Book conservation involves a tough decision making regarding usability and long term preservation handling.
Sometimes we are dealing with fragmentology, or disjecta membra (fragments of written supports are re-used as part of a binding, with a diverse purpose from the first use) whereas in other cases the purpose is the same, and the whole binding is being recycled to bind a different book.
Incunabula and manuscripts with laced-case and limp vellum bindings are studied. Continue reading →
Book conservation involves a tough decision making regarding usability and long term preservation handling.
Sometimes we are dealing with fragmentology, or disjecta membra (fragments of written supports are re-used as part of a binding, with a diverse purpose from the first use) whereas in other cases the purpose is the same, and the whole binding is being recycled to bind a different book.
Incunabula and manuscripts with laced-case and limp vellum bindings with rolled sewing on parchment are studied. 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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
COURSES > Conservation and Repair of Damaged Books Course: Conservation and repair of damaged books. Duration: Workshop with 4 theoretic and practical sessions (16 hours) Organization: Barcelona Libraries. Venue: Library Montserrat Abelló (Barcelona, Spain). Language: Catalan. Date: November 13th, 20th, 27th and … Continue reading →
Event: First International Conference on Preservation of the Written Heritage. Lecture: A possible solution for paperback bindings. Organization: Gazi Husrev-bey’s Library, Sarajevo (Bosnia i Hercegovina). Venue: National Library of Bosnia (Gazi Husrev-begova Biblioteka). Audience: Book and paper conservators, librarians, historians, … Continue reading →
Owner: Alcon-Cusí Museum (Royal Academy of Pharmacy of Catalonia). Object: Choir book, an oversized manuscript on parchment. The bookbinding is full leather on wooden boards with brass edges, as well as clasps, also in brass. There was a contemporary bookmark … Continue reading →
COURSES > Conservation and Repair of Damaged Books Course: Conservation and repair of damaged books. Duration: Workshop with 3 theoretic and practical sessions (12 hours) Organization: Barcelona Libraries. Venue: Library Montserrat Abelló (Barcelona, Spain). Language: Catalan. Date: November 15, 22nd and December … Continue reading →
Event: 20th anniversary of the conservation laboratory from CRAI, University of Barcelona. Speech: From the master to the apprentice, an unfinished training. Organization: Centre de Recerca per a l’Aprenentatge i la Investigació de la Universitat de Barcelona (CRAI, UB). Venue: Chemistry and Physics … Continue reading →
Event: Cores Symposium. Dilemmas: Between cherishing damage and cleaning up this mess. Restorers, collection managers and researchers on conservation and restoration. Lecture: Reversible vs Irreversible. Organization: Syntrawest, Vlaanderen Departement Cultuur, Jeugd en media Venue: State Archives, Brugge (Belgium). Audience: Paper conservators, curators, historians, librarians, archivists. … Continue reading →
Owner: Association of Architects of Catalonia (CoAC). Object: Bound manuscript with inlaid lock. Full leather renaissance binding with brass bosses and clasps, and an iron lock on both covers. It has blind tooling decoration (rectangles and flowers). Laid paper pages. … Continue reading →
Owner: Youth Documentary Center – Direcció General de Joventut. Generalitat de Catalunya (catalan government). Artefact: Joan Ballester Collection, paperback books (or perfect bound books) about boy-scouts movement (s.XIX-XX).
