Paper Conservation: Decisions & Compromises

Fig. 4: Dyed endpaper pasted at the front and back cover of a manuscript
book, (169 mm x 122 mm), Mamluk period (13 th – 16 th century AD),
faculty of medicine’s museum, Cairo University, Egypt
the initial stages of papermaking manufacturing
process (Loveday 2001: 51). The copied original
manuscript (al Safti 1851) indicated that the dyes
were applied directly to the sheet of paper by
scribes.
The copied original manuscript claims that
many plants and materials have been used to dye
paper (listed above) and gives interesting information
in the form of fifteen recipes for preparing
these materials. Weld could be an example of
these recipes:
“Yellow lemon dye of weld is prepared by taking
one pound of seasonal (newly-collected) weld,
washed and put in a container of copper with
one ounce of wild Natron (Endnote 1). Then,
twenty-four pounds of water of the well and is
poured over it and kept overnight. [Later on,] it
is boiled until it is completely diffused into the
water. [Once] heating is stopped, it is filtered, precipitated
and then it used for dyeing [the paper],
it gives a vegetable-like colour [to the paper] and
God is the most Knowledgeable” (al-Safti 1851:
27).
Although the text of the studied manuscript
is a copy from 1851 AD, the original may date
back to earlier than the 15 th century AD, and this
assumption is supported by its style of writing,
Arabic terms and technical information. Moreover,
it is to some extent similar to another text
about paper dyeing and colouring which is written
by a Persian librarian in 1433 AD (Thackston
1990). Furthermore, there is no handmade paper
originating from Egypt after the 17 th century AD
(Loveday 2001: 27).
4.2. Analytical results from the three historical
samples identified the presence of luteolin and
either apigenin or genistein, which co-elute and
have the same parent ion mass. According to
these results, there are two possible biological
sources for the dye used in these samples which
are Genista tinctoria, common name Dyer’s
Broom, which contains luteolin and genistein
or Reseda luteola, common name weld, which
contains luteolin and apigenin. To differentiate
between these two biological sources, the minor
component of chrysoeriol in Reseda luteola
could be looked at in using a further development
of this method, and therefore the identity
of dye (expected to be Reseda luteola) could be
established unequivocally.
4.3. The main reason for choosing the tested
bacterial strains is that Bacillus subtilis causes
serious damage to library materials (Gallo 1985:
38), and Micrococcus luteus and Bacillus cereus
which have been identified in the Faculty of
Medicine’s museum, Cairo University, Egypt
(Ebeid and Amer 2006) where the tested sample
had been taken. The main reason for using these
three strains of bacteria in the microbial study
is to use them as a monitor for biocidal properties
in the dyes which have been used in Islamic
paper, specifically in endpapers. It seems after
measuring inhibition zones that the four dyes
chosen have some useful biocidal properties.
5. Conclusion
The traditional method of dyeing paper in Islamic
mediaeval era has been clarified. Weld was
identified in three samples and the microbial
study supports the concept that these dyes have
some useful biocidal properties. Therefore, it is
possible that the dyes were used intentionally to
dye endpapers in order to give protection from
biological attack.
ICOM-CC Graphic Documents Working Group Interim Meeting | Vienna 17 – 19 April 2013
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