News about medieval manuscripts, rare books and other special collections from the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford
The Bodleian’s Conservation and Collection Care team, in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of the Book, is embarking on a year of discovery in the field of Textiles in Libraries. The scope of this project is wide, from embroidered bindings to endbands, including textiles found between the pages, covering or wrapped around the … Continue reading “Textiles in Libraries: Context and Conservation”
from Arthur Green, Conservation & Collection Care The Abinger papers are a substantial part of three generations of the Godwin and Shelley family archive, and were the last third of the archive to remain in private hands. The papers were purchased by the University in 2004 with the support of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the … Continue reading “Affectionately yours, William Godwin – The Abinger Papers Conservation Project – Phase one.”
– from Marinita Stiglitz and Robert Minte, Conservation & Collection Care, Bodleian Library. Since making our first blogpost on the Selden Map of China the conservation treatment continues to reveal some interesting aspects of the Map’s previous restoration. After removal of the early 20th century textile lining and application of a temporary facing, the map … Continue reading “Selden Map of China – conservation news and colloquium”
For about a year, I was looking forward to attending this symposium, which was organised by the Department of Scientific Research at the British Museum, with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This was an unprecedented effort to gather conservators, conservation scientists and curators to present and discuss one of the most fascinating aspects … Continue reading ““The Technical Examination of Old Master Drawings: a symposium in conservation science”, Clore Centre, British Museum, 20th May 2010”
The Institute of Conservation’s (Icon) first ever conference “CF10: Conservation in Focus” was recently held in Cardiff, Wales’ vibrant capital city, to consider the broad theme of UK Conservation – past, present and future. The conference aimed to: Advance and share knowledge about conservation issues in and beyond Icon’s members. To have an enjoyable conference … Continue reading “CF10: Conservation in Focus. Icon Conference, Cardiff University 24-26 March 2010”
Conservation work has recently started on two manuscripts containing the works of St. Anselm dating from the twelfth century. St. Anselm is arguably the most significant theologian and author ever to hold the office of Archbishop of Canterbury. He died on 21 April 1109, and 900 years later the Bodleian Library held a colloquium on … Continue reading “Early Manuscripts of Anselm: conservation begins”
In the first episode of the second series of BOOKNESS, the Bodleian team speaks to book artist Paul Johnson about his work Dies Natalis. Listen to the episode here. If you take a conventional book… the pages don’t change… but when you come to pop-up engineering… it’s rather like being in a theatre… there are … Continue reading “BOOKNESS speaks to Paul Johnson”
Conserving a Mughal Album from the Shahjahan period (MS. Douce Or. a. 1.) by Julia Bearman, Senior Paper Conservator, Bodleian Library. Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library in 1834 by antiquary and bibliophile Francis Douce, MS. Douce Or. a. 1 is the earliest album within the Libraries’ Mughal collection. The album was assembled in the 17th century … Continue reading “Under the microscope”
In the third podcast in the series, BOOKNESS talks to poet and artist Stephen Emmerson about his work Translation of Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge, a paperback novel ‘translated’ into mushrooms. Listen to the episode here. In transforming, playing, or recomposing books, I’m trying to reconnect with the magic of it. I kept it … Continue reading “BOOKNESS speaks to Stephen Emmerson”
For our first artist interview in this series, BOOKNESS talks to book designer and artist Ben Denzer, about his work 20 Slices, a book created from Kraft American cheese. Listen to the episode here. This is already basically a book … these things look like pages, they’re kind of packed together, there’s an order, all I … Continue reading “BOOKNESS speaks to Ben Denzer”