Paper Conservation: Decisions & Compromises

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Fig. 2: Coloured paper strips placed in the first half of the fore edge of the codex mark the original position of the head (yellow) and tail (green) of the animal on the skin. There are several reasons why the spines are distributed in this way through the quires. Parchment is more undulated and thicker in the area of the original neck, spine and rump than in other parts. With this layout one achieves a better balance in the thickness of the text block so that undesirable undulation of the folia is prevented. Spines of the skins of smaller sizes are placed centrally, while spines of larger skins are positioned either further up or down towards the top or bottom of the text block. With this arrangement a larger skin can also be used more economically, since leftovers which are cut away from one side of parchment may be used for the production of smaller manuscript documents. Fig. 3: One of the reassembled skins from the Prague Sacramentary, a manuscript of quarto size, shows that this skin was large enough to produce only 3 bifolia and not 4 as might be generally expected. This is not so surprising, since the sheepskin from which the parchment was made is quite thin and weak and could easily be mechanically damaged during the flaying of the skin. In addition, raw skin in the course of the parchment-making process may be affected by bacteria or mould, resulting in the appearance of a large number of small holes. Skin can become mechanically weak and quite large areas have to be removed already before the skin is stretched on the frame. Fig. 4: Traces of the parchment-maker’s knife can be visualised by making a rubbing over a textured surface placed over the parchment folio. This frottage method helps to isolate and record traces of a tool which left on the parchment a unique offprint made by its jagged edge. The obtained “fingerprint” or “bar code” can be later used for recognition of the identical tool on the surface of other parchment folia coming from the identical skin and later placed in a different part of the text block or even another codex. In the case of a smaller manuscript, for example of octavo size, we can expect a very uneven distribution of bifolia originating from one skin in the text block. For their production may also involve leftovers from the production of larger manuscripts. Jirí Vnoucek The Royal Library, Department of Preservation, Copenhagen, Denmark jiv@kb.dk ICOM-CC Graphic Documents Working Group Interim Meeting | Vienna 17 – 19 April 2013 54
The Use of NIR Spectroscopy to Investigate the Condition of Parchment Paul Garside | Barry Knight British Library, London, UK Abstract Parchment documents and manuscripts represent an important part of our written heritage, but are prone to a variety of degradative reactions and so are inherently vulnerable. The ability to monitor the condition of parchment and assess the way in which it responds to the environment allows the most appropriate conservation, display and storage strategies to be adopted, and will help to ensure the survival of these artefacts for future generations. Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy provides a non-invasive (and, with the correct equipment, potentially in situ) method of investigating the chemistry of parchment, and has been used in the work presented here to both assess the progress of two common deterioration mechanisms for this material (gelatinisation and thermally induced cross-linking), as well as to better understand the way in which it responds to changes in the local environment (particularly humidity). Correlations were drawn between physical changes observed in the parchment samples, as they were subjected to degradative reactions or environmental variations, and changes in the spectra measured by derived peak intensity ratios. These ratios then allow similar processes to be monitored in other such materials. A further outcome of this work has involved applying these techniques to assess the differences in behaviour with respect to local conditions between single parchment sheets and books of bound parchment leaves, in conjunction with data recorded by temperature-humidity loggers, and this is of particular interest when compared to similar results for paper. The work has stemmed from questions posed by objects in the British Library’s collection, and has been used to better understand these artefacts and aid collection care decisions. Furthermore, the environmental response data will help to inform strategies for the storage of both individual parchment items and the collection as a whole (not only benefiting their long-term survival but also potentially allowing energy and financial savings). Introduction The British Library’s collection contains many thousands of parchment documents and volumes, including such important and prestigious artefacts as the Magna Carta, the Lindisfarne Gospels and the St Cuthbert Gospel. As items such as these are of great historic and cultural significance, preserving them for future generations is of great importance, and to do this it is necessary to understand their current condition and there likely ongoing behaviour. Traditionally this has been the province of the expertise and experience of individual conservators and curators, but with the increasing availability of analytical equipment it is now possible to supplement this knowledge with instrumental techniques that can allow objects to be rapidly investigated and assessed, permitting those items in need of greatest attention to be highlighted and thus selected for attention. With increasing demands on budgets and time, growing collection sizes and, in many institutions, fewer specialist conservation staff, techniques like this which allow resources to be employed most efficiently will come to be of ever greater importance. Parchment is prone to damage from a variety of causes, including gelatinisation due to exposure to excessive levels of moisture, microbiological attack (usually also linked to humidity), physical damage including general wear-and-tear, embrittlement from desiccation, and distortion and shrinkage caused by the extreme temperatures of fires. Gelatinisation is a common problem for parchment documents, resulting from the hydrolysis of the highly ordered and relatively durable collagen protein to the amorphous and physically weak gelatine. Parchment documents are also significantly more susceptible to the effects of fires than the equivalent paper documents (Fig. 1); the material contains a variety of residual oils and fats which will readily burn if exposed to a flame, and at high temperatures the bulk material will shrink and distort, not only resulting in the loss of information from the document, but also exposing more of the material to ICOM-CC Graphic Documents Working Group Interim Meeting | Vienna 17 – 19 April 2013 55
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Paper Conservation: Decisions & Com
Page 3 and 4: Content Lieve Watteeuw Introduction
Page 5: Michael Wheeler | Nicholas Barnard
Page 8 and 9: New Trends in Preservation in the D
Page 10 and 11: and monitoring against adverse envi
Page 12 and 13: Steve Hobaica, Patrick Loughney, Ma
Page 14 and 15: The Albums of Duke Charles de Croÿ
Page 16 and 17: Fig. 4: turning the supporting pape
Page 18 and 19: Fig. 2: Close-up of some of the los
Page 20 and 21: manuscript paper, the binding would
Page 22 and 23: Figure 2 partial sewing: the blue d
Page 24 and 25: Books in Exhibitions: History and A
Page 26 and 27: Fig. 4 Museum in London and the pre
Page 28 and 29: Risk and Safety of Illuminated Manu
Page 30 and 31: Fig. 2 Atlas, the Crown papers are
Page 32 and 33: Acknowledgments The authors would l
Page 34 and 35: Verdigris I: Compromises in Conserv
Page 36 and 37: Verdigris 2: Wet Chemical Treatment
Page 38 and 39: Integrated Modelling: The Demograph
Page 40 and 41: Fig. 3: The consequence of 50 insta
Page 42 and 43: Characterisation of Historical Pape
Page 44 and 45: pling is required, tide-lines are c
Page 46 and 47: Study of Phytate Chelating Treatmen
Page 48 and 49: Evaluation of stochiometric effects
Page 50 and 51: Practice and Progress in the Conser
Page 52 and 53: Fig. 1 Fig. 2 plex picture and prov
Page 56 and 57: the fire (on the other hand paper,
Page 58 and 59: inform decisions on conservation tr
Page 60 and 61: This paper summarizes what is known
Page 62 and 63: 2. Methods An interdisciplinary met
Page 64 and 65: Fig. 4: Dyed endpaper pasted at the
Page 66 and 67: Preservation of Architectural Drawi
Page 68 and 69: Notes 1 According Salvador Muñoz V
Page 70 and 71: course of time under the influence
Page 72 and 73: the curators in review of the treat
Page 74 and 75: cellulose powders with cellulose et
Page 76 and 77: Authors Xing Kung Liao Conservator
Page 78 and 79: Fig. 2: Our Railroad Workers and th
Page 80 and 81: The Restoration of Cartoons at the
Page 82 and 83: tation presumes that the works are
Page 84 and 85: To Remove or Retain? - Extensive In
Page 86 and 87: Fig. 4 repeated applications until
Page 88 and 89: The Migration of Hydroxy Propyl Cel
Page 90: tion issue allowed a visualisation
Page 93 and 94: Ethical Considerations Concerning t
Page 95 and 96: emoved with damp cotton swab. Then
Page 97 and 98: Conservation of a Book of Hours fro
Page 99 and 100: Fig. 4: Pigments movement and conse
Page 101 and 102: Notes 1 Brazilwood lake, lapis lazu
Page 103 and 104: pages, which would easily have torn
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The Microflora Inhabiting Leonardo
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Acknowledgments The authors would l
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Microorganisms in Books - First Res
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hyaline white mycelia on and in the
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Deconstructing the Reconstruction E
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Fig. 3: Poster after 2012 conservat
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Conservators’ Investigation of Ch
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had been used, may be false-positiv
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function will provide a holistic pi
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Fig. 2: Patriarchs of Chan Buddhism
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ing techniques, which build upon fu
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Applications of Image Processing So
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Fig. 3 Fig. 4 images in a single wi
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Analysing Deterioration Artifacts i
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Fig. 3 similarity maps. Similarity
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Strategy in the Case of a Wrecked P
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without preliminary consolidation.
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Fiber Optic Reflectance Spectroscop
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Fig. 3: 18 th century paper seal, i
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Fig. 3 Fig. 4 of responsibilities r
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Characterising the Origin of Carbon
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Fig. 3: Sampling depth for ATR spec
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Fig. 2: Filmoplast® tape attached
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Pluchart, F. 1971. Pop Art Et Cie.
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Fig. 3: The reverse of left screen
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porting the reverse of severe creas
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