JHL Conservation Bulletin
A quarterly installment highlighting Library Conservation in the Brown University community, conservation news around the internet, and ways for you to connect with conservation.
Book and paper conservation
Bridging technologies of the book has come to mean something more to binders and conservators than tracing the archaeology of medieval binding structures. More often than not, these same craft practitioners are more open minded and curious about emerging trends in information delivery because they have been studying these trends in depth their entire careers. And with continued interest and the support of collaborative research centers, book technology continues to evolve.
In house treatment at the Hay
The era of hybrid Greek-style bindings reminds us that temporal and regional binding technologies are standard, particular, and ultimately recognizable. Rare MS Greek Codex 2 was damaged and, I suspect, cared for before it found its home at Brown. While it can be argued that much of this manuscript would have been lost without intervention, pressure sensitive tape can be a bear to remove; especially when there are manuscript inks and weakened paper supports involved. We have fancy automobile paint jobs, ultimately- or – originally, to thank for this patch-work.
Find conservation online and in person
The codex is a nearly perfect technology in its inception. At its most basic, it is a self-contained unit combining protection, identification, navigable information, and depending on the circumstances contorts its physicality for portability, showmanship, and ritual. Page supports and media can remain intact even in challenging circumstances, and a single, artful vessel holds endless information. It is a structure that has been and continues to be documented, studied, and (re)/produced. What comes next?
Catchwords
Now that you have met him and seen his work: Gary Frost and the Sewn Boards Binding. Until June, when we mark one year of the JHL Conservation Bulletin!
-Rachel Lapkin, Library Materials Conservator