Care and Conservation of Manuscripts 19
Proceedings of the nineteenth international seminar held at the University of Copenhagen, 19–21 April 2023
9788763547437
Distributed for Museum Tusculanum Press
Care and Conservation of Manuscripts 19
Proceedings of the nineteenth international seminar held at the University of Copenhagen, 19–21 April 2023
A collection of findings from conservators, librarians, archivists, scholars, curators, and others concerned with the conservation of manuscripts and early printed books.
Care and Conservation of Manuscripts is committed to the study of various aspects of manuscript conservation, preservation, and use, as well as to other related issues concerning the history of books and manuscripts. The book is drawn from the proceedings of seminars arranged by the Arnamagnæan Institute, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, at the University of Copenhagen, and The Royal Danish Library, which bring together conservators, librarians, archivists, curators, and others who work in the field of manuscript studies, preservation, and conservation.
Care and Conservation of Manuscripts is committed to the study of various aspects of manuscript conservation, preservation, and use, as well as to other related issues concerning the history of books and manuscripts. The book is drawn from the proceedings of seminars arranged by the Arnamagnæan Institute, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, at the University of Copenhagen, and The Royal Danish Library, which bring together conservators, librarians, archivists, curators, and others who work in the field of manuscript studies, preservation, and conservation.
616 pages | 6.3 x 9.45 | © 2025
Care and Conservation of Manuscripts
History: General History
Library Science and Publishing: Library Science
Table of Contents
Preface
ix
Roni Anaki
Is gevil, the ‘Jewish parchment’, really a parchment? An investigation and preliminary assessment of modern gevil’s characteristics
1
Katherine Beaty, Rachel Bissonnette & Kathryn Kenney
Rehousing sacred Tibetan Buddhist materials at Harvard-Yenching Library. Considering materiality and spirituality
21
Alberto Campagnolo & al.
Skins, structures and traces. Material culture investigations of Cambrai’s medieval manuscripts
41
Ying-Chern Chen & Wan-Jen Lin
Customised preservation strategy for local literary institutions. A case study of Zi-Xia Hall
75
Eliana Dal Sasso
The effect of text-focused interest on the preservation of Coptic bookbinding
91
Fenella G. France, Pádraig Ó Macháin & Andrew Forsberg
Developing a visualisation model for spectroscopic and other data from medieval Irish manuscripts
109
Mary Hamilton French & Bexx Caswell-Olson
Hidden layers. Conservation of a sixteenth- to seventeenth-century Kashmiri birch bark manuscript
125
Robert Fuchs & Doris Oltrogge
A look at workshop practices in Zürich. Illuminating secular manuscripts around 1300
147
Zoitsa Gkinni
Ethics and decision-making in conservation. The paradigm of codices
165
Esben Bukh Glindvad
A comparative technical analysis of pigments used in twelve mediaeval manuscripts from the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection, Copenhagen
187
Sarah Graham
The registers of the Archbishops of Armagh. Assessing condition, composition and historic repairs to increase access and conservation engagement
201
Paul Hepworth
The Shah Tahmasp Album. Its makers and their intentions
211
Christa Hofmann & al.
Questions to Dagulf. On the Psalterium Codex 1861 at the Austrian National Library
231
Theofanis Karafotias & al.
Recycled materials in manuscripts. The case of the Pierre Barbatre ‘Account of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land’ from the Louvre Abu Dhabi collection
249
Salsawit Assefa Kassaye
Critical review of Ethiopic manuscript digitisation projects
275
Chantal Kobel
Tradition and innovation in the materiality of medieval Gaelic law manuscripts
283
Yoshiko Kondo & Luana Maekawa
Treatment strategies and decisions. Conservators’ choices for iron gall ink preservation
303
Wan-Jen Lin & Bor-Tung Jiang
An interdisciplinary approach to seeing and recording. Automated visual recognition for identifying paper deterioration and data preparation for AI learning
315
Mary Minicka
A tale of two bookbinders. A reclamation of artisan history at the Cape of Good Hope explored through archival records, 1795–1870
341
Ekaterina Pasnak
Stationery bindings from the Norwegian Sea Trade Archive (Nordlandshandelarkiv) in the University Library of Bergen
361
Marina Pelissari & Rachel Sawicki
Curious cures. The conservation of medieval medical manuscripts in Cambridge libraries
387
Clare Prince
Unkindest cuts. The conservation of a recently vandalised twelfth-century Bible leaf
405
Abigail B. Quandt
A living tradition. An introduction to the production and use of Orthodox Christian manuscripts in Ethiopia from the pre-modern era to the present day
419
Godelieva van der Randen
Stratification of historic repairs. Complex decision-making in the treatment of an eleventh-century Arabic Materia medica
461
Alessandro Sidoti
The conservation of the Jewish scroll of the National Library of Florence
481
Holly Smith & Katerina Williams
Twists, turns and tackets. Designing and undertaking a survey to study The National Archives’ early limp parchment binding collection
507
Angeliki Stassinou & al.
Parchment covers and leather tacket blocks. Notarial bindings from the General State Archives of Greece (seventeenth–nineteenth centuries), a preliminary study
523
Bridget Warrington & J.D. Sargan
Assessment of the boards and historical slip repairs of the Castle Acre Processional using micro-computed X-ray tomography and radiocarbon dating
547
Mariko Watanabe-Hirano
Conservation of a diary written by a British civilian internee in Singapore
563
Melania Zanetti, Anne-Laurence Dupont & Alfonso Zoleo
New technologies in conservation. Nanocomposites in the treatment of paper-based written heritage damaged by fire
577
Index of manuscripts
601
ix
Roni Anaki
Is gevil, the ‘Jewish parchment’, really a parchment? An investigation and preliminary assessment of modern gevil’s characteristics
1
Katherine Beaty, Rachel Bissonnette & Kathryn Kenney
Rehousing sacred Tibetan Buddhist materials at Harvard-Yenching Library. Considering materiality and spirituality
21
Alberto Campagnolo & al.
Skins, structures and traces. Material culture investigations of Cambrai’s medieval manuscripts
41
Ying-Chern Chen & Wan-Jen Lin
Customised preservation strategy for local literary institutions. A case study of Zi-Xia Hall
75
Eliana Dal Sasso
The effect of text-focused interest on the preservation of Coptic bookbinding
91
Fenella G. France, Pádraig Ó Macháin & Andrew Forsberg
Developing a visualisation model for spectroscopic and other data from medieval Irish manuscripts
109
Mary Hamilton French & Bexx Caswell-Olson
Hidden layers. Conservation of a sixteenth- to seventeenth-century Kashmiri birch bark manuscript
125
Robert Fuchs & Doris Oltrogge
A look at workshop practices in Zürich. Illuminating secular manuscripts around 1300
147
Zoitsa Gkinni
Ethics and decision-making in conservation. The paradigm of codices
165
Esben Bukh Glindvad
A comparative technical analysis of pigments used in twelve mediaeval manuscripts from the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection, Copenhagen
187
Sarah Graham
The registers of the Archbishops of Armagh. Assessing condition, composition and historic repairs to increase access and conservation engagement
201
Paul Hepworth
The Shah Tahmasp Album. Its makers and their intentions
211
Christa Hofmann & al.
Questions to Dagulf. On the Psalterium Codex 1861 at the Austrian National Library
231
Theofanis Karafotias & al.
Recycled materials in manuscripts. The case of the Pierre Barbatre ‘Account of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land’ from the Louvre Abu Dhabi collection
249
Salsawit Assefa Kassaye
Critical review of Ethiopic manuscript digitisation projects
275
Chantal Kobel
Tradition and innovation in the materiality of medieval Gaelic law manuscripts
283
Yoshiko Kondo & Luana Maekawa
Treatment strategies and decisions. Conservators’ choices for iron gall ink preservation
303
Wan-Jen Lin & Bor-Tung Jiang
An interdisciplinary approach to seeing and recording. Automated visual recognition for identifying paper deterioration and data preparation for AI learning
315
Mary Minicka
A tale of two bookbinders. A reclamation of artisan history at the Cape of Good Hope explored through archival records, 1795–1870
341
Ekaterina Pasnak
Stationery bindings from the Norwegian Sea Trade Archive (Nordlandshandelarkiv) in the University Library of Bergen
361
Marina Pelissari & Rachel Sawicki
Curious cures. The conservation of medieval medical manuscripts in Cambridge libraries
387
Clare Prince
Unkindest cuts. The conservation of a recently vandalised twelfth-century Bible leaf
405
Abigail B. Quandt
A living tradition. An introduction to the production and use of Orthodox Christian manuscripts in Ethiopia from the pre-modern era to the present day
419
Godelieva van der Randen
Stratification of historic repairs. Complex decision-making in the treatment of an eleventh-century Arabic Materia medica
461
Alessandro Sidoti
The conservation of the Jewish scroll of the National Library of Florence
481
Holly Smith & Katerina Williams
Twists, turns and tackets. Designing and undertaking a survey to study The National Archives’ early limp parchment binding collection
507
Angeliki Stassinou & al.
Parchment covers and leather tacket blocks. Notarial bindings from the General State Archives of Greece (seventeenth–nineteenth centuries), a preliminary study
523
Bridget Warrington & J.D. Sargan
Assessment of the boards and historical slip repairs of the Castle Acre Processional using micro-computed X-ray tomography and radiocarbon dating
547
Mariko Watanabe-Hirano
Conservation of a diary written by a British civilian internee in Singapore
563
Melania Zanetti, Anne-Laurence Dupont & Alfonso Zoleo
New technologies in conservation. Nanocomposites in the treatment of paper-based written heritage damaged by fire
577
Index of manuscripts
601