September 2024: Newnham College Library visit

Our September 2024 meeting was an in-person visit to Newnham College Library to explore the main library, the Rare Books room, and two of the exhibitions displayed in the building. The CLG was split into small groups to take the tour, to minimise disruption to the small number of library users working at desks, before the rest of the college returned at the start of term.

The first stop was the Jaffé exhibition, a display on female wood engravers. The works of multiple artists were shown not just with book illustrations and title covers, but also wood engraving tools, loose drawings, and a small, sewn red horse, which was a character in a children’s book displayed next to it. Many of the engravers had a link to Newnham, and many of the items displayed came from donations to the college. The exhibition itself was located in a corridor in the library building, but separated from users by a door, so that visitors could discuss the displayed works without disrupting anyone’s studying. The librarian had put a lot of thought into how to set up the display, including where the average visitor’s eyeline would rest, having a mix of items to look at, and ensuring adequate lighting. Her usual method when accepting donations was to only accept one of each book, but she made an exception for a certain title, as one copy was perfectly, printed, and the other showed red ink mixed in with black as the result of a printing error. Wood engraving and printing often create identical images, but these small differences due to ink or process issues allow for uniqueness in books to occur. 

                                                               Newnham College Library

Next was a tour of the library itself. We started in the old part of the building, which had an intriguing combination of high, vaulted ceilings, engraved with publisher’s marks, above cosy studying nooks where desks sat surrounded by bookshelves on three sides. Locked cases had been incorporated into the shelves to display rare titles. The chairs were old and wooden, so the library had brought in newer, adaptive chairs in some areas. There was also a soft seating area, incorporated into the old architecture, for students to take a break from work. However, after passing a display on dissertation and work/life balance books, we crossed into the modern addition to the library. The design kept the same high vaulted ceilings and space structure but used metal and glass to give the section a newer feel. This space also housed DVDs, newspapers, graphic novels, and boards for students to display book recommendations. 

We then visited the Bletchley exhibition. Like Jaffé, it was also housed in a corridor that was slightly closed off from the library. Along one side of the corridor were bright displays of information and photos, positioned on a shelf that had been carved to resemble a strip of computer code. On the other side was a display case of letters, several of which discussed using Cambridge linguistics students to help with code breaking and other tasks during the war. 

The last part of the tour was the Rare Books room, where the librarian explained the recent renovations made to the room. The biggest changes were the skylight being covered over, and insulation being added to the walls, which had the unfortunate effect of bringing the walls closer in and therefore reducing shelf space. The books were removed during the renovation, but were slowly being added back in, shelved alongside books of similar height to maximise space and reduce book warping. The librarians were also creating detailed records of where the books were shelved as they put them back on the shelves, so that rare books (most without spine labels) would be easier to locate in the future. 

The visit was a very enjoyable one, which let the CLG explore the library that users visited daily, the exhibitions that drew in curious visitors, and the storage of rare books so that the library could continue to provide research services. 

Post contributed by Erin Hutton, Senior Library Assistant, Cambridge University Library

July 2024: Visit to the Cambridge Colleges' Conservation Consortium (CCCC)

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.

Image 1: MS 328, an example of Romanesque sewing. (By permission of The Fellow Librarian, Corpus Christi College,  Cambridge).

 

Image 2: MS 328 sewing stations. (By permission of The Fellow Librarian, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge).

Image 3: MS 328 set up on a sewing frame. (By permission of The Fellow Librarian, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge).

 

Image 4: The caoutchouc binding was popular in the mid-19^th Century but most examples have now fallen apart. By permission of The Master and Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

 

Image 5: The beautifully finished case, still intact. By permission of The Master and Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

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.