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Parchment is one of the most abundant resources in archives across the world and is a unique time-sensitive material through which centuries of livestock economies, trade and craft can be explored. We examine the impact of structural and chemical modifications during production to delta C-13 and delta N-15 values in the skin, particularly the removal of cutaneous keratins and lipids and the conversion of amide functional groups into carboxyl groups via alkaline hydrolysis. Through the manufacture of 51 parchment skins (sheep, goat, calf and pig) using both historic and modern manufacturing techniques, we found production resulted in a small enrichment in C-13 (average +0.12 parts per thousand) and N-15 (+0.26 parts per thousand). Our results pave the way for the isotopic analysis of parchment in paleodietary and paleoenvironmental studies for the historic period and establish the acceptable C:N ratios in deamidated collagenous tissues.

This article presents a new edition of a fragment of an eleventh-century parchment from Qasr Ibrim (Q.I. 1964, 6a). An inspection of the manuscript led to identification of one of the pieces as a s...

Over the span of three years Christopher Clarkson worked on Volumes I and II of the Winchester Bible, dated around 1160. In the article below he notes techniques he had not encountered before and d...

Observations of medieval bindings revealed a distinctive material: a fine white tawed skin, similar in appearance to parchment, but with flexibility suggestive of leather. A few rare medieval recip...

Thanks to Christopher Clarkson’s pioneering work on limp parchment binding, this structure has become an object of study in the international community of book conservators. An Italian late-sixteen...

This study explores the biofuel potential of raw coffee parchment and its pellets to supplement the energy demand of the cement industries of Ethiopia by characterizing their combustion characteris...

Introduction: Capture of proteins and metabolites from Cultural Heritage (paintings, manuscripts, parchment etc.) has been done in the past via surface scraping and erasing, a method discouraged. The EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) method consists of a plastic polymer in which strong cation and anion resins, admixed with C8 and/or C18, are embedded. Areas covered: We review here the findings on different items stored in public libraries and archives: (a) the original manuscript of the novel Master y Margarita by Bulgakov; (b) the death registries of the lazaretto in the 1630 Milano plague; (c) the shirt worn by A. Chekhov in his death bed; (d) Kepler's script on Hipparchus (in St. Petersburg National Archives); (e) the Memoirs of G. Casanova. Expert opinion: The technique here surveyed appears to be a unique tool enabling exploration of any document stored in public archives, museum and private collections without damaging or contaminating the items under analysis. The amounts harvested from any surface are very minute, yet sufficient for analysis via advanced mass spectrometry instrumentation, thus permitting the identification of all captured material. It is hoped that the present review will stimulate the scientific community to adopt it for projects pertaining to Cultural Heritage.

The preservation state of parchment primarily depends on the structure of the collagen fibre network, which in turn is responsible for optical anisotropy, i.e. birefringence. Polarised light microscopy can therefore be used as a non-invasive technique that allows recording of birefringence distribution in the parchment, which directly relates to stress–strain distribution. Using samples from diverse sources (commercial parchment, parchment used by restorers for book binding, and parchment fabricated for the purpose of this study), we assessed the capability of polarised light microscopy for various diagnostics. We performed, for instance, identification of gelatinised regions, layered or fibrous regions in parchment cross section, qualitative analysis of parchment fat content (lipids), observation of stress-induced patterns resulting from tensile tests, and observation of water diffusion. These proof-of-principle experiments extend the capability of polarised light microscopy far beyond its common use and open the path to its deployment in conservation studies.

The salvage and conservation of the 58th Battalion Book of Remembrance is an interesting and important case study of the treatment of a fire-damaged and waterlogged parchment volume. The treatment ...

This article presents and discusses a parchment fragment in the Royal Library in Copenhagen (Fragment Collection, no. 3230), a single folio of a now lost manuscript. It contains a miracle tale abou...

A survey of documents identified as ‘unfit for production’ within The National Archives collection was vital in order to address their continued restriction from public access. The subsequent proje...

The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (Netherlands) houses an important collection of over 100 framed pastels dating from the 17th century to the 20th century, including the largest collection of pastels by th...

This paper describes a structural endband that was developed for use on MS. Laud Misc. 99; a late-medieval parchment manuscript recently rebound at the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library. Whilst the endbands were an important part of the new wooden board binding, it was challenging to work them on the tail edge of the book because of the uneven quires and the desire to use boards of equal height. The solution was to develop compensation which would support a straight endband that laced evenly onto both boards whilst maintaining its structural function.

Since 2007 the Amsterdam City Archives has been rapidly digitising its documents on a large scale. Large-scale digitisation has influenced the collection care management and practices at the Amsterdam City Archives. This article describes a number of digitisation projects which show changing activities and strategies in conservation.

Analyses of two samples of the commercial platinum photographic paper “Japine” revealed that this trade-name product was sold with a range of surface properties from matte to glossy. An in-depth examination of an unprocessed glossy Japine sample showed a chemically modified surface resulting from parchmentization by treatment with sulfuric acid. This treatment results in a thin film of amorphous cellulose on the printing surface, altering its visual appearance and wet strength. Photographers selected this paper due to its aesthetic qualities. However, such papers have never been characterized and are essentially unknown to modern-day scholars who may mistake them as prints with thin binder layers, such as albumen or gelatin. Indeed, the approach to conservation of these photographs may differ from one designed for a traditional platinum print. The parchmentized Japine paper was criticized for its tendency to crack, one characteristic that may have implications for its handling and conservation tre...

Macro-X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is a newly commercially available research tool very useful in the examination of artwork. Its novelty lies in its ability to create maps of the distribution of chemical elements on scales of a few milimetres. In this contribution, its use together with optical coherence tomography (OCT) in the inspection of an illuminated manuscript is reported for the first time. The former technique is used both for mapping the elemental distribution over large parts of the folios – including illuminated initials – and for quantitative analysis of the composition of the smalt pigment, as well as of changes in the composition of iron–gall ink at different pages. The latter, by providing cross-sectional images of painted details, helps in interpreting the XRF results. All of the results shown relate to the examination of a late sixteenth-century-illuminated parchment manuscript (a gradual) originating from the Convent of the Benedictine Sisters in Lviv in the Ukraine.

In preparation for installation within the Glenbow Museum's updated Alberta history exhibition, Mavericks, a variation of Irene Karsten's peel test was used to test four adhesives (wheat starch paste, Jade 403, Paraloid™ B72 and Lascaux™ 360HV:498HV mix) to evaluate their appropriateness for display mounting the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Charter, an historically important Canadian parchment document. Variations on thread mounts and Mylar™ hinges were investigated, as were possible backing materials. Once on display, a loss of environmental control in the gallery during a construction project subjected the mounted parchment to environmental stresses. The mounting system worked successfully to limit damage to the parchment, with the adhesive bonds between the threads and parchment failing but without damaging the artefact.

Recent studies have explored the technological innovation of erasable ‘writing tables' (or ‘tablets') in England and on the Continent. Erasable writing tablets allowed people to write with a metal stylus on gesso-coated paper or parchment leaves, which were often bound into pocket calendars or almanacs printed in England and the Low Countries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. However, these studies have been based on relatively few extant examples and have disagreed on the chemical composition of the erasable writing surface and other questions. The present article is a case study of a very rare Netherlandish erasable notebook (held at Princeton University Library), which was used for more than a century in Spanish colonial Guatemala City but was probably made in Antwerp (ca. 1575). Scientific examination and historical study of the notebook's production, chemical composition, binding, provenance, and use show that it was coated with layers of Baltic amber varnish as well as gesso, and t...

This essay explores how a “surface reading” can at the same time be a “symptomatic reading” when the surface in question is skin. Via a close reading of a double page containing the chapters on the weasel and the aspic in a fourteenth-century French copy of Guillaume le Clerc’s Bestiaire (Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 20), it examines the treatment of bodily orifices in the text and the copy, including uncanny parallels between them and the parchment of these pages. The skins in question — those of the bestiary creatures, their readers, and the facing pages — are not flat but marked with recesses and gaps that function as symptoms of anxiety about excess as animal and that become overlaid with fantasy, which, however, remains informed by this anxiety. The bestiary page both jars bodily origins against cultural aspirations and exposes their collision, processes that the writings of Didier Anzieu can help to illumine.

Historic parchment is a complex biological material, and due to various methods of production or inks used, unknown environmental histories of objects and heterogeneous nature of animal skin, it represents a particular analytical challenge. Due to the number of variables it is likely that patterns in degradation of these historic objects can only be revealed by surveying the material properties of a significant number of real objects. In this work, a sacrificial collection of ca. 100 historic parchments (fifteenth to twentieth century) was characterized using a range of techniques available to conservation practitioners that can usefully be used to reliably and rapidly characterize parchment. We focused on micro-destructive methods, such as shrinkage temperature (Ts), as the most widely used indicator of parchment degradation. Lipid content, roughness, and ink pH were additionally measured, while a limited number of samples containing iron gall ink were also examined using scanning electron micros...

Mariya Yovcheva, Dimitar Dimitrov: The Identification of the Slavonic Fragments Fb6+Fb17:3 of the National Library of Sweden The subject of this survey is the contents of the Russian fragments Fb6+Fb17:3, which were defined in some previous studies (Sjoberg 1981, Steensland 2005) as a part of Octoechos (although marked with a question mark). The identification of the texts, based on Slavonic and Greek printed editions, reveals that all the parchment sheets belonged to a Horologion (Ὡρολόγιον), a specific and very popular liturgical book in the Orthodox tradition. Two of the services – for the third and the sixth mesoria have the specific features of the new redaction of the Horologion (according to the Jerusalem typicon) which was layed in the Slavic practice after the liturgical and literary reforms during the 14th century. That is the reason for a later dating of fragments Fb6+Fb17:3. The deciphered text is published here.

Research in the field of conservation utilizes the literature of the arts, humanities and sciences to help understand material change and to improve conservation practice. The challenge associated with the use of such a broad range of literature is the process of extrapolation, where oversimplification of unfamiliar concepts and the misuse of terminology can occur. The unintended consequences of misuses in language can lead to the original meaning being misconstrued and evolution of terminology which is unhelpful for the conservation profession and others beyond its disciplinary boundaries. Here we examine, discuss and define the meanings of terms related to collagen and gelatine commonly used in heritage science, in particular with respect to parchment artefacts. We also present the context in which terminology is used and potential pitfalls of the terminology to avoid future ambiguities.

The Cotton Collection is one of the British Library's foundation collections and represents the single greatest known resource of medieval and early modern British history and literature. Its care and conservation are of great importance to allow access to the collection both now and in the future. The collection had suffered significant damage over the course of its history, most notably from two fires and unsuitable historical restoration treatments. This article discusses a project undertaken at the British Library to develop a strategy for the long-term preservation of the burnt Cotton Collection whilst increasing accessibility to the collection, and to provide a knowledge base for use when considering conservation of other similarly-damaged parchment manuscripts.The initial stage of the project involved a condition survey of the burnt volumes of the Cotton Collection, identifying those items which needed to be withdrawn from immediate use in the library due to their fragility. The results of ...

A fragile remnant of an illuminated music manuscript on parchment was found sewn on to a paper court register from a small town in East Yorkshire. The parchment folio was taken from a rare York Breviary, and had extensive illumination undertaken in a style typical of fourteenth-century French manuscript production. The paper of the court register had watermarks that placed it towards the end of the sixteenth century. This composite artefact arrived in the archives without a binding and it is not known how the two different parts came to be together. The damage sustained by the parchment folio rendered it unusable, and treatment with as little moisture as possible was desired. The treatment described here is focused on lining the parchment folio using remoistenable tissue and methyl cellulose. The limitations posed by parchment with extensive deterioration, and the criteria used in the treatment decisions, are discussed.

In this paper, I read Terry Westby-Nunn's The Sea of Wise Insects as an example of the literary mode identified increasingly by scholars as South African postcolonial Gothic. In line with existing research, I work from a definition of the gothic genre which casts it as highly culturally specific and shaped by the anxieties of the society in which it arises. In Westby-Nunn's narrative these fears are enmeshed in the South African past, and revolve, more specifically, around the extent to which history's bearing on the present has become a dangerous point of repression. My argument traces a transgenerational logic of traumatic transmission, which situates the unspoken crimes of an old generation at the psychic nerve-centre of Westby-Nunn's contemporary protagonist, a strategy which disrupts any illusion of a stable boundary between the injustice of ‘then’ and the liberation of ‘now’. Finally, I suggest that through the deployment of an aesthetic which draws on the gothic sub-genre of horror-writing, Westby-...

This study combines site-specific in situ analytical techniques with non-site-specific reflectance imaging spectroscopy and multispectral infrared reflectography to characterize pigments and underdrawing materials in fragile, light-sensitive illuminated manuscripts. In situ methods implemented in this study included fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy and x-ray fluorescence, as well as multispectral visible and near-infrared reflectance imaging spectroscopy and multispectral infrared reflectography. Imaging spectroscopy was used to map areas having similar diffuse reflectance spectra, and the site-specific methods were used to further identify the primary pigments present. This combined approach was used to examine an illumination by Lorenzo Monaco (ca. 1370–1422 or after) and his workshop on the Praying Prophet, in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC (NGA), from an early-15th-century gradual on parchment (codex H74) currently at the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Flo...

The Chancery pleadings are the largest single series of parchment records to have survived the fire in the Public Record office in 1922 during the Irish civil war. To date, 5265 fire-damaged administrative and legal parchment documents dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have been part of a long-term conservation programme at the National Archives of Ireland. The conservation work involves removing the surface dirt, humidification of the skins, reshaping and repairing damage. The challenge of reshaping and flattening the damaged skins was met with a creative adaptation of the traditional parchment-maker's frame and the conservation clip and pin method. The humidified document is attached to cushioned spring clips that have Velcro straps, locking to the strip of Velcro around the edge of a wooden stretcher or board.

This article explores issues concerning the conservation of the post-Byzantine Patriarchal sigillia (deeds on parchment) in the collections of the General State Archives of Greece. These are documents of considerable size, often with an elaborate tongue-like projection and a pedant lead seal, typically folded to create a small package. Various materials are involved in their structure, which affects their condition. Folding practices have resulted in severe creasing and planar distortions, while the hanging system and the pendant seal often cause serious mechanical damage. The component parts could not be separated during conservation procedures, influencing decisions about treatment and intervention. Opening the substrate flat without altering or destroying original features, or affecting the materials involved, is a challenging task. Storage and hinging methods were developed to provide support without loss of original features.

Documentation of industrial arts within dictionaries, encyclopaedias and treatises has recorded parchment-making practices observed in eighteenth-century France. If understood within the context in which they were produced, the accounts in the treatises of Lalande and the Encyclopedie of Diderot and d'Alembert have the potential to contribute substantially to knowledge of historical practice. Significant information may also be found in the Dictionnaire universel de commerce of Savary des Brulons and the treatise of Dessables. Together, these texts provide a clear description of parchment-making techniques at a time when trade practices were standardized but had not yet been modernized through industrialization. Comparative examination of the instructions for each stage of production offers a detailed account of how practitioners may have carried out these activities. Such investigation is particularly informative when these stages are also considered within the continuum of ancient, medieval and...

This article describes conservation of the ninth-century Stuttgart Psalter, Wurttembergische Landesbibliothek, which contains over 300 illuminations on parchment. Some of the illuminations were consolidated with a special brush and sturgeon glue. The spine of the manuscript was released from synthetic glue with Laponite. Two types of repair tissue were used, both of them protein-based, handmade and reproducible in terms of thickness and components. Some losses were filled with handmade goldbeater's skin. Losses due to corrosion of the copper green pigment occur throughout the manuscript; these parts were stabilized with reconstituted parchment with a thickness of 0.03mm (1.4g·m−2). This represents a refinement of existing techniques to create a much thinner sheet than is typically used. Because the hide powder had changed in quality over the years, the preparation procedure needed to be adapted. For highly valuable manuscripts with copper green corrosion, this lightweight reconstituted parchment ...

In 1992 a group working with Jan Wouters developed a method to fill lacunae on badly damaged parchments, using a process similar to that used for paper. On a vacuum table a suspension of originally animal collagen fibres creates a layer of a material known as ‘reconstituted parchment’. This article summarizes experience of the technique gleaned from 20 years' practice in a workshop specializing in parchment restoration. Particular emphasis is placed on the fabrication of this fibre suspension: several modifications are presented, and its application to a variety damage types is described. The classic technique of wet-casting on to the object as well as the application of prefabricated ‘reconstituted parchment’ with various adhesives is discussed, as is dyeing of the infill.

An unusual feature of nineteenth-century leather-covered baskets from Franconia (Bavaria) is the combination of materials used in their manufacture: willow skein basketry, leather and coloured parchment together with decoration, such as metal thread embroidery, thin leather straps and quills. This article presents the results of the detailed investigation into the technology and materials of four baskets from the folk art collection of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg. The inseparable nature of this combination of materials, once constructed, makes the conservation of this type of basketry especially challenging. The range of treatment options evaluated is discussed in detail as well as the constraints imposed by the composite nature of the baskets and by conflicting ethical considerations. The treatment strategy that was eventually decided upon reflected a constructive compromise between opposing needs.

The book is tripartite and symbolizes me alone. The parchment that encloses it betokens my pure, white, and just humanity that suffered death for you. The words betoken my tremendous divinity that ...

This article describes the conservation of parchment enclosure awards, outlining treatments used in the first stage of a project to improve access to documents that are not easy to consult. Multi-membrane items attached together with shellac seals are problematic and present one of the most difficult challenges that an archive conservator will have to face.

The paper describes the condition and treatment of a twelfth‐century English manuscript originally from Winchcombe Abbey in Gloucestershire. The manuscript suffered from the poor attachment of ink layers to the parchment support, particularly in the outer leaves which had been exposed to high relative humidity, causing entire letters to become detached. During treatment both parchment and ink were examined; the ink was subjected to three forms of analysis, Raman spectroscopy, attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infra‐red (ATR‐FTIR) spectroscopy and X‐ray fluorescence (XRF), in all three iron was present. The parchment was tested for hydrothermal stability and its average shrinkage temperature was found to be 43.4°C, indicating that it was in medium state of degradation. Four other twelfth‐century Winchcombe manuscripts were examined, all were found to have suffered this problem to some extent, suggesting that the same ink recipes and similar storage conditions were the cause of the phe...

The isolation and analysis of DNA from parchment has the potential to provide a great deal of information about the material that was difficult or impossible to obtain before. We review progress in recovering DNA from other ancient and historic materials, and the limited amount of work done so far with parchment and other manuscript material. We discuss the likelihood of being able to recover well preserved DNA from parchment, and the questions that could in principle be addressed. Finally, we comment on the technical advances needed for the field to develop significantly and reliably, and implications for conservators. Resume «Les possibilites d’extraction et d’exploitation de l’ADN du parchemin: un examen des possibilites et des obstacles» L’isolement et l’analyse de l’ADN du parchemin peut potentiellement fournir un grand nombre d’informations sur la matiere qui etaient difficiles ou impossibles a obtenir auparavant. Nous passons en revue les progres accomplis dans la recuperation de l’ADN d’a...

Split wooden boards are a common problem in early book bindings, and treatment can be complicated by the need to disturb original components as little as possible. A technique used to reinforce or rejoin fully or partially split wooden boards using parchment has been evaluated. A reinforcing parchment strip has sometimes been employed to treat cracks in wooden musical instruments and examples of reinforcing strip repairs to wooden bookboards have also been observed. The books considered in this article presented an opportunity to use this technique and make observations about its merits. With favourable results but some questions, the authors undertook a systematic study of this method, considering and comparing several options for re‐joining split wooden boards. Samples of some common repair techniques were made and subjected to relative humidity cycling to compare how each method might withstand extreme RH fluctuations at a constant temperature. The response of reinforcing strip repairs to RH c...

English Heritage's presentation policy is to display more of its extensive collections on the sites with which they are associated. Many of the buildings have suffered the ravages of time and have far from ideal environments. A series of climate-controlled enclosures has been developed to allow safe exhibition of artefacts, while providing access to visitors who would be unlikely to visit a major museum. Archaeological metals deteriorate rapidly in the damp environments inside many historic buildings and a low-maintenance showcase design, incorporating silica gel, has been developed and tested extensively. With a combination of careful showcase design, comprehensive testing and refitting and mechanical conditioning, vulnerable tapestries, parchment documents, panel paintings and leather have been provided with closely controlled environments in damp, widely fluctuating buildings. Microclimate frames have been developed and evaluated over 10 years to protect sensitive panel paintings and prints in ...

This paper was originally delivered at "The Changing Book: Transitions in the Design, Production & Repair", in At the University of Iowa, in July 2005. It was subsequently published in the journal Collection Management 31:1&2, in 2007. The Kennicott Bible is one of the greatest treasures of medieval Jewish bookmaking in Spain. It survives in its original Spanish box binding, in which the back board of the book forms a box which encloses the whole bookblock when the book is closed. Only a handful of these bindings survive and this one of the best preserved. The separation of the back board from the bookblock in recent years required a very neat, skillful repair that did not disturb the original structure but which gave sufficient support to this large book to allow it to be handled safely. Chris Clarkson treated this book according to the principle of minimum intervention repairs, i.e. repairs which are designed to allow the original elements of a book structure to survive undisturbed. The concept of the minimum intervention repair has been developed by Chris Clarkson himself and is now common practice in the profession. The specific work was successfully completed and this is a report of this work. Article Abstract: The Kennicott Bible was made at Corunna in northwest Spain for Isaac de Braga. It was written by a famous scribe named Moses ibn Zabara, who completed the work in 1476. The illuminations were executed by Joseph ibn Hayyim. The manuscript has an extremely rare, highly decorated and contemporary Hispano-Moresque box-binding. Clarkson describes aspects of the parchment, text and outstanding illuminations as well as the construction of the box binding. He concludes with a description of conservation problems, such as consolidation of the decorative layers within the text-block and stabilization of the unique binding.

In two articles in 1983, Menahem Haran suggested that the Hebrew root .. proves that papyrus was the writing material in pre-exilic times and that the shift from papyrus to parchment happened during the Second Temple Period. Using evidence from various Hebrew and Phoenician inscriptions, Haran’s evidence based on the Hebrew root will be shown incorrect. Haran’s conclusion may be correct regarding the use of papyrus; however, the evidence offered does not support the conclusion.

Highly significant evidence of the intellectual and cultural efforts of the human race is contained in documents. They take many forms, from papyri through paper to modern magnetic media and optical records. These items are mainly made of organic materials many of which contain polymers, which span from cellulose and its derivatives to synthetic resins. As with other manmade objects, however, documentary heritage is susceptible to chemical, physical, and biological damage. For the colonization and establishment of any biological community, the composition of materials used, their status of conservation, and environmental and climatic factors, such as temperature and humidity, are important elements to take into account. This article covers the scientific investigation of microbial degradation of documents, which is one of the most serious and underappreciated sources of damage to library and archival materials. In particular, although less known, modern records, including compact discs, are also subjected to biodeterioration. Archival and library material preservation broadly encompasses those activities and functions designed to produce a suitable and safe environment that extends the life of collections in useable condition for as long as is feasible. In the literature quoted, key information is also provided to avoid or limit microbial growth and some conservation treatments are also reported.

Palimpsest is a good word in the urban lexicon. When mediaeval scriptoria ran short of parchment, the scribe would recycle an existing manuscript, scrape off its previous content and write over the...

Summary Transparent papers have been made since the Middle Ages and their production and use have evolved since then through to the present day. The first supports, paper and parchment, were made transparent by impregnation with oily or resinous substances and destined for domestic and artistic uses. The beginning of the nineteenth century was a turning point in the production of transparent papers with the appearance of the first parchment papers and the search for new methods of production of paper. The papermaking industry discovered new papers such as natural tracing, imitation parchment and glassine papers. In this article, historical study based on published sources is complemented by an analytical protocol carried out on a large group of samples of transparent papers. Analytical results are compared with information from published sources in order to verify whether there is a true correlation between the two.

Summary The treatments of two similar parchment Coptic manuscript fragments at two different institutions are compared in this article. Both treatments involved the use of a remoistenable mending material—fish swim bladder membrane, or a fine Japanese tissue. Differences in the mending rationales are discussed and treatment innovations elaborated. Other factors impinging on treatment decision-making, beyond the conservation needs of the individual pieces, are also discussed.

The aim of this study is testing different new types of parchment materials during thermo-oxidative ageing at 70°C temperature, as well as under UV radiation at 50°C. The changes have been monitored by the physical–chemical tests, UV–VIS and FT–IR spectra, color and thermal analysis.Based on these experiments the corresponding types of parchment have been selected in order to assure appropriate protection of patrimony materials.

The Archimedes Palimpsest, the earliest surviving copy of the treatises of Archimedes, is currently the focus of a major conservation, digital imaging and transcription project based at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. The tenth-century manuscript, which contains the text and diagrams of seven of Archimedes’s theorems, was taken apart in the twelfth century and the parchment sheets were recycled for the making of a Christian prayer book. The manuscript is in extremely poor condition, damaged by fire and water, as well as by mold which has stained and perforated the parchment. Four leaves containing the rarest texts of Archimedes are covered over by forged miniatures that were added sometime after 1929. This paper describes the work that is being done currently to disbind the palimpsest and prepare the bifolia for imaging. The removal of adhesive residues, including animal glue and a poly(vinyl acetate) emulsion, and the stabilization of mold-damaged areas, are discussed. Multi-spectral imaging...

The Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) was contracted by the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore to assess the state of deterioration and identify the material components of the Archimedes Palimpsest and to identify effective solvents for removal of modem binding adhesive prior to disbinding for image analysis of the Archimedes text. This paper discusses the assessment of the current state of preservation of the parchment, using shrinkage temperature measurements and time-lapse video photography; the identification of materials, including adhesives, residues and accretions; the investigation of solvent systems to remove the modern adhesive; the identification of the tenth- and twelfth-century inks; and a study of the viability of mould found on the palimpsest.

Cartographers, like any artists, must learn to live inside the technical constraints of their medium. At one point, portolan charts were drawn on parchment with quill pens. The printing press opene...