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They may have dim lights, or lights which are only turned on briefly when somebody wants to view the object, and fancy illuminated books on display may have the page turned periodically so that one page does not get too much exposure. For this reason manuscripts are kept in low light conditions, even when presented in museum displays. Light can also cause fading of ink and of the pigments used for painting initials or miniatures. It lives permanently sealed between stiff archival transparent sheeting otherwise it would rapidly turn to powder.ġ6th century Spanish page of merchant's accounts on paper, from a private collection. The paper page of accounts on the right may have some interest to paleography, but much less to history because of the large holes in vital bits of the information. Excessive light exposure can also cause discolouration and fragility. Paper is a more fragile medium, subject to the same hazards, but the results of damage may be more drastic. Isn't it funny when it seems that somebody has read a stray thought in your mind and turned it into a research project. Look up the article Dirty Books in Vol.2, Issue 1-2.
A longer article can be found in the Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art. Measuring Medieval Dirt is a fascinating peek at some lateral thinking, in which an art historian has examined how people have used their medieval books of hours by measuring how much muck they have left from their fingers on the pages. With my overheated imagination I look at them and wonder if they still contain medieval DNA! Old parchment becomes rigid and cannot be folded and unfolded, so conditions of handling must also allow for the material to be laid out carefully, which can be a problem for some very odd shaped documents such as long rolls.Ī researcher has teken her interest in greasy fingermarks to a scientific level. Certainly, on some old leaves of books it is possible to see a greasy spot at the page turning point.
OLD MANUSCRIPTS VELLUM ARCHIVE
This may be enforced with varying degrees of stringency, depending on the viewing conditions in the archive and the frequency with which the manuscript that you are interested in is consulted. If you are granted the privilege of handling medieval manuscripts in a library or archive, you may be required to wear white cotton gloves to protect the parchment from moisture, acid and grease from your skin. Another little interesting relic from the dustbins of history.ĭamaged leaf from a 15th century book of hours from Italy, from a private collection. The sad little leaf at left contains an unfinished sketch for a miniature of Pentecost, not that you can work that out from the image here. Humidity can also cause the parchment to wrinkle, discolour and lose its flexibility. The first two can work in collusion, as water or humidity can cause the acids inherent in medieval iron gall ink to dissolve and eat into the underlying parchment. The greatest enemies of parchment, apart from that great medieval hazard of the library burning down, are water, acid and insects. However, with a diminishing and non-renewable cultural heritage resource, extra care is now needed for all surviving material to ensure that any further losses are minimised.
England's most famous book, Domesday Book, was consulted in its original form for centuries and entries copied out at the behest of folks who thought, often incorrectly, that it gave them some rights or privileges. Liturgical books and books of hours have been thumbed through every day for decades and still survive, or at least the pages do even after the bindings have disintegrated. Manuscripts written on parchment or vellum have proved to be remarkably robust under the right conditions.
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