Understanding the Craft: an Overview of Conservation of Bindings of Books in the Vilnius University Library (original) (raw)
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Leather and Footwear Journal, 2018
This paper presents an overview of the conservation state of the tawed white leather, parchment and reused parchment bookbindings from the Rare Book Collection of the Romanian Academy Library. The transdisciplinary study was jointly conducted by the researchers of INCDTP-ICPI and Manuscripts and Rare Book Department of the Romanian Academy Library. Over 50 bindings in alum-tawed (white) leather, parchment and reused parchment were analyzed in situ using specific non-invasive or micro-invasive analysis methods such as visual and microscopic analyses, thermal microscopy (imageMHT method), attenuated total reflection (ATR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF). Based on these results, conservation sheets have been drawn up including damage status, threats and conservation recommendations for each investigated bookbinding. Two conservation sheets are illustrated for alum-tawed and re-used parchment bindings. This is the first Romanian study dedicated both to the artistic and material aspects of rare book bindings so far. KEY WORDS: bookbinding, alum-tawed leather, parchment, damage status, conservation reccommendations LEGĂTURI DE CARTE RARĂ DIN COLECŢIILE BIBLIOTECII ACADEMIEI ROMÂNE-STUDIU MULTIDISCIPLINAR REZUMAT. Această lucrare prezintă o imagine de ansamblu asupra stării de conservare a legturilor de carte din piele albă argăsită, pergament şi pergament reutilizat din Colecţia de Carte Rară a Bibliotecii Academiei Române. Studiul transdisciplinar a fost realizat în comun de către cercetătorii din cadrul INCDTP-ICPI şi din cadrul Departamentului de Manuscrise şi Cărţi Rare al Bibliotecii Academiei Române. Peste 50 de legături din piele argăsită cu alaun (albă), pergament şi pergament refolosit au fost analizate in-situ utilizând metode specifice de analiză neinvazivă sau microinvazivă, cum ar fi analize vizuale şi microscopice, microscopie termică (metoda imageMHT), reflexie totală atenuată (ATR), spectroscopie în infraroşu cu transformată Fourier (FTIR) şi spectrometrie de fluorescenţă de raze X (XRF). Pe baza acestor rezultate, au fost întocmite fişe de conservare, care includ starea de deteriorare, riscuri şi recomandări de conservare pentru fiecare legătură de carte studiată. Două fişe de conservare sunt ilustrate pentru legături din pergament argăsite cu alaun şi reutilizate. Acesta este primul studiu românesc de până acum dedicat atât aspectelor artistice, cât şi aspectelor materiale ale legăturilor de carte rară. CUVINTE CHEIE: legătură de carte, piele argăsită cu alaun, pergament, stare de deteriorare, recomandări de conservare RELIURES DE LIVRES RARES DES COLLECTIONS DE LA BIBLIOTHÈQUE DE L'ACADÉMIE ROUMAINE-ÉTUDE MULTIDISCIPLINAIRE RÉSUMÉ. Cet article présente une vue d'ensemble de l'état de conservation des reliures en cuir blanc tanné à l'alun, en parchemin et en parchemin réutilisé de la Collection de Livres Rares de la Bibliothèque de l'Académie Roumaine. L'étude transdisciplinaire a été menée conjointement par les chercheurs de l'INCDTP-ICPI et du Département des Manuscrits et des Livres Rares de la Bibliothèque de l'Académie Roumaine. Plus de 50 reliures en cuir (blanc) tanné à l'alun, en parchemin et en parchemin réutilisé ont été analysées in situ à l'aide de méthodes d'analyse non invasives ou micro-invasives telles que les analyses visuelles et microscopiques, la microscopie thermique (méthode imageMHT), la réflexion totale atténuée (ATR), la spectroscopie infrarouge à transformée de Fourier (FTIR) et la spectrométrie de fluorescence des rayons X (XRF). À partir de ces résultats, des fiches de conservation ont été élaborées, indiquant notamment l'état de détérioration, les menaces et les recommandations de conservation pour chaque reliure explorée. Deux fiches de conservation sont illustrées pour les reliures en parchemin tanné à l'alun et réutilisé. Cet article est la première étude roumaine consacrée à la fois aux aspects artistiques et matériels des reliures de livres rares. MOTS CLÉS : reliure, cuir tanné à l'alun, parchemin, l'état de détérioration, recommandations en matière de conservation
2010
This paper will review the one-year project to conserve the Turkish collection at the Chester Beatty Library. The materials and techniques of conservation were adapted from historic examples of Islamic bookbindings, notably examples of Andalucian Islamic bindings. These were incorporated to facilitate the book conservators' ideals of reversibility and accessibility. The conservation methodologies used will be discussed, before an analysis of the binding structures is given. Many of the bindings within the collection have been produced in a significantly different way to the case-binding structure which is usually associated with Islamic bindings, thus providing an example of differing book traditions within the Islamic world. This structure may be specific to Turkey and the cultural and historical reasons for this will be considered. The one-year project to conserve the Turkish manuscript collection at the Chester Beatty Library will hopefully provide significant insight to the methods of book construction used in Turkey.
Revista Română de Biblioteconomie și Știința Informării = Romanian Journal of Library and Information Science
In this article, the authors present the results obtained by specialized expertise, on the basis of the scientific arguments resulting from the examination of the documents, as well as of the pre-digitization interventions for the preservation of the special collections from the Library of "Ştefan cel Mare" National College, Suceava, in order to digitize them. The authors consider that this scientific approach is necessary for the development of the practical concept of pre-digitization as a working tool for the digitisable documents in the special collections belonging to the Library of "Ştefan cel Mare" National College, Suceava, for their introduction in the cultural and scientific flow. In the literature on the protection of documents, pre-digitization represents the set of investigations and preventive-curative interventions performed in library environments, especially in the morphological structure of documents, in order to investigate, stop and eradicate the complex of identified degradation factors, of physical, mechanical, chemical and biological etiology. In the case of the Library of "Ştefan cel Mare" National College, Suceava, pre-digitization is the essential stage of preparation of the documents, in order to carry out digitization operations under appropriate conditions.
Museum Exhibitions: Conservation of Books and Objects for Display
1st International Conference of Dubrovnik Research Library: Exhibition of the Heritage Items, 28-30 September 2022, Dubrovnik Research Library, Conference under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, Dubrovnik, Croatia., 2022
Conservation of museum collections for exhibitions is a complex collaborative process between curators, conservators, and exhibition designers, whose principle objective, in realization of the curator’s narrative, is attaining the finest display of museums’ and on loan artworks. In my presentation I will look at books and objects at exhibitions from conservator’s viewpoint, and will discuss a selection of significant for the history of the Art Institute of Chicago examples of books from the museum special collections conserved for display at: Van Dyck, Rembrandt, and the Portrait Print, Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design, Ghosts and Demons in Japanese Prints, What May Come: The Taller de Gráfica Popular and the Mexican Political Print, Beauty and the Book: 19th and Early 20th Century Folios on the Decorative Arts. I will also reflect on aspects of conservation treatment before, during and after exhibition display, case design, construction of custom cradles and supports, environmental requirements for exhibiting books and papers, lighting, security, and exhibit monitoring practices. *Belcheva, Malina. Museum Exhibitions: Conservation of Books and Objects for Display (Conference presentation.) 1st International Conference of Dubrovnik Research Library: Exhibition of the Heritage Items, 28-30 September 2022, Dubrovnik Research Library, Conference under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 2022. https://drlconference.dkd.hr/
Bookbinding and industrial archaeology: a memory of instruments and machines
Journal of the International Association of Paper Historians, 2018
The patrimony of the graphic arts can be understood from various perspectives, from the production of paper to the techniques of bookbinding and book production. A possible historical perspective involves the evolution of binding processes, their machinery and tools. In relation to the instruments (or tools) used in the bookbinding and production, there is a process of evolution that involves from small tools to the complex machines from the Industrial Revolution due to the aggregation of technology. With this, a relationship is built between industrial archaeology and memory of the graphic heritage whose history of binding processes is confused with the history and personal memory of bookbinders, whether craftsmen or booksellers, and is constituted by different personal components, savoir-faire and Know-how. The historical memory of binding thus comprises immaterial and material elements that involve a set of signs and meanings by those who elaborate, produce, distribute, and possess the books.
The technological study of medieval miniatures and their conservation features are not as self-evident as that of larger scale paintings. Because of their small size and fragile characteristics, they do not leave the library store rooms as easily. In focus of this research is a 15th century book of Hours (Hours of Philips of Clèves, Brussels, Royal Library, IV 40). For ethical reasons, the manuscript curator and the conservation-research team decided not to take in the documentation phase any micro- samples, but to rely on a broad spectrum of documentation and non- destructive analyses. In the preliminary research of the conservation treatment (2006-2007), a collaborative interdisciplinary focus was developed in order to satisfy the art historians, conservation-scientists and book- conservators in the field of illuminated manuscripts. Methods used were archival documentation, book- archaeology, interviews, photo macrographs, digital imaging, data management of typologies of illumina...
BINDERS AND KEEPERS; THOUGHTS ON BOOKBINDINGS & THE BRITISH MUSEUM LIBRARY BINDERY
Bookbinder, 2002
The considerations which drove bookbindings policy at the British Museum Library (The British Library) from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries were varied and not only reflect the implementation of new conservation techniques in the wider world but give insights into the bindings practices of the in-house bindery itself.
As in many branches of art within the Ottoman Empire, very valuable works have been produced in the field of book arts. When it comes to the arts of the book, the bookbinding art is understood as well as the arts such as calligraphy, illumination and miniature. Making covers that surround a book or even protect the book is a practice that has been going on since ancient times. These covers, called bindings, are known to vary depending on the material reached. Books are bound with materials such as leather, fabric, marbling, cardboard. It is seen that such a functional application is subjected to various ornaments with aesthetic concern. Although the bindings of carefully prepared manuscript books are decorated with unique ornaments, the same care has not been taken in many printed books. Nevertheless, aesthetics is not abandoned and decoration is included in printed book covers. Printed books belonging to the years 1830-1840 in Marmara University Library were examined in terms of binding arts. It is seen that the binding of the books is mostly made of leather. In addition, there are works with fabric, marbling and cardboard bound. Again, in these books, the decorations are generally formed in the form of central medallion, pendant, bracket and borders on the lower and upper covers. Ebru art has also been used both as a cover and as an ornamental element in bindings, as well as being used as inner covers and side paper of books.