Paper Conservation: Decisions & Compromises

Books in Exhibitions: History and Adventures in Display
Lieve Watteeuw
KU Leuven, Faculty of Arts & Illuminare, Research Centre for Medieval Art, Leuven, Belgium
Introduction
The history of display of manuscripts and early
printed books is shifting from the age when they
were in use, to an epoch wherein their physical
presence became a tangible mirror of a far and
distant past. Our contemporary understanding
of an ‘exhibition’, from the latin exhibere (to
hold out, display) stems from the 19 th century
on the concept of a ‘large-scale public showing’ 1 .
However, the display of books and documents
on shelves and lecterns is starting from the early
Middle Ages on. We find evidence of this in medieval
paintings and illuminations, illustrating
scriptoria, writing desks, armaria and studiolos.
The display of books didn’t refer to aesthetics,
but to wealth, devotion and erudition. Overall,
books and documents were displayed in public
places like churches, to strengthen their legal
and devotional importance or to commemorate.
In this perspective, these early displays
are antecedents of the modern concept of an
exhibition. Complementary to iconographical
sources, archival and literary texts are revealing
the close attention for security and physical
integrity which the owners and custodians of
books had in the dawn of book display. From
the end of the 18 th century on, but prominently
from the middle of the 19 th century, medieval
and early printed books left the closure of their
repositories and through the modern exhibition,
became part of a new form of visual culture. As
a result of this approach, custodians and librarians
were increasingly pressured to permit books
out of their secure storage, and sources reveal
occasionally a severe resistance to this trend of
public displays. Restorers -as craftsmens- were in
service of this changing vision and function of
the early book heritage. This essay will shed light
upon these early tensions between conservation
and exhibition by presenting and discussing the
documented evidence we have of medieval and
modern displays.
On book niches, grills, curtains, glass and
chains: Examples of display of books in the
Middle Ages
Fig. 1
Security was certainly the main issue during the
public display in the Middle Ages, as medieval
churches functioned not only as places of prayer,
but as trade, market and negotiation centres.
A number of entries in the Antwerp chapter’s
accounts of the Church of Our Lady around
1500-1503 mention ‘metal windows’ to protect
books. Donors specified in their wills that books
must be kept in a safe place. Johan von Heinsberg
(1419-1455), Prince-Bishop of Liège, was
aware of the potential risks and in 1424 issued
a decree that taking, copying or damaging the
all-important deed known as the Paix des Douze
which was kept behind bars in a recess in one of
the columns of St Lambert’s Cathedral, would
be punishable by the loss of a hand 2 . In 1449 the
ICOM-CC Graphic Documents Working Group Interim Meeting | Vienna 17 – 19 April 2013
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