Greetings, everyone. University College London—Special Collections is stabilising and rehousing a collection of 160 manuscript parchment fragments retrieved mainly from medieval and early modern bindings. These fragments have different provenances. Two XII-century fragments are quite translucent / transparent and seem to have been impregnated with an oily / waxy substance that migrates to the adjacent paper enclosure. We know that spermaceti and methanol have been used in the past to help turn parchment more flexible and easy to flatten, but other methods may have been employed.
Due to copper corrosion our aim is to stabilise detachments before re-housing the fragments in a bespoke enclosure. Knowledge of previous practices and related further conservation treatments would put us on the way to further analysis before deciding on the course of action. Would you care to share your knowledge and experience on similar cases? I’ll gladly share pictures on request. Thank you, Laurent Cruveillier, Paper Conservator [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ****** Unsubscribe by sending a message to [email protected] Searchable archives: http://cool.conservation-us.org/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/
