Collection Care blog

The Ramayana – “Rama’s journey” – is one of India’s oldest stories having first being written some two and a half thousand years ago. It follows the hero Rama from his birth and childhood in Ayodhya to his exile in the forest where his wife Sita is kidnapped by the wicked (and ten-headed!) demon king Ravana. With his valorous brother Lakshmana and helped by an army of monkeys and bears he leads the search for Sita, finally rescuing her from Ravana’s stronghold in Lanka. It is an epic story embodying the Hindu idea of dharma (duty). There are several thousand known surviving manuscripts and many different versions of the story across Asia. The Mewar Ramayana is one of the finest copies of the work, lavishly illustrated with over 450 paintings in large format. Recent digitisation by the British Library in partnership with leading Indian institutions has reunited the long-separated text and it can be viewed online featuring an introduction including links to contextual documents and high resolution images in ‘Turning the Pages’ with descriptive text and audio.

We recently examined two paintings from the Mewar Ramayana using multispectral imaging to investigate the methods and workflow of the artist. Images are captured over fourteen spectral bands from the ultraviolet (UV: 365 nm) to the infrared (IR: 1050 nm) revealing information about underdrawings and techniques that can’t be seen under normal light. The two full page paintings are illustrations from Book 6 (Yuddhakanda, Book of war) of the Mewar Ramayana manuscript.

Book 6 fol. 27r (Add. MS 15297(1), f.27r)

Book 6 fol. 27r depicting the siege of Lanka in colour, ultraviolet, infrared, and blue light with an orange filter. Rama’s army of monkeys takes control of the four gates of the city as the ten-headed Ravana leads the defence after consulting his ministers.

Book 6 fol. 27r: Rama’s army of monkeys and bears hurl stones at their enemies. White pigment, possibly added as a later touch up, is observed under ultraviolet light on the elbows, arms and tails of the attacking monkeys.

Book 6 fol. 27r: Colour, ultraviolet, infrared sequence. In front of the gates to Lanka, a man struggles with a monkey. Under ultraviolet light the rough application of paint is evident on the man's hand where no attempt is made to stay within the lines. In the infrared image, the guidelines used to initially draw the figure (chest, back, elbow) are observed.

Book 6 fol. 27r: An archer fends off the monkey army. Incorporating high levels of detail in these paintings often led to a change in design layout. In the painting the archer is shown to be sitting cross-legged on the cart, but in the infrared image he is standing. The late addition of the cart is evident by the over painting of the wheel in order to indicate its attachment to the main frame of the cart. Other alterations were made such as the size of the soldier's orange foot in the top left, and the painting over of an isolated monkey tail on the horse's body in the bottom left.

Book 6 fol. 142r (Add. MS 15297(1), f.142r)

As the battle escalates Rama’s brother Lakshmana is seriously wounded by a spear. Hanuman the monkeys’ army general is sent to the Himalayas to pick up medicinal herbs.

Book 6 fol. 142r: Colour, ultraviolet, infrared, and blue light with an orange filter sequence of the painting.

Book 6 fol. 142r: Colour, ultraviolet, infrared sequence. Rama’s loyal brother Lakshmana is seriously wounded by a spear. In the ultraviolet image we can see touch-ups on the hands, arms and legs of the two monkeys trying to take the spear off Lakshmana. Under infrared light we can see underdrawings of the far left monkey who was originally positioned higher up.

Book 6 fol. 142r: Colour, ultraviolet, infrared sequence. In the ultraviolet image alterations to Rama’s clothing and the direction of arrows is observed. Under infrared light, the boat at the top of the painting with the three figures is shown to have been altered. It may have started out as a representation of deities in the sky similar to those seen in Mughal Mahabharata (Razmnamah) Or. 12076 f.76r. Other arrow positions have also changed.

Book 6 fol. 142r: In the infrared image, a different position for the ten-headed Ravana is shown to the right, where a single face in profile is revealed adjacent to a vertical line. This is completely obscured by the green pigment which we now see.

Multispectral imaging has proven a wonderful technology in allowing us to study collection items in new and exciting ways. These are just some of the observations made and we hope to share more in the future.

Christina Duffy (Imaging Scientist) and Pasquale Manzo (Curator Sanskrit)

After a glorious week of studying European Bookbinding (1450-1820) at the London Rare Books School with Director of the Ligatus Research Centre, Professor Nicholas Pickwoad,  it quickly became apparent that works of art have been one of the best methods of recording details of techniques used in bookbinding.

The majority of books throughout history are not the heavily decorated and spectacular versions we tend to hear most about, but instead are plain, and fairly ordinary book blocks (which some people still find quite exciting - author included!). For this reason, the techniques are perhaps not as well understood or documented. Luckily the keen eye of the artist has captured precise details when depicting books throughout history, showing sewing structures, stitch types, supports, covers and even how they were stored. In this post we will look at some examples of books depicted in art.

Storage

While we now consider spine outwards as ‘the right way around’ to display books, this was not always the case. In the oil on canvas painting ‘Portrait of Lawyer Francesco Righetti’ by Guercino (1626- 28) we see doctor of laws Fracesco Righetti depicted in his library. His law books are tail-edge outwards showing endband detail with titles written on the volume.

Figure 1:  Guercino’s ‘Portrait of Lawyer Francesco Righetti’.

The engraved ‘Portrait of William Cartwright’ (from ‘Comedies, tragi-comedies, with other poems’) was printed in London for Humphrey Moseley in 1651. Cartwright is shown wearing a collar and gown leaning on an open book. The books on the wall behind him are shelved fore-edge out; a common practice in the 16th and early 17th century. Gilded-edge books stored spine away would gleam off the shelves quite spectacularly. Many medieval books have their title written in several places such as the spine, tail-edge or fore-edge as storage locations changed over time.

Figure 2:  ‘Portrait of William Cartwright’. See the full engraving digitised on the British Museum's Image Gallery.

How binderies operated

Hendrik de Haas’s print ‘De Boekbinder’ (1806) shows a bookbinder's workshop. On the left is the beating stone where gatherings were pounded with a mallet for compaction. Second from the left a man is shown bent over a special shaving knife which is drawn along the text block to trim the pages. The shavings are shown on the floor. In the centre on a stool a binder is sewing the gatherings next to a young boy taking a book to a client. The master of the workshop (as determined by his smart attire and rather dashing wig) burnishes the leather by working and smoothing it. The finisher, working for the aristocracy, made more money than the binder – it is unusual to see him wearing Hessian boots. (With tassels? On a binder? The outrage!)

Figure 3: Bookbinder’s workshop in print by Hendrik de Haas, ‘De Boekbinder’, Dordrect, 1806.

Figure 4: Left: Beating the gatherings. Right: Shaving the book block.

Figure 5: Pressing the books in Bookbinder’s workshop in print by Hendrik de Haas, ‘De Boekbinder’, Dordrect, 1806. 

Leaning against the shelving unit in the far right is a wooden book press where several books are packed tightly. It was possible to apply guilt edges to several books at a time when stored in this way.

Life and social status

Dutch painter Marinus van Reymerswale’s early 16th century oil on canvas painting ‘St Jerome in his Study’ shows St Jerome surrounded by curious objects which represent attributes referring to his life and status. St Jerome was famed for translating the Bible into Latin from Greek and Hebrew. The Vulgate, as his translation was known, became the official Latin version of the Holy Script in the Roman Catholic Church. For this reason he is nearly always depicted around books and in his study.

An expensively bound volume with clasps is shelved behind St Jerome, while on his table are several working copies with various sewing structures and tacketed bindings. A sewn book block is apparent which never had covers, adhesive, or a spine lining. The gatherings are visible with long stitch through separate supports rather than covering the whole spine. There is no adhesive used in long stitch bindings, making them very useful for music manuscripts as the book stays open easily and is very flexible. Long stitch was rare in England but common in the Low Countries as a cheap and quick way to produce almanacs. The variety of books in his study suggest St Jerome was highly-literate with a great depth of knowledge.

Figure 6: Marinus van Reymerswale’s ‘St Jerome in his Study’, 16th century.

Figure 7: Left: Leather bound volume with metal clasps. Right: Visible sewing structures, long stitch and tacketed binding. 

Textblocks could be sold without significant covers, just held together with an "endless cover". Jean Antoinette Poisson (Madame de Pompadour) was the mistress of King Louis XV, as well as a prominent patron of Francois Boucher. In Francois Boucher’s 1756 oil on canvas portrait ‘Madame de Pompadour’ the lady is sumptuously dressed and surrounded by opulent things - apart from the book she holds in her hand. The book has a drawn-on cover – a piece of paper or parchment put around the book-block. It was a cheap and quick way to bind books and there are a lot of French books bound in this way. Madame de Pompadour is displaying a casual relationship with literature, in a sense saying to the viewer ‘Look at me, I read books because they are interesting. If I like it, I will keep it” (and pay more money for the binding!).

Figure 8: Francois Boucher’s ‘Madame de Pompadour’, 1756, oil on canvas portrait.

Figure 9: Francois Boucher’s ‘Madame de Pompadour’, 1756, oil on canvas portrait. The book has a drawn-on cover – a piece of paper or parchment put around the book-block.

Street vendors/book peddlers

'Bealux abc belles heures’ is part of the ‘le Cris de Paris’ genre illustrating Parisian street vendors. It is a woodcut engraving ca 1500 showing a moment in time when prayer books, once restricted to the wealthy aristocracy, became affordable to the bourgeois with the advent of the printing press. Thin, printed copies were sold on the streets. In the vendor’s right hand is a Book of Hours showing a limp cover. Underneath his left hand we can see detail of a leather binding.

Figure 6: Street vendors and book peddlers were often depicted in artworks. Left: Beaulx abc belles heures. Right: Tavolette, e Libri per li putti.
 

Similarly in Annibale Carracci’s 1646 print ‘Tavolette, e Libri per li putti’ a man is depicted selling books from a basket that he carries over his shoulder. The book in his right hand has a cover which follows the spine when open and is bound using long-stitch.

Evidence-based research

While written documentation of binding styles and techniques is not always available, we can gather a lot of information from paintings, prints, engravings and illuminations. Sometimes they can tell us more than current literature on a subject – for example in Lorenzo Lotto’s oil on canvas ‘Portrait of a Young Man in his Study’ (c. 1530), the sitter is more likely to be a merchant than a student as the volume he is perusing is bound with a fore-edge flap – this style was used for account books and book-keeping, not for great works of literature.

Figure 7:  Lorenzo Lotto, ‘Portrait of a Young Man in his Study’ (c. 1530), oil on canvas.

Visual depictions can also be useful in filling in missing parts of our understanding. Folio 291v of the great 9th century illuminated gospel manuscript, the Book of Kells, shows Christ holding a red binding decorated with blind twilling. With the original binding of the manuscript now lost, it is possible that this is what it may have originally looked like.

Figure 8: The Book of Kells, f. 291v; a 9th century gospel manuscript containing the four Gospels in Latin based on the Vulgate text which St Jerome completed in 384AD. It has been fully digitised by Trinity College Dublin.

While bookbinding may be considered the Cinderella of the bibliographical trade (i.e. given little care or attention) it is a fascinating area of research, based on the logic of commerce – techniques and styles were not varied unless they needed to be. For more information on bookbindings see the British Library Database of Bookbindings or the Ligatus website.

Christina Duffy (@DuffyChristina)

This rather ancient looking Qur’an is deceptively young. In fact, it is thought to date back to the early 18th to late 19th century. The style is typical of African manuscripts originating south of the Sahara, and was presented to Lt. Heygate of the British Army, in Nigeria in 1916.

Front

Front Open

 Above: Manuscript in its wrapper. Below: Manuscript sandwiched between its boards with the wrapper open

It has a number of components; starting from the inside, there is an unbound textblock with thick tanned, haired goatskin boards on top and bottom. This in encased in a goatskin wrapper, which then fits into a goatskin satchel. This multi-faceted construction is similar to other 19th-century Qur’ans from West Africa, south of the Sahara.

Satchel

 Satchel lying on inert grey foam, with acid-free tissue padding to retain shape

First page

 Left: Manuscript open at first page with the letter detailing its origin inserted

As exciting as it is to have this fascinating object in the studio, it is responsible for some real headaches as a result of one particular element of its composition. Before an object comes to the studio to be worked on, a conservator will often carry out an assessment of its condition and write a treatment proposal, estimating the time and materials likely to be used. In this case, when my colleagues carried out the assessment, a large proportion of the textblock was ‘blocking’. This simply means pages were sticking together, which meant that most of the book was unreadable.

Strangely, in the period of time between the book arriving in the studio and the point where I took it out of the safe to work on, around a third of the textblock had released itself. This is not something conservators are trained to expect; most things get worse over time, so to see something improve without our intervention was exciting!

The only conclusion we can come to is that the studio’s environment is slightly different to the one the manuscript came from. The difference in the moisture levels in the air is the most likely culprit. 

Pigment detail

 Detail of yellow pigment, orpiment

On closer inspection the ‘sticky element’ was discovered to be yellow dots painted intermittently within the text areas. These were tested by our Conservation Science team, and found to be orpiment (a poisonous, arsenic-based yellow pigment) mixed in a medium of gelatine. It is the gelatine that is fairly hydrophilic, which would have softened in a humid environment and stuck to anything in direct contact with it.

So the obvious solution to this is to change the humidity levels around the volume further, to release all of the sticky dots. If only it were simple! The brown ink you can see in the image is most likely iron gall ink, which has been used as a writing medium since ancient times. Its main characteristic is that once it’s a few years old it turns from purplish-black to brown. Another, less innocuous ageing property, is its potential to ‘burn’ through the paper it sits on. The extent of the damage can depend on the recipe the scribe followed to make the ink; some are more acidic than others. But it can also depend on the level of humidity the ink has encountered in its lifespan. The introduction of medium to high levels of moisture, even in vapour form, can solubilise ions contained in the ink, which can catalyse the oxidative degradation of the cellulose fibres of the paper. This leads to weakened paper and potentially a severely damaged collection item.

Text

 Detail of one of the illustrations amongst the text

So keeping it dry is the best option for the ink, but pulling apart the pages without moisture could lead to skinning off the top layer of fibres, or even tearing paper.

We’re still deciding what to do about this sticky dilemma, but as ever with conservation decisions, we will have to balance our need to enable access by our readers to collection items with the wellbeing of individual items. Never a dull moment!

Jo Blackburn

The Lindisfarne Gospels is one of the most magnificent manuscripts of the early Middle Ages. It was written and decorated at the end of the 7th century by a monk named Eadfrith who would go on to become Bishop of Lindisfarne and serve from 698 until his death in 721. An Old English gloss between the lines translates the Latin text of the Gospel and is the earliest surviving example of the Gospel text in any form of the English language. This translation was a late (mid-10th century) addition by Aldred, Provost of Chester-le-Street.

As one of the Treasures of the British Library the Lindisfarne Gospels undergoes strict condition assessments to ensure it is kept at ideal environmental conditions. Part of this assessment involves using microscopy to take a detailed look at the pigment behaviour. We posted some images in a previous post: Under the microscope with the Lindisfarne Gospels, and here we share some of the exceptional exuberance found on folio 3r.

Folio 3r

 Folio 3r of the Lindisfarne Gospels, Cotton MS Nero D IV. Examine in full detail here

The abstracted decoration found throughout the Lindisfarne Gospels is a spectacular example of Anglo-Saxon art. There are five major decorated openings in the manuscript, the first of which is found on ff. 2v – 3 and introduces the letter which St Jerome addressed to Pope Damasus. It was Pope Damasus who requested a revision of the Latin Bible text during the late 4th century. Folio 2v consists of an elaborate cross-carpet page and faces Jerome’s letter to Damasus in Latin with the opening Novum opus (New work). The intricate detail on this page has been interpreted as an act of personal spirituality and devotion. A few examples are shown below. Enjoy!

Top of folio 3r

Top of folio 3r

Folio 3r letter 50x

Folio 3r 150x

Folio 3r detail 50x

 Top: Upper section of folio 3r. Centre: Crackled pigment of lettering reading incipit prologus at 50x and 150x magnification. Bottom: Celtic-influenced spiral motif at 50x magnification

Centre of folio 3r

Tiny drops of red lead are also observed in early Irish manuscripts which heavily influenced the Lindisfarne Gospels. The Germanic zoomorphic style is evident with interlacing animal and bird patterns.

Centre of folio 3r

Folio 3r 20x

Folio 3r pigment 50x

Folio 3r red lead 20x

  Top: Central section of folio 3r from the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts with creature detail at 20x and 50x magnification. Bottom: Drops of red lead in a geometric pattern at 20x magnification

Bottom of folio 3r

Decorated initials exhibit yellow pigment (orpiment) bordered with drops of red lead. Craquelure is a network of tiny cracks caused by pigment shrinking due to age. When the disruption consists of perpendicular lines it is referred to as crackling.

Bottom of folio 3r

Folio 3r 30x

Folio 3r 100x

Folio 3r pigment loss 20x

Folio 3r 50x

 Top: Lower section of folio 3r. Detail of decorated initals at 30x and 100x magnification. Bottom: evidence of loss of green pigment (verdigris or vergaut) from a decorated initial at 20x and 50x magnification. Text from the reverse (f. 3v) is shown through the parchment

For more details on the pigments used in the Lindisfarne Gospels see our previous post. The entire manuscript is digitised and available online here.

Christina Duffy (Twitter: @DuffyChristina)

2014 marks the hundredth anniversary of another important event: the first use of ultra-violet radiation for the examination of manuscripts, and particularly the deciphering of palimpsests. Scholars are frequently challenged by manuscripts which have faded to the point of illegibility, or which have been deliberately erased, or, most challenging of all, which have been erased and then written over. The Archimedes Palimpsest is one of the most famous recent examples, but palimpsests have long been exercising the minds and eyes of scholars, certainly since the middle of the 19th century.

The Archimedes Palimpsest is a medieval parchment manuscript, now consisting of 174 parchment folios

Early attempts to make unreadable manuscripts readable, dating from the 18th century, used chemicals that would react with traces of iron in the fibres of the parchment which remained after the iron gall ink used to write the text had faded or had been removed. The trouble with these techniques was that, while they might initially be successful, they ended up staining the parchment blue or brown, leaving it even less legible than it was to begin with.

Photographic techniques had also been used to enhance faded writing almost since the invention of photography in 1839. In 1894 a process was developed for revealing palimpsests which used two plates: an over-exposed plate which would show both the upper and the lower writing, and an under-exposed plate that would show only the upper writing. A positive made from the under-exposed plate could then be used as a mask to permit an image of the lower writing only to be made. While this process was successful, it was time consuming because two plates had to be made, and their registration had to be very accurate in order for the upper writing to be cancelled out as nearly as possible.

In 1914, Father Raphael Kögel OSB published a paper in the Reports of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in which he explained how ultra-violet radiation from an electric arc or a mercury vapour lamp could be used to excite fluorescence in parchment, but the fluorescence would be blocked (quenched) where the ink had originally been. A photograph of the visible fluorescence could then be taken, using filters to exclude the invisible ultra-violet which would obscure the image. This paper was in distinguished company: other authors in the same volume included Einstein and Planck. UV fluorescence photography should be distinguished from UV photography: in UV photography an image is made of the invisible ultra-violet radiation reflected from the manuscript; in UV fluorescence photography an image is made of the visible light emitted by the manuscript where it has been excited by ultra-violet radiation.

Father Kögel was born Gustav Alfred Kögel in Munich in 1882; he took the religious name of Brother Raphael when he joined the Benedictine abbey at Beuron, in the south of Baden-Württemburg, in 1898. He was sent to Brazil as a missionary, but fell ill and had to return to Germany. He then entered Wessobrunn Abbey, south-west of Munich, and was ordained priest in 1906. He later studied chemistry in Vienna, and in 1912 began working with the Palimpsest Institute at Beuron, which had been set up by Father Alban Dold specifically to study the Abbey’s rich collection of Carolingian and other medieval manuscripts. Here he developed his ultra-violet imaging techniques. He had previously experimented with coloured filters and photographic plates with different spectral sensitivities to improve the visibility of the under-writing, and also with chemical methods for enhancing faded writing, even though these had been condemned at the St Gallen conference on the conservation of manuscripts more than ten years before (“… this barbaric method …”).

Kögel became a professor at the University of Karlsruhe in 1921, and set up an Institute for Technical Photochemistry and Scientific Photography. Whether because of a crisis of faith, perhaps caused by the war, or simply because he found the academic life more congenial, Kögel left the church in 1922 and married in 1924. Kögel made important advances in using UV examination in forensics, and was also a pioneer in X-ray fluorescence analysis. His greatest commercial success was the development of the Ozalid diazo photocopying process, which was widely used until the 1970s. He died in 1945.

Because of the outbreak of war, Kögel’s publication does not seem to have been noticed in English-speaking countries until the early 1920s. For example, the first edition of C. A. Mitchell’s Documents and their scientific examination (1922) does not mention the use of UV, while the second edition (1935) does. Awareness of the technique grew in the 1920s and its use was well established by the 1930s. R.B. Haselden’s Scientific aids to the study of manuscripts, published by the Bibliographical Society in 1935, gives several examples of palimpsests that had been revealed by UV photography. He warns that users should wear protective goggles and protect their skin against excessive exposure to UV, and also that “prolonged exposure to UV light is injurious to a manuscript”. Unfortunately this message was not taken on board by everybody, and I have seen manuscripts where features that were seen and photographed under UV in the 1930s are no longer visible today. Haselden advises against the use of chemical reagents to restore faded ink, but goes on to recommend the use of a solution of anthracene in alcohol (“perfectly harmless”) to enhance faded writing – the solution penetrates the paper or parchment more rapidly where there is no ink, so the writing stands out against the vivid fluorescence of the anthracene under UV. Other writers recommend the use of a mixture of Vaseline and mineral oil for the same purpose, but it hardly need be said that these techniques are not recommended.

For best results, UV examination needs to be carried out in a darkened room, using a good-quality UV lamp and while wearing UV protection glasses. It has not always been thus. My wife remembers that when she was researching in a very well-known library in the 1970s, there was only one electric socket into which a UV lamp could be plugged, and this was underneath a table. She was therefore obliged to lie underneath the table with her manuscript and the UV lamp, sometimes with a member of the library staff to invigilate.

Folio 54 verso without UV illumination

Folio 54 verso with UV illumination

 The Electronic Beowulf project experimented with ultraviolet, first scanning fol. 54 verso under an ultraviolet lamp with a Kontron digital camera

UV examination is now being superseded in libraries such as the British Library which own multi-spectral imaging equipment. This gives better results as it can be much more selective than any process using filters to choose the wavelengths of fluorescence that are photographed. It uses much shorter exposures and therefore minimises the risks of exposing manuscripts to intense ultra-violet radiation. (See Christina Duffy’s blog post ‘Revealing hidden information using multispectral imaging’)

Dr Barry Knight, Head of Conservation Science & Research

References

Haselden, R.B., Scientific aids to the study of manuscripts, Supplement X to Transactions of the Bibliographical Society, 1935.

“Kögel, Gustav”, in Neue Deutsche Biographie 12 (1980) 295-6. www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz43637.html

Kögel, P.R., Die Palimpsestphotographie, Sitzungsberichte der königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1914, 974-978

Mitchell, C.A., Documents and their scientific examination. London: C. Griffin & Co. (1922).

With St Patrick’s Day upon us it seemed fitting to take a closer look at some green pigments used throughout art and history.

Green earth pigment

Green earth pigment (or Terre Verte, Stone Green, Verdetta, Celadonite) is composed of clay coloured by iron oxide, magnesium, aluminium silicate, or potassium. The clay was crushed, washed and powdered. It was used since the time of the Roman Empire until the end of the Renaissance and was highly popular in medieval painting, especially for underpainting of fleshtones. An example is shown below in The Annunciation (1398-1311) by Duccio di Buoninsegna. Here faces were first painted with the green pigment and then overlaid with pink to give a realistic hue. In this case the pink has faded giving the impression of green skin. Green earth pigment was sourced from regions in the south of France and in Italy around Verona.

The Annunciation by Duccio di Buoninsegna: The Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin that she will be visited by the Holy Spirit and bear the son of God. Held at the National Gallery

Malachite

Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral (copper(II) carbonate), and is green due to the presence of copper. It was used as a mineral pigment in green paints from antiquity until about 1800. It is fairly lightfast and very sensitive to acids meaning its colour can vary.

Brazilian malachite specimen highlighted by spheroidal rosettes of azurite (source) 

Artist Pietro Perugino used finely ground malachite in his 1503 painting Nativity to colour the bright green garments of the worshippers. 

Green pigment malachite is found in Nativity by Pietro Perugino (1448-1523)

Malachite has also been found in the King George III copy of the Gutenberg Bible, held at the British Library using Raman Analysis.

Gutenberg's (42-line) Bible: Opening of Proverbs. Johann Gutenberg, Johann Fust and Peter Schoeffer. Mainz, 1455 British Library C.9.d.4, f.1. Copyright the British Library Board

Cobalt green

Cobalt green is a moderately bright and translucent, but highly permanent, green pigment. The compound is formed by heating a mixture of cobalt (II) oxide and zinc oxide and was discovered in 1780 by Swedish chemist Sven Rinman. It can be mixed with other pigments and is also known as Rinman’s Green or Zinc Green.

Cobalt green (source)

Cobalt green was never very popular due to its high cost and weak tinting power. Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered that cobalt green possesses special magnetic properties and is now being used in the field of spintronics. Spintronic devices are used for computer storage and memory. Cobalt green has found success with spintronic devices as it can be used at room temperature while other materials must be super cooled.

Verdigris

This is a basic copper acetate and is formed when copper is exposed to acetic acid vapours.  The natural patina that forms on copper roofs is often called verdigris, but in non-polluted areas it is in fact malachite (basic copper carbonate).  In polluted areas, though, it is antlerite, a basic copper sulphate.  They are all similar colours so are easily confused, but verdigris in particular causes problems in manuscripts – it goes brown and can burn through the parchment and cause staining on adjacent folios. Verdigris has been used on murals in Pompeii, throughout the Renaissance and on medieval manuscripts including the Lindisfarne Gospels and Book of Kells.

Verdigris (source) 

Verdigris was found to be unstable and unwilling to mix easily with other pigments. In fact the great Leonardo da Vinci warned against its use in his treatise on painting and was leter replaced by the more stable Chrome Green.

Verdigris has been used to decorate the initials on f44v of the Lindisfarne Gospels shown here at 50x magnification (see here for more microscopy images of the Lindisfarne Gospels)

Viridian

Viridian was patented in 1859 and is a hydrated chromium(III) oxide Cr2O3 pigment described as a dark shade of spring green.

Viridian (source)

Viridian was used by Vincent van Gogh in many of his works including Café Terrace at Night, 1888 (Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo) and the Night Café (Yale University Art Gallery). Van Gogh to his brother Theo in 1888: "I sought to express with red and green the terrible human passions. The hall is blood red and pale yellow, with a green billiard table in the center, and four lamps of lemon yellow, with rays of orange and green. Everywhere it is a battle and antithesis of the most different reds and greens.” [1]

 Artist Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) The Night Café, 1888. Oil on canvas currently at Yale University Art Gallery

In many cases a combination of pigments was used to create green colour. Recent analysis of the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight manuscript have shown that indigo (blue) over orpiment (yellow) was used in some areas, while a single mineral green was used in others.

 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Cotton Nero Ax folio 129v

Christina Duffy

Reference: [1] Vincent van Gogh, Corréspondénce general, number 533, cited by John Gage, Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction

Flavio Marzo, Conservation Studio Manager for the British Library/Qatar Foundation digitisation project reports on the conservation of three manuscripts from the India Office Records.

A new conservation studio has been set up at the British Library to support a digitisation project as part of the British Library Qatar Foundation Partnership programme. The Library’s Arabic material has been scoped for the creation of a new web portal where, in a year’s time, around 500,000 images will be made available online to the general public.

Front left board of MS IOR/R/15/1/105

The majority of material identified for digitisation comes from the India Office records. Many of the files that form this collection are related to the Gulf area, and so are deeply connected to the history of Qatar and its neighboring countries.

The India Office Records are a very large collection of documents relating to the administration of India from 1600 – 1947, the period which spans Company and British rule in India. The archive is held here at the Library and is publicly accessible.

As the formal document of British presence in the Persian Gulf, IOR/R/15 is a fascinating series within the India Office Records, giving a unique insight into a colonial encounter between European imperial power and tribal shaikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula coast.

One of the most striking features of these Records is the variety and mixture of formats and features related to different manufacturing techniques. These range from bound printed or manuscript volumes to folders containing loose leaves, folded maps, photographs, miscellaneous textile offcuts and samples of products sold in the colonies during the English occupation. In many cases these records were produced by a local workforce in the countries where the IOR officers were stationed.

This mixture of local craftsmanship and foreign taste (and in some cases even foreign materials) has produced very interesting objects which carry a fusion of western appearance and “Islamic” manufacturing techniques.

In this post I want to present some features of three bound manuscripts from the India Office Records: IOR/R/15/1/105, IOR/R/15/103 and IOR/15/1/161.

Front left board of MS IOR/R/15/1/161

Front left board of MS IOR/R/15/1/103

These manuscripts were produced in the middle of the 19th century and contain collections of letters sent from the British Political Residency in the Persian Gulf stationed at Bushire (or Bushehr) on the south western coast of Iran.

Many of the features of these volumes are traditionally considered to be Western. They were all bound in full leather and decorated with similar finishing tools without the use of gold (blind tooled decoration).

Detail of the tool used to decorate the cover of two of the manuscripts

Detail of the tool used to decorate the cover of two of the manuscripts

They are written in English on western handmade paper. The countermark in the image below indicates that the paper was produced in 1843 in Stowford Mill, which continues to make paper to this day.

Page from one of the volumes, photographed in transmitted light to reveal the countermark

Other aspects of these books have been produced using ‘Islamic’ style binding techniques. For example, the textblock sections are secured with ‘unsupported sewing’. The Western binding technique of using a material (vellum or cord) to sew around, attaching the sections to it using the thread, is absent here meaning that it is only the thread itself securing the sections together.

Another example is the execution of the endbands that you see in the images below. These are typical of Islamic bindings as commonly recognized in the field of the history book by the way they are sewn and by the final pattern and appearance.

Islamic style endband

Islamic style endband

It is clear from this mixing of binding influences that these volumes were not produced in a Western bindery! It is likely that the materials were provided by the India Office, along with specific requests regarding the appearance, which tie in with traditional Western tastes. The rest was down to the knowledge and expertise of the local binders, and what an exciting interesting fusion of styles it has resulted in!

The writing close to the gutter of the book can make it difficult for digitisation.

In these specific cases, we re-housed the books in custom made archival boxes and repaired enough of the damaged paper and boards to stabilise it for future handling.

They will soon be fully digitized and available online on the Qatar National Library web site. The process of digitisation gives conservators the opportunity to assess large numbers of items in a short period of time, enabling them to more fully understand the collection. In this case, it allowed me to appreciate the fusion of binding styles that make these items so interesting. Their content will be made available and their peculiar and unique features will be preserved.

The final product!

Flavio Marzo

The colour red has long been associated with seduction, sexuality and love. It is the colour we use to symbolise the heart, and the colour most in our minds on Valentine's week. Take a moment out from the important work of colouring in your Valentine's cards with red crayons to appreciate the colour itself. Forget about wooing with poems - what could be more romantic than sharing some facts about the colour red?

Figure 1: February 14th: The apocalypse is coming. Surprise your loved ones with a beautiful bunch of hand-picked flames. Additional MS 35166 f. 8v.

Pigments and dyes are colourants which have been used throughout history on wall murals, ceilings, paintings, illuminated manuscripts and textile materials. The difference between pigments and dyes is that pigments are insoluble (resulting in a suspension), while a dye is either itself a liquid, or is soluble (resulting in a solution). 

Red ochre

The colour of red ochre comes from the mineral hematite, or iron ore. Red ochre has been found in prehistoric cave paintings and is believed to be the first pigment used by man.

Figure 2: Red ochre used on a painting of a bison in the cave of Altamira, Spain, dating between 15,000 and 16,500 BC.

Vermilion

The colour of vermilion comes from the mineral cinnabar which is the ore of mercury. It was used in Roman times and sourced from mines in Almadén in Spain. Due to the highly toxic nature of mercury, many of the miners (who were usually prisoners or slaves) died from poisoning. Vermilion pigment has been found on wall murals in Pompeii and on Chinese lacquerware dating to the beginning of the Song Dynasty.

Figure 3: Vermilion pigment made from cinnabar.

Madder red

Madder red comes from the roots of Rubia tinctorum, a yellow greenish flower. This dye was the most common red dye used until the nineteenth century. The first synthetic red dye, called alizarin, was created by German chemists in 1868 to duplicate the red colour of the madder plant.

Figure 4: The relative cheap production and long-lasting nature of Alizarin meant dyes from the madder plant significantly declined in production.

Red lead

Red lead, or minium, (chemically known as lead tetroxide) has been used since the ancient Greeks. It was prepared by the Romans by roasting lead white pigment. Its use was common and is observed on some illuminated manuscripts at the British Library.

Figure 5: Red lead is found on initials in some gospel manuscripts to heighten the significance of the text. Image attribution: BXXXD at the German language Wikipedia.

Lake pigments

Lake pigments are pigments manufactured from a dye by precipitating the soluble dye with an inert binder, usually a metallic salt. Red lac (red lake, crimson lake, carmine lake) is a lake pigment used widely in Renaissance and Baroque art. A red sinuous substance secreted by scale insects, called gum lac, was used to make red lac. Carmine lake is made from crushed cochineal insects. This anthropod feeds on the sap of live oak trees and is native to Mexico and South America. Red lake pigments were translucent, and so thin layers had to be built up on paintings. Due to their organic dye composition, lake pigments become unstable and faded when exposed to sunlight.

Figure 6: Red lac used by artist Titian, oil on canvas 1540-1545: The Vendramin Family Venerating a Relic of the True Cross.

Rubrication

We see many examples of the colour red in manuscripts at the British Library. During the times of medieval manuscript production scribes known as rubricators (from the Latin rubric “to colour red”) were responsible for enhancing manuscripts already laid out and written by another scribe. Rubricators would add titles, chapter headings or instructions not strictly part of the text, but as an aid to separate out components. These additions were known as rubics which can also refer to the red ink or pigment used. Notes in the margins are often seen on manuscripts instructing rubricators where to add the red text.

Figure 7: Rubrication in BL Harley MS 2367, f. 70v.

Figure 8: Rubrication in BL Harley MS 2893, f. 93v.

There will undoubtedly be many amateur rubricators in action this week, so take some inspiration from the professionals by perusing the Digitised Manuscripts website.

Christina Duffy (@DuffyChristina)

Did you know that ownership stamps are applied to items accepted into our collections?

Ownership marking is the application of the official British Library ownership stamp. The ownership stamp is used for security purposes and in tracing the provenance of the collections. Examination of the book itself is quite often the best place to start when trying to establish the history of an antiquarian book, and library stamps (acquisition stamps and book stamps) might indicate how and when it was acquired. Ownership of an item was routinely shown by the British Museum, and subsequently the British Library, by using inked stamps. These stamps give a fairly precise date of receipt for the volume leading to entries in acquisitions registers or invoices. A series of stamps was compiled by René Payne in 2007 from which many of the examples in this post have been taken.

Our Library stamps are generally divided into four types according to when they were in use ranging from 1753 up to the present day. 

TYPE 1: 1753–1836

From 1753 to around 1836 stamps containing the words MVSEVM BRITANNICVM or MUSEUM BRITANNICUM were in use. The shape and arrangement of the stamp varied over the years and sometimes contained the initials of the previous owner.

A library stamp specially cut to include the initials of the previous owner, Revd C.M. Cacherode.

Stamps were often placed near areas of interest such as this inscription on IB 49437

TYPE 2: 1837–1929

Type 2 stamps covered the period 1837-1929 and were oval in shape. They contained the royal arms flanked by a lion and unicorn beside the words BRITISH MUSEUM. Between 1837 and 1849 stamps were annotated with a pencil to indicate the exact date of entry in the acquisitions records. They occur in the shape of a diamond giving the date of acquisition and a reference line in the Acquisitions Register. In the example shown below from the Help for Researchers webpage, moving clockwise from the left the numbers represent  the month of acquisition (10 = October), the year of acquisition (44 = 1844), the day of acquisition (18 = 18th), and the entry line in the Acquisitions Register for that day (line 144).

Annotated library stamp in volume at shelfmark 1462.h.4 [Vitterhets Arbeten by G.F. Creutz and G.F. Gyllenborg (1812)]. 

Oval stamp issued on 1 September 1905

As seen in the journal The Lancet on 20 February 1915.

British Museum stamp dating 25 October 1920 showing a variation of the crown in an oval

 Figure 4: Oval stamps containing the royal arms flanked by a lion and unicorn with the words BRITISH MUSEUM; used 1837-1929. An abbreviated date of acquisition may be added, either with another inked stamp or in pencil. Note the variation in design. After 1929, the stamp was changed to Figure 5 (left)

TYPE 3: 1929–1973

Type 3 stamps were used from 1929 to 1973. They consist of round stamps containing the royal arms but no lion or unicorn, and the words BRITISH MUSEUM. Earlier stamps included an abbreviated date of acquisition e.g. in Figure 5 (left) the date is 15 February 1944.

Round British Museum stamp with abbreviated date of 15 February 1944.

British Museum hand stamp used in small books and delicate or rare items

British Museum stamp below an illumination on f.46v of Add MS 36928.

British Museum stamp below writing on Cotton Tiberius B8

TYPE 4: 1973–present day

Type 4 stamps reflect the time when items were stamped with the words BRITISH LIBRARY rather than BRITISH MUSEUM - a key turning point in the History of the British Library. The British Library Act was passed by Parliament in 1972 which brought the Library into operation from 1 July 1973.

India Office stamp dated 3 August 1955.

Document Supply Centre's official publication stamp dated 18 June 1980. It has been suggested that it differs from the round stamp because of where the item was received i.e. received in Yorkshire rather than London

The words BRITISH MUSEUM were replaced with BRITISH LIBRARY, but retained a similar style to earlier stamps

These round stamps have been applied to early printed books acquired since 1973.

 Figure 9: Left: Hand stamp for a delicate or rare item. Centre: Crown hand stamp for Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections material. Right: Hand stamp for antiquarian material

 Figure 10: Left: hand stamp for a delicate or rare item. Centre: Hand stamp for manuscripts. Right: India Office hand stamp for small 'claim material' items. Treated as BL collection

The stamp in Figure 11 shows the initials OIOC (Oriental and India Office Collections) which now reside within the Library's Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections.

 Figure 11: Left: Oval hand stamp for manuscripts with the words BRITISH LIBRARY. Centre: India Office hand stamp for non-small 'claim material' items. These items were treated as part of the British Library collection. Right: Library stamp from previous Oriental and India Office Collections. Use of this stamp ceased on 1 September 2005

Significance of the ink colour

Different colour ink was used for library stamps depending on the purpose. All inks have been tested to ensure they comply with conservation standards.

• Blue ink represents legal copyright deposit material of British, Irish or colonial origin including material from the Old Royal Library 
• Red ink typically indicates a purchased item, but a square red stamp may indicate that a book was donated as part of the Edwards Bequest 
• Black ink was used on a wide range of early acquisitions, including books from the library of Sir Hans Sloane; on purchases made in 1781–1798 and 1804-1813; and on copyright deposit materials received 1813–1816. It was re-introduced for much of the 20th century to indicate materials acquired through international exchange. Black ink was discontinued on 1 September 2005
• Green ink represents a donation made since 1944, or an exchange item
• Yellow/orange ink represents donations made between 1768–1944 
• Brown ink represents a donation made before 1768

While library stamps are a useful aid in determining the history of a collection item, it has been noted that many items were stamped much later than their acquisition date and mistakes are known to have occurred. Library stamps should provide just one piece of a greater body of evidence for determining both the circumstance and date of acquisition. Clues may also be found on bindings, bookplates or inscriptions. 

Ownership marking is carried out at St Pancras and Boston Spa in secure areas with restricted access. Our colleagues in the Operations Division are responsible for stamping any new material that comes into the library. A new system is being introduced very soon which we will cover in a future post. Thanks to Graeme Bentley, Goods Inward/Finishing Team Manager, for input on this topic.

Christina Duffy (@DuffyChristina)

Imaging Scientist

Hamlet (Act V, Scene I), William Shakespeare

Parchment and vellum

Parchment is an animal pelt, most often sheep, calf, or goatskin, which has been unhaired by liming or enzymatic action and then stretched on a frame while wet. This stretching and drying under tension causes the collagen fibres in the dermal layer to be realigned resulting in a thin, opaque membrane. Most commonly used as a writing substrate, parchment is also used as a covering for bookbindings and to make drumheads, among other things.

Parchment maker at work. Woodblock print by Jost Amman, from Das Ständebuch (1568).

Named for the ancient city of Pergamum, where the manufacturing technique is believed to have been developed around the 2nd century BCE, parchment was the principal substrate for writing in Europe throughout the Middle Ages until it was gradually superseded by paper, which could be manufactured more cheaply and in greater quantity. Parchment has persisted, however, remaining popular for official documents and presentation copies. Indeed, you might be surprised to learn that UK Acts of Parliament are still printed on parchment today and it was even used for the marriage certificate of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!

What of vellum?

Though the terms parchment and vellum are often used interchangeably, strictly speaking vellum is parchment made from calfskin (from the Old French vélin, meaning calf). Vellum can also be used to describe parchment of superior fineness or quality.

Some of the most important Treasures of the British Library, including the Lindisfarne Gospels (left) and the Magna Carta (right) are written on parchment and vellum.

The Lyte Pedigree

The Lyte Pedigree, (BL Additional MS 48343) c.1605, is a manuscript copy of the royal genealogy in iron gall ink on parchment. It is the work of the genealogist Thomas Lyte, who also wrote Britianes Monarchie, a manuscript tracing the ancestry of King James I (BL Add. MS 59741). The Pedigree is one of two copies of the royal genealogy prepared by Lyte for James I. The other, an illuminated copy on paper presented to the King in 1610, is no longer extant.

Add. MS 48343. Detail depicting James I enthroned beneath a canopy, with orb and sceptre, and wearing crown and garter, followed by a long dedication.

Originally a rectangle comprising nine parchment skins, the genealogy is now a cruciform shape comprising five skins, with the four corner skins having been lost. The genealogy is over two metres wide and almost two meters high.

Conservation treatment

The Lyte Pedigree first came to the Centre for Conservation in spring 2012 in order to be prepared for loan to the British Museum for the exhibition, Shakespeare: Staging the World, which opened in July 2012.

For storage the two side panels had been folded in and the document had been rolled. This, combined with heavy parchment repairs over the joints on the verso, had resulted in extensive creasing and cockling and meant that the genealogy would not lie flat, as it was intended to be displayed in the exhibition.

The genealogy when it first arrived in the Centre for Conservation. Notice the extensive cockling, sharp creases and how it will not lie flat without being weighted.

The genealogy was opened in the studio and the heavy joining strips on the verso were removed, as were some old silk gauze repairs on the recto. A number of temporary repairs were carried out using Japanese paper and wheatstarch paste and the genealogy was left open to relax under light weight for several weeks. It was recommended that a more appropriate storage solution be found once the genealogy returned from the exhibition.

One of the heavy parchment strips over the joints on the verso, already beginning to detach (left) and the genealogy following their removal (right).

Since the genealogy is comprised of five individual animal skins, each has unique tensions and stresses. The use of newer parchment for repairs had exacerbated the tension resulting in extensive cockling and creasing. This, combined with the rolled storage, meant that the genealogy was difficult to handle and vulnerable to damage during consultation.

Following consultation with the curators, it was agreed that upon return from the exhibition, the five skins would be separated and individually mounted. Not only would this be more conducive to the long term preservation of the genealogy, it would also allow for easier handling and facilitate consultation. It was proposed that the skins be flush-mounted, which would enable the genealogy to be exhibited as a whole by placing each skin adjacent to the next in its original position.

Parchment is a very hygroscopic material as it can easily absorb moisture from the air and is very vulnerable to rapid changes in humidity. Aged parchment is particularly vulnerable due to the breakdown of the collagen fibres over time. Too much moisture can result in gelatinisation and complete loss of structural integrity. As a result any conservation treatment on parchment must minimise the use of water. Humidification is carried out rarely and always in a minimal, slow, and controlled manner.

Once the five skins had been separated from each other they were first allowed to acclimatise to the atmosphere in the studio under a light weight for a number of weeks.

After careful deliberation, it was decided that in this case, due to the severity of the cockling and creasing, gentle humidification would be necessary. A combination of techniques was used. First, two of the most cockled skins were humidified in a cedarwood chamber, raising the humidity to 70% RH for several hours. The cedarwood chamber was lined with damp capillary matting, followed by a layer of Gore-Tex, which allows water vapour (but not liquid water) to pass through it. The document was then placed in the chamber on a sheet of Bondina, a humidity meter is placed inside, and a Perspex sheet placed on top, sealing the chamber. Second, local humidification using a cold ultrasonic mist was applied to sharp creases in the two side panels where they had been folded in for rolling. After humidification the parchment was dried under tension using magnets.

Humidification of parchment using a cedarwood chamber.

Creased areas before (left) and after treatment (right) with ultrasonic mist humidification and drying using magnets.

As the parchment gradually relaxed and the cockling reduced, some of the remaining old parchment repairs began to lift and cause greater tension. It was decided that they should be removed and new repairs were made using remoistenable Japanese paper. Losses were built up using layers of paper, toned to blend with the parchment. Remoistenable tissue has been pre-coated with a thin layer of adhesive (in this case Isinglass) which can then be reactivated using a minimal amount of moisture. It is used for repairs when it is necessary to keep moisture to a minimum, such as in parchment conservation and when repairing documents with iron gall ink or fugitive media.

Lifting old parchment repairs (left, showing verso) were replaced with new repairs using remoistenable Japanese paper (right, showing recto).

Following conservation, the individual parchment skins were mounted on corrugated board using tabs of Japanese paper. Narrow tabs (10mm) were spaced at 30mm intervals to ensure even tension across the skin. The weight of the paper was carefully chosen to be weaker than the parchment so that in the event the parchment were to move, the paper tabs (and not the parchment) would tear.

Tabs of Japanese paper were adhered to the verso, overlapping the edge by 2-3mm, using dry wheatstarch paste (left). These were wrapped around archival corrugated board (cut to the size of the parchment) and pasted on the verso of the board (right).

Finally, each mounted skin was placed in a Plastazote recess to compensate for the natural undulations in the parchment and prevent abrasion of the surface, then housed in a phase box. Plastazote is a chemically inert polyethylene foam commonly used for conservation enclosures.

The Lyte Pedigree after conservation treatment and rehousing, shown in its original cruciform arrangement.

Further reading:

Clarkson, C. (1992) Rediscovering Parchment: The Nature of the Beast. In: The Paper Conservator, Vol. 16 (1), pp. 5-26.

Reed, R. (1972) Ancient Skins, Parchments and Leathers. London: Seminar Press.

Mariluz Beltran de Guevara
Conservation Team Leader / Specialist in the conservation of vellum and parchment.