in two borders, underneath a decorative image heading in red and gold.  The same letter from Emir to Lord Curzon as taken under raking light conditions. This image has revealed how the image was folded, and the number of folds that can now be seen, that were not visible under normal light conditions.
In this image we see the images of a letter sent by the Emir of Bagdad in 1899 to Lord Curzon when he was appointed Viceroy of India, first taken with normal and then with ‘raking light’. In the first image the letter is just a sheet of paper beautifully arranged and decorated with writing. In the second image the light tells us a completely different story; it shows us the use of this letter, the way it was folded and the number of folds it had.

How incredible that it is possible to see all these different insights by just slightly moving a lamp!

Transmitted light

Another technique to read paper from a different perspective is using ‘transmitted light’. 

This image of the same letter from the Emir of Baghdad to the Lord Curzon, is now revealed under transmitted light, another technique of reading paper, to have a watermark, with a Lion holding a flag bearing the word 'Reliance' within a circular sigil entitled around the inner edge as 'The Lion Brand, Croxley number 693, London. some watermark text is obscured by the overwriting Arabic script.

Simply by placing the same sheet of paper onto a light table (i.e. illuminating from below) it is possible to bring a completely new scenario to life. In this image for example we can clearly see the watermark impressed onto the sheet of paper of the previous letter, detail impossible to be seen only looking at the image taken under normal light.

Paper can be hand or machine made, and sheets can bear chain and wire lines or possess watermarks or not. These details can be of great interest to scholars and add valuable information to the understanding of documents in relation to their use and circulation.     

A page manufactured using laid and wove paper, which is revealed distinctively by transmitted light, showing the chain and wire lines on the paper. On the page itself can be seen a large central watermark of a Sphinx like creature with a crown between it's wings. On the left hand side of the page is arabic script in red, with text in black handwriting on the right hand side of the page.   a comparison to the left hand image of  laid and wove paper, this image of a machine-wove page from the India Office Records, shows the difference in paper, with no chain and wire lines and a clearer paper. The Page itself has again, a large watermark underneath the text, of the words 'Government of India'. Superimposed is flowing cursive handwriting in black ink.

Here are some more examples of sheets of laid and wove paper taken from different files from the India Office Record material, some showing again the characteristic chain and wire lines (except the last one which is actually a sheet of machine made wove paper) and some very distinctive water marks highlighted and made visible thanks to the used of transmitted light. 

Visualization of the physical collation of manuscripts

Books are made of folios and pages and those folios are ‘bound’ together. How the bindings are made is one of the real wonders of books. The variances are numberless and the materials and details of execution not only delight nerds like myself, but more importantly they inform researchers about the history of those books, giving insights into the objects that open doors to sometime unexpected cultural landscapes through links between different craftsmanship and cultures.

To describe a book structure is a very delicate and laborious process, but one that conservators are trained to do and that they automatically do many times when conserving those books as they record the treatments being carried out.

A lot of work has been done during recent years to create tools able to easily make this complex information sharable with the wider audiences. One I wish to mention here is VisColl, developed by Dot Porter at the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (https://github.com/leoba/VisColl) in collaboration with Alberto Campagnolo at the Library of Congress, a friend and colleague.

A image capture of a page from the University of Pensylvania, of a program called VisColl. The image, with a muted blue background, shows four images of a digitised manuscript, with a section on the left hand side showing the structure of the book and the pages digitised, in white.

In this image we have, additional to the images of the digitised pages, diagrams (on the left) of the structure of the section where those pages are located and, highlighted in white, the specific pages shown on the screen.

Those diagrams, surely more easily understandable than many wordy descriptions, can help researchers to step into a completely new level of understanding for the manuscript, providing vital information about the history of those items, the way they were put together and possibly evidences of late alterations or even forgeries which may have occurred throughout the centuries.

Digitisation has opened new ways to look and make use of books and, I believe, the improvement of understanding of physical features is the next step that should be consistently and widely taken to enhance the online user experience.

One of the issues digitisation has brought to the attention of conservators and professionals involved in the care and preservation of library material is the fact that by enhancing the ‘fame’ of objects we can cause an increase in how much those same objects are requested for access.

To justify restriction in handling objects, which for the most part are very fragile and extremely valuable, we need to improve the online metadata and the amount of information available with the surrogates. Those presented here are just some examples in how, quite easily, this can be done.

Obviously the smell will stay within the walls of the libraries, but those are pleasures to be experienced in situ, and alone (almost..!) at the table of the reading rooms. No surrogate can replace that for the lovers of books. 

22 January 2018

Workshop on Asian Papers and their Applications in Paper Conservation

Eleven conservators being taught by Minah Song, are gathered round a large square table, making circular Karibari or Japanese drying boards.

Instructor: Minah Song, independent paper conservator
Date: July 3rd - 5th (Tue - Thu) - 3 days
Place: The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
Enrolment limit: 12
Registration fee: 470 GBP (materials included)

This three-day intensive workshop is designed to provide both emerging and established conservation professionals with the theoretical and practical foundation for understanding Asian papers and their applications in paper conservation. The workshop consists primarily of hands-on activities with a lecture, group discussions and examinations of various Asian papers.

Participants will familiarize themselves with history and characteristics of Chinese, Korean and Japanese paper-making, including an overview of contemporary Asian paper production. Each participant will be presented with a set of different paper samples and will study the papers first hand and examine the fibers, sheet formation, alkali content and the results of different manufacturing processes and drying methods. Different Asian paper fibres will be compared with the help of microscopic images.

In a practical session, participants will make small-sized paper samples using simple tools with paper mulberry fibres and formation aid. They will also use cotton fibers as a comparison. Participants will make modern equivalent of drying board (karibari) using a honeycomb board and mulberry paper.

Participants will study friction drying - flattening Western paper objects with mulberry paper support; a process particularly complicated when applied to uneven thickness, short-fibred or moisture-sensitive paper (e.g. tracing paper).

Participants will study and share details of various methods of repair and lining techniques using different Asian papers, depending on their opaqueness, texture, and strength, appropriate for specific objects. For example, participants will try double-sided lining with thin mulberry tissue, drying a lined object on a drying board, and making re-moistenable tissue with different adhesives. Useful tips in toning techniques with acrylic paints for mulberry paper will be discussed.

For further details and online registration see:
www.minahsong.com/workshop
Contact the instructor: [email protected]

10 August 2017

Everything you need to know about birch bark book conservation

From sawdust to gold dust: The conservation of a 16th century birch bark book

Shelfmark: OMS/Or 13300
Curator: Pasquale Manzo
Treatment Time: 113 hrs
Estimated time: 92 hrs

Introduction:
Late 2016 a black acidic shoe box with a note was transferred to the British Library Centre for Conservation for treatment. The note was dated from 1972, reading ‘object is extremely fragile - do not touch’. Inside the shoe box was a mass of tissue, which when carefully lifted out, had thousands of tiny entangled bark fragments entwined in its fibres. Beneath the tissue was the birch bark book.

The following blog is about how the manuscript was conserved so that it could once again be safely requested and handled by the general public.

The Manuscript:
The manuscript is part of the British Library Asian and African collection. It was originally made in Kashmir, is written in Śāradā script and dates to the 16-17th century. It includes three different texts: (A) Nirṇayāmṛta by Allāḍanātha, a work in 4 chapters concerning suitable times for various Hindu religious ceremonies. (B) Narasiṃhaparicayā by Kṛṣṇdāsa son of Rāmācārya, a text on Vaiṣṇava ritual and (C) a fragment of the Padmapurāṇa.

Binding Structure:
The manuscript was formed of 10 sections, each with 8 folios to the centre. The manuscript was sewn with a thick hemp chord in an unsupported Coptic-style. The sewing had a knotted incongruous double loop centrally on the 3rd section.

The Manuscript as seen from its side, with the spine facing towards the camera. The text block is exposed and hemp cord can be seen either with the ends peeking through the text block ends or tied in the centre. The text in Śāradā script can be seen on the front page.
Figure 1: Spine edge of the text block showing the 2 central sewing stations and the headband tie-downs at head and tail.

 

Both the head and tail had headbands, similar perhaps in style to Monastic headbands. However the cores were made of a Mahogany-type wood dowel, looped several times over with chord, then wrapped in a layer of alum-tawed skin and finally a turned-in leather flap extending up from the cover. The headbands were attached to the text block via tie-downs on each section.

Three images of the wood-core headband, consisting of a dark wooden dowel bound in chord and skin.The textblock can be seen tightly compressed behind the leather.
Figures 2-4: Wood-core headband with alum-tawed and leather wraps secured to text block with chord tie-downs.

The manuscript was covered in thick brown goat leather with an inner parchment wrapper. The limp leather case was attached to the text block by the headband tie-downs.

Two images of the manuscript showing a dark brown leather cover, wrapped around the manuscript, which is not covering the top and bottom of the text leaves. The right hand image shows the cover slightly eased back, revealing the underside of the leather as a lighter brown, with a white snake weight holding it back at the bottom left.
Figures 5 & 6: Limp goat leather cover with parchment wrapper below.

 

Dimensions: (L x W x H) 190 x 189 x 70 mm

The Text block:
The text block had 231 folios, foliated 27-258. The folios were transcribed with a carbon-based ink. The media was stable. The folios themselves were made from very fine layers of bark from the outer periderm of the deciduous birch tree. The cork cells of the birch bark are compacted in radial rows according to seasonal growth, and the periderm layers were adhered together by pectin as well as physical knots and streaks.

Two images shown, with the first a cut out depiction of the layers of the birch tree, while the second is a photo os a Birch tree showing a section of bark peeled back to expose the wood. The inside of the bark peel is a gold color, while the exterior of the bark is white; all in contrast to the golden brown of the wood itself.
Figure 7 (Left): Tree anatomy diagram showing the periderm layer of the birch tree (Wojtech 2013). Figure 8 (Right): Peeling birch bark off a birch tree to use as a substrate. Image shows inherent knots and streaks (Wojtech 2011).

 

Condition:
Unfit: Significant risk of damage even under controlled display conditions due to existing damage or extreme sensitivity, inherent vice.

Principal Substrate

In response to fluctuating environmental parameters, the inherently weak pectin adhesive in the birch bark had failed, causing the periderm layers to delaminate. It appeared that each folio was made up of around 7 periderm layers. Each folio was in a different state of delamination. Similarly, as a result environmental fluctuation the natural resins in the birch bark had been drawn to the surface, causing a gentle white blooming on the majority of the birch bark folios.

Changes in the birch bark’s moisture equilibrium over time had caused dimensional changes, forcing tangential curling and making the bark stiff and extremely brittle. This had resulted in each folio having significant tears extending from the foredge. Some of the folios had even degenerated into piles of fragmentary leaves. There were vertical cracks on most folios towards the spine, due to the stress induced by turning the pages.

Two images side by side. The left hand image shows a portion of text with white blooming and delamination. The second image is a close up of the page leaves, showing the tears and cracks running in from the outer edge, damage caused by turning the brittle pages.
Figure 9 (Left): White blooming from natural resins on the surface of the birch bark. Figure 10 (Right): Delaminating periderm layers of embrittled birch bark.



Binding Condition

The leather and the parchment wrapper beneath were stiff and distorted and subsequently did not effectively cover or protect the text block. The cover was only partially attached to the text block by the headband tie-downs at the head of the spine. As such, when fully opened some of the text block spine was exposed. The sewing had broken at multiple points, however disparately the sewing structure was relatively stable. The opening angle of the manuscript had been compromised by the brittle substrate, so could open to around 60 degrees in a section or 160 degrees between the sections. Two sections at the back of the manuscript had detached and four pages were sitting loose in the back cover.

A photo of the manuscript atop a grey surface. The Leather cover can be seen wrappnig around its length, but its small dimensions mean the text block underneath is exposed. Two nylon pieces, old repair attempts on the birch leaves, can be seen jutting out and curving round the pages.
Figure 11: Distorted leather no longer covers and protects the text block.
A zoomed in photo showing the detached tie-downs in cord, lying next to the exposed text block that would make up the spine of the book when covered.
Figure 12: Showing detached tie-downs, exposed spine and broken sewing at the spine tail.

Evidence of Previous Repairs:

Previous repairs were carried out in 1972. There appeared to be a white bloom on the surface of the leather cover, suggesting the possible previous use of wax or oil based leather coatings.

Two folios, f.211 and f.212, were coated on both sides with a texacryl 13-002 adhesive (at various strengths) and nylon tissue, with Japanese paper borders. This conservation process was discontinued as the result is visually distracting (sharp contrast in tone and light refraction) and had irreversibly changed the nature of the original birch bark.

The areas of loss, of around twenty of the most fragile folios at the front of the volume, had been infilled with hand-transcribed western paper. Similarly heavy-weight cream paper repairs had also been crudely adhered to multiple folios along edge tears.

Crude paper repairs can be seen on the manuscript, which is lying open in this image. The repairs stand out as cream coloured squares of heavy paper, against the darker, golden brown of the birch leaves.
Figure 13: Showing the crude paper repairs at the foredge of multiple folios
An open section of the manuscript, showing the fragmented sections which have broken away from their pages.
Figure 14: Showing the crude texacryl-adhered nylon lining on 2 birch bark folios.
Texacryl-adhered nylon lining on the birchbark leaves, as shown in this image, where the sections of the manuscript are split away from their original joint at the spine. The edges of the birch leaves have been conserved in the past with a heavy western paper, which appears as white against the golden brown of the birch bark.
Figure 15: The fragmented first two sections with annotated western paper infills.

 

Analytical Adhesive Testing

The decision was made to identify the adhesive used to adhere the paper patch repairs and the annotated infills. This would not only provide more information about the history of the object, but would inform the treatment decision-making process.

A microsample of adhesive residue was removed from beneath the distorted and lifting paper infills. The microsample was then analysed via use of FTIR-ATR to identify and characterise the present adhesive. The results suggested the adhesive used in previous repairs was a protein-based animal glue.

An image of the Subtraction spectrum, a chart graph showing the rise and fall of Adhesive (in red) and the Gelatin reference (in green).
Figure 16: Image of the subtraction spectrum suggesting the adhesive residue was a protein based animal glue.
A red dot highlights an area of adhesive residue on the edge of the birch bark page. the original tears of the bark can be seen as they curled inwards from the edge of the page. The adhesive has filled in the gaps and tears to some degree, but stands out as a off-yellow colour against the golden brown of the bark.
Figure 17: Adhesive residue visible on birch bark folio. Highlighted area shows micro-sampling location.

Conservation Treatment:

The choice of treatment for any object of historical or cultural significance must reflect its artifactual value, uniqueness and the accessibility of the information it holds. It was decided a minimally interventive treatment would be carried out with the aim of preserving the original and rare binding structure, whilst stabilising the folios for digitisation.

Repair Method Selection

Due to the laminar structure of the birch bark, it was decided that traditional paper-patch repairs would not suffice, as they would only encourage the delamination of the top layer. After experimentation, it was decided that thin strips of toned Japanese tissue, woven in between the stratified layers of each folio would act as an effective repair method.

Strips of Inter-woven toned Japanese tissue have been inserted into the birch-bark edges. The first of two images shows a close-up of the tissue, protruding somewhat away from the edge of the leaf, while the second image shows tweezers lifting up a section of page to reveal tissue paper consolidating underneath.
Figure 18 & 19: An inter-woven toned Japanese tissue repair.

 

Paper and Adhesive Selection

Kozo 2 Japanese tissue was selected as the repair material. It was chosen as it was semi-opaque and thus not visually obstructive; weaker than the primary substrate; and had a degree of stiffness that enabled it to be inserted and woven between bark layers. The tissue strips were adhered with a low concentration of methylcellulose (2%) in water. Methylcellulose was chosen as adhesive firstly because of its cellulosic similarity to birch bark, secondly its refractive index was similar to birch bark, and lastly it had a greater water retention capacity and flexibility than wheat starch paste.

Two images, one a close up of a consolidated edge that has split with age, the other image a page lying on grey material, showing the Japanese paper sticking out of the closest edge.
Figure 20 & 21: Tears and areas of delamination were repaired and reinforced with toned Kozo 2 tissue adhered with 2% methylcellulose.

 

Tissue Preparation

The Kozo 2 tissue was toned using an airbrush, with dilute burnt umber and raw sienna Golden heavy body acrylic paints. The tissue was toned in a colour-range of tones so that the repairs match the multi-tonal folios. The tissue was then cut into thin strips using a scalpel. The widths of the strips varied from about 3-6 mm.

A photograph showing the variation in colour of two birch bark leaves as the book is opened. The leaf closest to the camera is of a light golden yellow colour, while the other page is a much darker, reddish-brown, with older repair attempts evident.
Figure 22: Tonal variation of different birch bark folios.



Repair

A strip was selected, woven through the delaminated layers using tweezers, adhesive applied with a paintbrush (size 001), and the joint gently pressed into place using a cotton swab. The swab also removed any excess adhesive. The repair was then pressed gently under weights. Pressure-light weights were used due to the brittle nature of the substrate. Large areas of delaminated layers were re-adhered to their folio similarly, using a thin application of methylcellulose and gentle pressure.

Three images side-by-side, (Left): Applying toned Kozo 2 to delaminated corner. Centre: applying methylcellulose with a fine brush. Right: Applying gentle pressure to the join using a cotton swab.
Figure 23-25 (Left): Applying toned Kozo 2 to delaminated corner. Centre: applying methylcellulose with a fine brush. Right: Applying gentle pressure to the join using a cotton swab.

 

The folios were conserved systematically, one by one, starting from the back of the volume (as these were in better condition than those at the front). Each folio took around 15-20 minutes to repair depending on the extent of its damage.

The crude previous paper repairs and the annotated infills were lifted from the birch bark using tweezers, and the dry powdery adhesive carefully scraped off the surface of the folio using a scalpel. The repair’s locations were documented prior to removal.

The four loose pages at the back of the manuscript were stripped up with Japanese tissue and adhered into the two detached sections according to their foliation. The texacryl-coated pages were trimmed to remove the Japanese paper border, and likewise stripped up and attached into these sections.

The final repairs were made to the outer spine folds of the sections. These were carefully repaired in-situ using slightly wider strips of toned tissue.

Treated folios stripped up and sewn into their section
Figure 26: The trimmed texacryl 13-002 and nylon coated folios, stripped up and sewn into their section.



Re-sewing Loose Sections

The two detached sections at the back of the volume were attached at the head-edge sewing station via Coptic chain stitch. An extra Coptic stitch was attached to the 3rd section to reinforce the attachment. The decision to not attach the section at two sewing stations was due firstly to the fragmented state of the sewing on the tail-edge station, secondly because the minimal sewing sufficed, and lastly because the purpose of the attachment was solely to prevent loss and disassociation.

Two images showing the repairs to the spine edge of textblock. The first image is a close-up, showing the repaired stitching to the headband, while the second displays the manuscript where the leaves are shown bound up into the textblock.
Figure 27 & 28: Showing the repaired spine edge of the text block and the three chain stitches at the head of the volume.



Cover Decisions

SC6000 leather treatment was rubbed lightly into the leather cover to reduce the white blooming.

The sewing, despite being broken, was remarkably stable post treatment, . This is perhaps because the chords were consolidated in place by the Japanese tissue repairs. The relative stability of the binding enabled the decision to not interfere with the original sewing, and to leave the binding, as well as the cover, as it was. The object post treatment was stable enough to digitise and even stable enough to be handled and viewed by researchers.

It was noted also that by leaving the leather cover attached only at the head, it facilitated the viewing of the sewing structure and spine. As the rare binding style is as much of cultural value as the textual content of the object, the fact that it was left exposed was regarded positively.

The Manuscript post treatment. The dark brown leather is now encapsulating the text block.
Figure 29 & 30: Showing volume post treatment with limp leather cover left in its original state.



Re-housing Fragments

Adhesive labels and condition reports related to the manuscript. The first image displays the original British Museum card record, along with two pink handwritten cards, describing the item.
Figure 31 & 32: Showing adhesive labels and previous condition reports re-housed in Melinex sheaths.
Annotated infills and birch fragments which have been preserved in Melinex squares
Figure 33 & 34: Showing annotated infills and birch bark fragments spot-welded into Melinex sheaths.

After treatment there was varied ephemera to re-house and to keep with the object:

1. The old adhesive labels on the old box
2. The previous condition reports
3. The annotated infills
4. Three unplaceable birch bark fragments.

The old adhesive labels and the condition reports were placed in independent inert polyester Melinex © sheaths. The top edges of the sheaths were left open so the items could be removed, unfolded and read in the future.

The annotated infills and the birch bark fragments were secured in place in their independent Melinex sheaths using an ultrasonic spot-welder. Both sets of sheaths were hole-punched and secured together in the top left hand corner using an archival snap-ring.

Re-housing the Manuscript

To impede the likelihood of potentially harmful physical or environmental damage, it was decided that a custom made drop-back box would be made. It was decided that a shelved compartment would be included in the design in which to store the sheathed ephemera. A four flap wrapper was also made for the volume from Kraft paper, to further impede the potential of damage and to facilitate future handling.

Finally the shelfmark of the item was gold tooled onto the spine of the box.

A drop-back box specially created for the manuscript. the outside is red buckram, while a grey card inner box sits inside, which will contain the manuscript and opens in a four-flap enclosure.
Figure 35 & 36: Showing Kraft paper 4 flap folder and buckram-covered drop-back box with shelf compartment.



Two images showing the gold tooling shelfmark on the outside of the new Buckram box. The first image displays the tooling on the spine of the box, alongside some tools, including  callipers and a steel ruler. The next image shows a type of hot-plate, with a ring outside a central element, where wooden hilted tools are resting, their metal tips sitting on the element to heat up. A Warning, Hot Surface sign is also displayed.
Figure 37 & 38: Gold tooling the manuscript shelfmark onto the box.

 

Before and After Treatment Photographs:

Before and after treatment of the Birch-bark manuscript, with a colored rule scale alongside. Before and after treatment as shown from the top of the manuscript, lying on its side. Before and after treatment as shown looking within the manuscript, with the script visible.

By Daisy Todd

Image References

Wojtech, M 2013, The Language of Bark, American Forests, article: http://www.americanforests.org/magazine/article/the-language-of-bark

Wojtech, M 2011, Getting to know bark, Northern Woodlands, article: http://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/getting-to-know-bark

Further Reading

Agrawal, OP & Bhatia, SK 1981, Investigations for preservation of birch bark manuscripts, ICOM committee for conservation, 6th triennial meeting, Ottawa, September, pp. 21 – 25.

Batton, S 2000, Seperation Anxiety: The Conservation of a 5th Century Buddhist Gandharan Manuscript, WAAC Newsletter, Vol. 2, No.2

Florian, ML, Kronkright, DP, Norton, RE 1991, The Conservation of Artifacts Made from Plant Materials, Getty Trust Publications, Getty Conservation Institute.

Gilberg, MR 1986, Plasticization and forming of misshapen birch-bark artifacts using solvent vapours, Studies in conservation, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 177-184.

Gilroy, N 2008, The Stein birch-bark collection in Oxford: Thirty years of developing treatment options for our most fragile manuscripts, ICOM Committee for Conservation:15th triennial meeting, New Delhi, 22-26 September, Delhi: Allied Publishers, Vol. 1, pp. 264-269.

Suryawanshi, DG, 2000, An ancient writing material: Birch-bark and its need of conservation, Restaurator: International journal for the preservation of library and archival material, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 1-8.

31 January 2017

PhD placement opportunity: Textiles in the British Library

Textiles are a numerous but perhaps unexpected part of the collections at the British Library. These intriguing and delicate items require careful storage, handling and conservation to preserve them for the future. Since the British Library’s first Textile Conservator was appointed in January 2015, hundreds of textiles have been discovered within the Library’s collections. These range from fabric covers for Torah scrolls and silk escape maps of Berlin, to a Japanese children’s book resembling a baby in a sleeping bag and Captain Cook’s book containing samples of bark cloth from the South Pacific Islands.

a closeup of a textile piece, with various flowers and leaves in red, atop a gold background.

This first textile-focused PhD placement presents an opportunity to gain insight into a relatively new area of the Library’s work and contribute to raising the profile of a currently less well-known part of the collections. Working alongside the Textile Conservator, Liz Rose, the placement student will be responsible for completing an internal database of textiles in the
British Library collections. This will involve working with curators across collections to view textile items, photograph them and input their details into the database using the Library’s shelfmark conventions. In addition, there will be opportunities for the student to write blog posts about newly-identified textile items for the Library’s blogs and other public platforms.

During the three-month placement (or part-time equivalent), the student will be a full member of the Conservation Team and will have the chance to assist with holding public tours and events in the conservation centre and with preparing textile items for exhibition displays or external loans. As well as developing specialist knowledge of a wide range of textiles and their conservation needs, the placement thus offers a chance to gain transferable skills in event management and public engagement.

The placement would suit PhD students with an interest in textiles from a range of disciplinary backgrounds. The main requirement is the ability to keep clear and consistent records, and strong IT skills. Training in the handling of fragile textile items, the Library’s subject-specific naming conventions, as well as an induction to the textile collections and to the wider work of
the British Library Centre for Conservation will be provided at the beginning of the placement.

View a detailed placement profile.

Application guidelines

For full application guidelines and profiles of the other placements offered under this scheme, visit the Library’s Research Collaboration webpages. The application deadline is 20 February 2017. For any queries about this placement opportunity, please contact [email protected].

A note to interested applicants

This is an unpaid professional development opportunity, which is open to current (or very recent) PhD researchers only. To apply, you need to have the approval of your PhD supervisor and your department’s Graduate Tutor (or equivalent senior academic manager).

Our PhD placement scheme has been developed in consultation with Higher Education partners and stakeholders to provide opportunities for PhD students to develop and apply their research skills outside the university sector. Please note that the Library itself is not able to provide payment to placement students, nor can it provide costs for daily commuting or relocation to the site of the placement. Anyone applying for a placement at the Library
is expected to consult their university or Doctoral Training Partnership/Doctoral Training Centre to ascertain what funding is available to support them. The Library strongly recommends to universities that a PhD student given approval to undertake a placement is in receipt of a stipend for the duration of the placement.

24 November 2016

Applications of Image Processing Software to Archival Material

Images of archival material are useful to both conservators for monitoring changes, and to researchers for detailed analysis and permanent access to collection items. Image processing allows historical documents and other collection items to be studied without the risk of damage to the primary source. The increase in digitisation projects is generating large volumes of image files that can be processed to enhance the understanding of our collections without physically handling fragile material.

ImageJ is a powerful public domain Java-based image processing package. The nature of open source software allows for the constant update and availability of new plugins and recordable macros designed for specific tasks. ImageJ’s built-in editor and a Java compiler allow for the development of custom acquisition, analysis and processing plugins. In April 2013 I presented a poster at the ICOM Graphics Documents Working Group Interim Meeting in Vienna, outlining the applications of image processing software to archival material . The full poster can be downloaded as a PDF here.

The poster made by Dr. Christina Duffy which showcases the work that can be done with image processing software such as digital image enhancement and watermark extraction.

While several improvements have been made to the functionality of ImageJ since 2013, I hope this poster provides useful information to those less familiar with image processing techniques.

ImageJ was originally designed for the purpose of medical imaging by the National Institutes for Health by Wayne Rasband, but has since found applications in many fields. It can be run on any computer with a Java 5 or later virtual machine, as an online applet or as a downloadable application (Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Mac OSX, Linux, Sharp Zaurus PDA). ImageJ offers features similar to commercially available image processing software packages such as brightness/contrast adjustment, frequency domain filtering, binarisation and particle analysis.

Christina Duffy

25 October 2016

Research Strategy Summit - National Heritage Science Forum

Tolbooth, Stirling - 10 November, 18.00-20.30

The National Heritage Science Forum (NHSF) is holding a Research Strategy Summit in Stirling on 10 November 2016 to discuss priorities for future heritage science research, look at emerging topics of research interest and explore potential for collaboration.

A street in Stirling with buildings on either side, cars lining the road, and a man walking his dog.
Stirling

There will be three key speakers at the summit:

- Professor Ian Simpson (University of Stirling), talking about interdisciplinary and collaborative research
- Dr David Mitchell (Historic Environment Scotland), speaking on technical and scientific research and opportunities for public engagement
- Nancy Bell (trustee of NHSF) speaking about NHSF’s ‘Filling the Gaps’ project to identify research carried out since the publication of the National Heritage Science Strategy, and the opportunities for future research.

The Summit comes at the end of a busy year which has seen us:

- Adopt a policy supporting Open Science and develop a Gold Open Access fund to underpin it
- Promote the sharing of research equipment between members through our Kit-Catalogue
- Host a public meeting on ‘Opening Up Heritage Science Research’ with Wikimedia UK and the Shadow Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy in Westminster, Chi Onwurah MP
- Give evidence to the House of Lords inquiry into the impact of Brexit on UK science
- Contribute to policy discussions with the Westminster government around the formation of the new UKRI (UK Research & Innovation) and the UK Cultural Protection Fund.

Forum members work together to share ideas and innovations, maximise the public benefit from heritage science, and speak with a coherent voice on policy and public issues. We hope you’ll join us on the 10th November both for the Summit and for the drinks reception afterwards.

Please register to attend, by 31 October 2016 using Eventbrite.

NHSF is delighted to be working with Historic Environment Scotland to hold this event.


Alastair McCapra
Chair of Trustees

26 September 2016

Fingerprints & their potential impact in relation to handling library collections

Back in early 2016, Terry Kent, a consultant specialising in forensic fingerprint analysis, contacted British Library Conservation to learn more about how we assess the impact of handling on our collections with reference to our use (or not) of gloves in the reading room. This was pertinent timing for us since we were on the cusp of refilming and updating our videos that provide instructions to library users about handling collection items. We invited Terry to the British Library to discuss the issue with us in more depth as part of our Continuous Improvement Programme.

In June, Terry Kent gave a presentation about the potential effect of fingerprints on paper artefacts at the ICON (Institute of Conservation) Conference ‘Turn and Face the Change’ in Birmingham. Lively debate ensued. It became clear that there is some perception that the British Library has a blanket policy of no gloves - regardless. Not so, and in this blog post we would like to give brief insight, with Terry’s contribution, into how we assess and mitigate risks to collection items to enable access to and use of a vast and varied collection in a working research library (and how this then helps us form a handling policy).

A view of the Humanities reading room, with a large amount of Readers at tables consulting books.
Humanities reading room in the British Library.

 

By way of background:

  • The British Library has 12 reading rooms; 11 at St Pancras, London and 1 in Boston Spa, West Yorkshire.
  • These have 1200 reader desks and accommodate 400,000 reading room visits per year.
  • Reading rooms are divided into general and special collections, and focus on different subject areas (e.g., Humanities, Maps, Rare Books & Music and Science).
  • To request items readers need to register for a reader pass and sign the conditions of use.

Given this level of use the challenge is to balance the need to make items available to users while at the same time protecting them from further degradation and potential damage in order to ensure their longevity. Collection items are assigned different reading categories, based on factors including their age, condition, and value (historical, religious, cultural, etc.) which affects how and when they can be used, for example:

  • Which reading rooms they can be read in.
  • Whether there is a digital copy (or other surrogate) which should be referred to instead.
  • Whether readers need to provide additional information about why they need particular items before they can be issued.
  • Whether or not the items can be copied.
  • Whether readers need to sit at invigilated desks when they use the items or meet other conditions of use in order to use them. 

Where readers are using original items we encourage them to handle items as little as possible and with care as we know that even with careful handling collection items face risks.

The mat with handling instructions rests on a desk in the Reading Room. The desk has a dark green surface and a lamp.
‘Handling instructions’ place mat on a desk in a reading room.

A range of different factors can damage collections and lead to loss - these are summarised in the figure below.

Of these ten categories, any risks presented by fingerprints due to sweat transfer would be covered by ‘Contamination’ (which also includes aggressive volatiles, pollutants and other damaging chemicals). Any potential risk to an item must be considered in light of a number of factors - the likelihood of it occurring, the extent and nature of damage it will cause if it does occur, the degree to which it will limit how the item can be used, and the measures that can be taken to limit or prevent it.

Risks do not exist in isolation, so responses to risks - such as the use, or not, of gloves - must be based on a comprehensive understanding of the nature of an item, its vulnerabilities and the requirements for its use by staff and readers. Furthermore, solutions to any such problems must not exacerbate other risks or introduce new ones.

An poster with icons that represent the 10 agents of deterioration.
Risk factors.

Terry Kent writes,

A widely referenced paper, in the conservation field, and several forensic references, refer to fingerprint deposits consisting of 'over 98% water'. Recent analytical and theoretical studies of latent fingerprints, demonstrate that this figure is substantially in error. The deposit from a single human finger touch, whilst varying widely between individuals, is likely to contain less than 20% water and on average be about four micrograms of a mixture of amino acids, salts, primarily sodium and potassium chloride, fatty acids, squalene and many other trace compounds.

What is less well researched is the effects such deposits may have over time on substrates such as papers and textiles. We know that body soiling of fabrics will lead to yellow-brown staining, and fingerprint deposits on some papers will darken when heated (accelerated ageing using elevated temperatures); although it is unclear whether this will occur at lower temperatures over longer time periods.

There are other potentially negative effects of fingerprint deposits from a conservation standpoint; again not well researched, these include the effects of microbial or bacteriological activity on such deposits. There is also the potential of the deposit to attract and retain dust and other material from the environment.

The protective effect of hand washing, standard practice for many institutions and effective for the removal of transferred dirt, is less effective for the secretions which lead to fingerprints - it has been shown recently to be negated by natural replenishment of secretions in as little as five to ten minutes. So we need to consider the likely impact of these deposits on various substrates.

A Reader sits at one of the green desks and consults and open manuscript while another Reader pulls a book from a bookshelf in the background.
Rare item being used, open access item being handled on shelf.

Conclusion

We are always looking at new evidence to challenge or support our current practices. Clearly fingerprints do have an impact on library and archive materials, although the extent of this is not yet clearly understood. The impact must be considered in light of other risks to the collection items given the context in which we work. Our policy is tailored to the requirements of individual items and the risks they face and the way they can be accessed and consulted. There is no one size fits all. Fragile, rare and significant items are subject to much tighter access and handling controls to minimise risks (including fingerprints) compared with items on open access. A core purpose of the British Library is to allow access to the national collection and our role in conservation is to manage that process as effectively and pragmatically as possible. We hope this blog post generates some thought and debate on the subject of handling and the impact of fingerprints. The collective authors plan to present their thoughts in a longer article in a future ‘ICON News’.

Cordelia Rogerson, Paul Garside, Sarah Hamlyn with thanks to Terry Kent for co-writing this post.

05 September 2016

Growing a thick skin

Camille Thuet, Parchment Intern at the British Library, shares her experiences working at the British Library Centre for Conservation so far this year. Parchment (noun): A stiff, flat, thin material made from the prepared skin of an animal, usually a sheep or goat, and used as a durable writing surface in ancient and medieval times - Oxford dictionary

Camille stands at a desk and starts to unroll a large rolled map.

2 February 2016 - First day

I'm very excited to start my 11 month internship here. The building is impressive and in every corner I feel like something is happening. I am very glad to be the first intern that will focus on a specialised material, in my case: vellum and parchment. The British Library is giving me a great opportunity to fill-in my knowledge and become a specialist. I am expecting to work on a broad selection of items from the collection which will present a range of conservation problems.

3 February 2016 – Meeting the team

Today I've met my two mentors, who will support me with my work: Zoe in the conservation studio and Paul for the science-based research projects. They are both passionate about their work and are keen to learn new things as much as I am. A lively and dynamic atmosphere emanates from the huge conservation studio. About 35 conservators are working there, 35 different personalities from various backgrounds. I feel this internship is going to be fascinating…

9 March 2016 - My first parchment challenge

When used as a book cover parchment needs to be flexible; the joints where cover and spine meet are repeatedly taking tension during handling. When there is material missing or weakness in this particular area, the cover is not protecting the text-block any longer and handling can create damage. The infill material must be flexible, strong, toned to match the original aged hues of the cover, and have a similar surface finish with parchment. Many tests were needed to find a Japanese paper which looks like the perfect answer.

A close-up of Camille holding a conservation pencil in front of the book which is open.  The book rests on a table with its cover now released from the text block.

A close-up of the book showing the cover in the process of being reattached.  The book resting on two foam book supports.
Top left: Using a conservation pencil to release the lace-in. Top right: The cover released and ready for treatment. Bottom left: The cover about to be reattached to the text block. Bottom right: The opening after treatment.

The book spine before treatment--there are areas of loss with much of the spine being gone on the right side.

The spine has been repaired, the losses infilled with new parchment.

The book spine before and after treatment.

18 May 2016 - A big project!

I am thrilled to be working on a book from the 13th century. Its pages are ancient parchment and its cover is a reminder of the volume’s passage through time. Everybody can have access to this seminal text by Cicero online today but particularities of this include the handwritten margin-notes by scholars from various periods in history. The parchment text-block has survived many readers from Italy to England and is heavily damaged: losses, tears, iron gall ink corrosion, and a myriad of previous treatments but to name a few.

This book is holding mysteries: the lower part of the first twenty pages has been cut off for no obvious reason. It is not unusual for an 18th century’s restorator to collect parchment from a book to repair a more valuable parchment document, but 20 pages… really? Could this be an old mould treatment? Or, censorship of Middle-Aged notes or drawings?

A close-up images of a page showing text in red and black, with a decorative C drawing in red and blue. Another close-up showing a series of pages which have been cropped at the bottom.

Left: Detail from a 13th century book. Right: 20 pages mysteriously cropped!

The 18th century binding only allows me to open the book 45° which makes it almost impossible to read, and future handling perilous given its actual condition. One of my tasks is to prepare the fragile book for digitisation so that we can share its mysteries with the world. I have come to the difficult yet essential decision to disband the book and I am supporting the most vulnerable areas before the imaging process by using gelatine remoistenable tissue. The Japanese paper used has been toned with airbrush-sprayed acrylics. Indeed, the result on the image must disrupt the visual appearance as little as possible so as to influence future interpretation as little as possible.

The manuscript sits open on two book supports made of foam.  Camille inserts a scalpel into the spine of the book, starting the disbinding process.

Left: Manuscript with a 45° opening. Right: Disbinding the manuscript.

2 June 2016 – A wall of rolls

A parchment document feels always more relaxed when conserved flat but large documents which can’t fit on shelves would usually be rolled. The British Library has a large collection of scrolls and rolled documents which are in need of some bespoke storage. A tightly rolled skin becomes cockled, distorted and loses its surface coherence which causes severe repercussions on the media. Won’t it be a massive loss if all the gold sheets of an illuminated document are flaking-off? For a roll parchment, the bigger the core, the better! This means items need big cores as support and ingenious storing and boxing systems accordingly. The challenge is to marry this with the constant fight for space under Euston road!

A rack of shelving with various collection items stored in boxes of different shapes, sizes, and colours.

My aims for this project are to assess the collection, prioritising heavily damaged items for conservation treatment and reorganise the collection storage conditions… not too hard then!

26 July 2016 – Half way already!

When I first stepped into the studio I wasn’t a parchment specialist. I am still not quite there, but… I am becoming confident with this complicated material by meeting specialists, attending workshops, conferences and treating a unique collection of parchment objects.

To be continued…

Camille Thuet

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