Owner: Jean Cocteau Museum (Menton, France). Object: Adami sketches, three oversized drawings on Canson-type paper and caseine media. Measures: 200 x 150 cm. Author: Valerio Adami. Date: 1992. Damages: Cockling and stains due to a flood. Conservation treatment: Wet cleaning … Continue reading
Conservation of a manuscript with a palimpsest limp vellum binding with flap. The flap and other missing parts are reconstructed after conservation. Continue reading
Owner: Historical Archive of Lleida (Catalonia), National Archive of Catalonia, Government of Catalonia. Object: Limp vellum binding mansucript. Rolled sewing on parchment. The covers are a re-used manuscript (disjecta membra). “Manual notarial d’Andreu Soler” (notes by notary Andreu Soler). Date: … Continue reading
What does a paper conservator do? Whom does she work for? What skills and knowledge does she ought to have?
Preservation and conservation, a field linked to science, history and arts and crafts. A video explains what differenciates us from forgers and shows -among other- how we produce a hand-made suction table to restore paper artifacts, with loads of creativity, a feature most necessary to become book and paper conservator. Continue reading
Not uncommon to find waste material as part of a binding (parchment manuscripts, for instance), but quite much rare when the previous and original binding is part of the boards layers of the current recycled binding!
The outer and visible binding belonged first to a former book, and the hidden binding, to the current, one… crazy! Continue reading
Owner: Regional Archive of La Segarra (Cervera, Spain), Government of Catalonia. Object: Medieval manuscript on laid paper with limp vellum binding in reverse parchment, with flap and alum tawed leather tackets sealing the turnings. Sewing on two leather tackets. Date: … Continue reading
Event: Conference Book Conservation: One Philosophy, Many Interpretations. Organization: ERC (European Research Centre for Book and Paper Conservation-Restoration) and the University for Continuing Education, Krems (Austria). Donau-Universität Krems, Die Universität für Weiterbildung. Lecture: Sew it, rather than paste it! Sew … Continue reading
Conservation of a ithographic print from 1922, a poster of the 2nd edition of the car race “Armangué Trophy”, organized by the Royal Motorcycle Club of Catalonia. Continue reading
Event: INTACH lectures (#52). Organization: INTACH, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. Lecture: Reversibility in book and paper conservation. It is in fact a revisiting of the same lecture given at the Cores Symposium, organized by Syntrawest, Vlaanderen Departement … Continue reading
Organization: Icon Book and Paper Group (London). Webinar series Conservation Together At Home #31. Lecture: Conservation of Impregnated Tracing Paper. This lecture was held first in the Hague (Netherlands), in the Symposium Technical Drawings and Reproductions, organized by Restauratoren Nederland … Continue reading
Some projects are extremely complex regarding the ethical professional decision making, and this is certainly one of the toughests!
Rather than trimming the original beautiful bindings with marbled edges, some facsimile dust-jackets were made to protect the books, that were also restored preserving all their features. Continue reading
A lockdown is kind of stoping any activity, and that is what I have done, a stop-motion video, showing the full conservation treatment of a paper document. Continue reading
Impregnated, prepared, vellum or oiled papers are different names for this type of tracing paper that was produced by coating the paper with a varnish in order to make it translucent. Continue reading
Owner: Association of Architects of Catalonia (CoAC). Commissioned by: Sitges Museums (Sitges, Spain). Object: Impregnated tracing paper architectural drawing. Author: Lluís Domènech i Montaner, catalan architect (1850-1923). Damages: Yellowing, fragmented artwork, wrinkles, tears, pressure sensitive tapes (several types), ball-point pen inscriptions. Conservation treatment: Varnish … Continue reading