Paper Conservation: Decisions & Compromises

width of the spine. We thought this to be acceptable
as the original vellum lining was still intact
and was very stable in those areas.
For further stabilization the first section as
well as the spine lining was partially sewn to the
first sections. There was insufficient space to do
the sewing in the usual manner.
Workflow of partial sewing (Fig. 2):
Due to the strength of the parchment the holes
had to be pre-stitched with a pricking awl. To
pull the thread through the section a threading
aid (dental floss) was used. As the floss was too
flexible despite the pre-stitching, in most cases it
still could not be pulled through the hole in the
section fold. Therefore a thick injection needle
was used as a temporary inflexible lead to pull
the thread through. The injection needle was
manoevered through the section and while the
floss was held in place, the needle was removed.
Now the thread could be threaded into the floss
and be pulled through the leaves.
After partial sewing the loose linen folds were attached
with animal glue to the inner side of the
upper board. The paste-down was glued with rice
starch paste into its original position.
Fig. 4: Vivak templates for supporting the spine leather and
linen glued together to press it while drying
The next step was to stabilize and consolidate
the broken leather at the spine. It would not
have been possible to close the tear along the
whole length, and as there was no way to press
it, the old and new leather could not have been
glued together firmly. Therefore the tear was just
closed in between each cord under the original
leather.
The material used was linen lined with Japanese
paper. It was sprayed with Aero Color 3 dye
and was cut into strips which match the distance
of the cords. It was worked similarly as a “half”
paper tube (Fig. 3), as it was open on one side covering
only the half width of the spine.
First of all one side of the linen fold was glued
to the spine of the textblock with animal glue
and wheat starch.
The other half of the linen fold was glued to
the spine leather. For drying it was supported by
two boards of Vivak 4 . These had been cut to two
different templates to allow each to be pulled
beneath the leather of the spine; the smaller one
could even be pulled through the narrow slit
above a double cord. The templates overlapped
slightly to provide the necessary counter-pressure
(Fig. 4). From the outside it was pressed with
a screw clamp put on a sheet of polyester felt and
a board of wood.
Conclusion
The conservation treatment presented effected
the stabilisation of the connection between textblock
and upper board. Due to its great weight
the upper board should still be supported carefully
when moved.
The torn leather was consolidated with the
strips of linen to prevent its edges from tearing.
Nevertheless it is recommended that access to
the Hussite Codex should be largely restricted.
The leather of the spine is very brittle, so it is
probable that at some time it will also break in
the lower joint.
Therefore, the manuscript should not be
opened further than to an angle of 90° and only
while being supported carefully.
Endnotes
1 Fritzsch, K.E., ‚Die Kuttenberger Bergbauminiaturen
des Illuminators Mathaeus’,
Deutsches Jahrbuch für Volkskunde, 1960
(Bd. VI), pp. 213-228
2 Jan Hus, Theologist and Reformer, born
1369, died 1415 as martyr
3 Aero Color is a fine spray colour on
acrylic basis.
4 Vivak is a transparent copolyester board,
thickness 1,5 mm.
Author
Birgit Speta
Austrian National Library
Josefsplatz 1, 1015 Wien
birgit.speta@onb.ac.at
ICOM-CC Graphic Documents Working Group Interim Meeting | Vienna 17 – 19 April 2013
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