Our July 2024 meeting was an in-person visit to the
Cambridge Colleges’ Conservation Consortium (CCCC), a not-for-profit
collaborative body that undertakes conservation and preservation work for
fifteen Cambridge College libraries and archives.
Their laboratory is at Corpus Christi College, where we met the Head of
Conservation Flavio Marzo. He took us on a brief tour of the college in the
evening sunlight, explaining that the presence of the Parker Library has led to
the Consortium having a natural home here. We then moved on to the lab in Free
School Lane where we learnt about some projects in progress.
I'm a retired librarian, now learning bookbinding and repair, and I was
absolutely fascinated by the range of challenges that the conservators take on.
We learnt that the bulk of CCCC work is mainly with manuscripts and early
printed books on parchment or paper. With the understanding that the main aim
of conservation work is to conserve and not necessarily restore, Flavio
explained that in their lab, 'finishing' a binding including gold tooling etc.,
is rarely required.
Flavio said that the work needed is often related to the bindings, not the
content, which may be relatively intact, though knowledge of paper and
parchment damage and repair was clearly essential. As an example, we saw a
large volume with damaged corners simply because the book block was not
supporting them. The solution in this case will probably be a custom-made box.
He showed us several examples of poor binding practice possibly from a single
binder (or bindery) in Cambridge many years ago, which has thrown up issues for
the conservators of today.
A fascinating project is the re-binding of a
11-12th century Parker manuscript MS 328 that had been taken apart to be digitised. Using materials and methods
sympathetic to the original, Flavio is re-sewing the book on two single alum
tawed split thongs with herring bone sewing with reinforced kettle stitches, the
technique based on a contemporary binding examined in Winchester Cathedral
Library, the place of origin of the manuscript now under re-binding. The bound
book-block will be then laced to new wooden boards and covered with alum tawed
leather. He described some of the incredibly detailed observation and research
necessary to get to this point. (See Images 1-3).
On his desk now, Flavio is reconstructing a beautifully illustrated mid-19th century
case-bound book consisting of a series of separate sheets bound at the spine
with a latex glue. It’s called a caoutchouc binding Etherington &
Roberts. Dictionary--caoutchouc binding (culturalheritage.org). As is common with this early type of adhesive
binding, the glue had dried out and the book has fallen apart. His challenge is
to secure the spine with a minimum of swell using tiny strips of Japanese
paper, so that it fits back into its original case. (See Images 4 and 5).
We also talked about the management challenges that come up when working with
so many different clients, and I was impressed with the elegant solution that
the Consortium uses, where each member College pays annually for a set number of
hours’ worth of work. Also, the task of sourcing the right repair materials,
which can be expensive and hard to find.
Many thanks to Natalie Kent for organising the visit, and of course to Flavio
for being so generous with his time and expertise. It was an incredible
opportunity to see behind the scenes of the work done to preserve and make
accessible some of Cambridge's valuable collections.
Post contributed by Clare Aitken.
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Image 1: MS 328, an example of Romanesque sewing. (By permission of The Fellow Librarian, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge).
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Image 2: MS 328 sewing stations. (By permission of The Fellow Librarian, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge). |
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Image 3: MS 328 set up on a sewing frame. (By permission of The Fellow Librarian, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge).
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Images 1, 2 and 3 of MS 328 by permission of The Fellow Librarian, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Images 4 and 5 of Madeira flowers, fruits and ferns by J.W. Penfold (1845) by permission of The Master and Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
