The book and paper conservation work undertaken by Karen requires an initial examination and testing to assess the conservation needs and final treatment methods. The work is agreed with the client before Karen commences the conservation treatment. All stages of conservation are documented and conservation standard materials and techniques are used. In accordance with professional standards set down by ICON and AICCM for conservation work, each item is returned to a stable condition with minimal compromise to the original structure and materials used. Four examples of recent conservation treatments undertaken by Karen Vidler can be seen below - Examples 3 and 4 link with other websites. 1. Minimal Intervention Book & Paper Conservation - Conservation of an 19thC Book of Common Prayer Background: A small prayer book measuring 12 x 8 x 3cm. The book had been found folded in two and stored in the shirt pocket of E. A. Wilson, Surgeon and Naturalist, when he perished alongside Captain R.F. Scott's during their fatal expedition to the Antarctic in 1912. The intention of the conservation work was to stabilise the existing binding structure, text leaves and covering leather, while retaining as much of the evidence of use of the book by its significant previous owner, E.A. Wilson. From collection of Scott Polar Institute, Cambridge. Before
Description & Condition Binding: The book is bound in black calf leather as a case-style binding with Yapp edges (leather extended beyond the board edges) and pleated corners. Cover is decorated with a double line, blind stamp design with the title in gold on the front cover and spine. General condition of the cover was fair. There was in-grain soiling to the leather dulling the gold lettering, but not damaging. Splitting, weakness and losses along most edges of the unsupported yapp edges that required strengthening to prevent further loss. The pleated corners had been lost as well as the head and tail spine leather. There was cracking along the spine leather and thorough the covers as the prayer book had been folded and placed in Wilson's pocket. The cover was detached exposing the backfolds and sewing. Textblock: Comprised 15 sections of 8 folios. The text leaves printed on thin, machine-made, wove paper in double column in black ink.A typed description page had been tipped-on to the front flyleaf, concealing a bookplate beneath that has been damaged by large pin piercing. The sewing and supports had split in many places and no longer consolidated the text block. The overall condition of the text leaves was good. There was some discolouration from dirt deposits and staining - the endpaper and the first and last few sections have water staining emanating form the tail edge. Much of the damage to the text block was structural to the paper and required stabilising to prevent further loss to the pages that had come loose from the text block. The sewing and supports were broken in many places causing the detachment of the damaged leaves. During
Final Conservation Treatment The binding and text leaves were examined and recorded using written and photographic documentation. A UV black light was used to fluoresce the most stained leaves to determine if the internal paper size had been significantly solubilised and reduced by the water staining. The results showed only the title page required localised resizing to return internal paper strength. After discussion with the Curator, it was agreed to stabilise the text leaves by consolidating the torn leaves and resewing the text block to prevent further damage. Only the weak and degraded areas of the leather cover were treated to reinforce weak and torn areas of the Yapp leather and prevent further loss. The conservation proposal was formulated and agreed with the Museum Curator. Textblock:
Final observation The structural damage to this small binding had been stabilised. None of the original losses to the book when last handled by its significant owner have been altered. top of page 2. Full intervention Paper Conservation- Iron Gall Ink Damaged 17thC Letters Background: A collection of 1400 letters, accounts and papers sent to Margaret Fell (1616-1702) from George Fox (1624-1690/1) at Swarthmore Hall, Cumbria. These documents are important primary source material for the history of the early Quaker movement. The collection is held at The Library of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain. Project supervised by Elizabeth Neville, E.N. Book Conservation Before
Description & Condition Letter: A paper-based collection, in different iron-gall ink recipes, by different hands. Written on a range of formats of handmade laid paper and some have annotations of crayon or pencil as well as wax or wafer seals. There was water, mould and insect damage so some documents. Earlier handmade paper repairs were retained if not causing distortion or obscuring information beneath. Extensive glassine repairs that had discoloured to obscure the text and weaken the paper beneath. Machine-made paper guards had been attached to each letter in the binding process. The stiffness of the guards was causing splits and tears when letters turned. Many letters badly folded to fit format of the album style bindings. During - Initial Examination and Testing Before the commencement of this project Lizzie had attended the InkCor workshop in Lubjana, Slovenia. We adapted the documentation and techniques learned during this workshop as part of the project. We began by devising a 2 page checklist based on the examination of the first 25 letters. This included range of media, types of damage and previous repairs. The checklist included a section of testing for water adsorption (size), pH measurement, solubility of inks in water and ethanol and presence of free iron (II) ions in the inks.
During - Conservation Treatments
Rehousing - Fasciculing and Boxing Fasciculing was chosen as it allows researchers to handle and view both the recto and verso of a document while hinged to a support page. Hinges for smaller, light weight documents were made from Kozushi (23gsm) and larger, heavier documents were hinged with Njinouki Kozu (25gsm) paper and attached with Shoufu paste. Construction of the Fascicules was based on the designed published by Clarkson and Lindsay. For 200 documents, 6 fascicules were required. After
Observations During the project team members were asked to record costs and completion times. Results revealed the full conservation of a single letter costs £1.81 and took 65 minutes of the conservators time. This project was presented at the ICON conference, Edinburgh, 2006 as a a case study in batch treatment paper conservation with limited space and resources.From the feedback received by both Lizzie and Karen the presentation was very well received. top of page 3. Remedial Book & Paper Conservation - 18th Map Book with Chemise  and previous repair by converting boards into a sail cloth chemise Click here for details 4. Rare Book Remedial Book & Paper Conservation - Proeschel Atlases of Australasia  Sample of fibres taken from map of South Australia.
top of page200x magnification revealed cotton fibres as smooth, ribbon-like fibres with twisting. Splitting and breaking in fibres indicates deterioration of the paper fibres. Click here to see blog posts for this project at The National Library of Australia |
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During:Supporting Yapp edge leather cover while strengthening weak 
After: Paper conservation to stabilise physical damage to the text pages
