Category Archives: Book

Challenge of a Millennia: How to Store an Oversized Clay Tablet?

The University of Cincinnati’s Archives and Rare Books Library owns a few cuneiform tablets that date around the 1^st century BCE. Most are small enough to fit within the palm of your hand. However, the clay tablet in question measures 14 inches (W) by 14 inches (T) x 4.5 inches (D) and weighs roughly 40-50 lbs.

Assyrian cornerstone during surface cleaning

More accurately, it is thought to be an Assyrian cornerstone that dates between 860 and 824 BCE. It is described in the catalog record to be from the ruins of Calah (near Ninevah) on the Tigris River. It is likely the cornerstone of a temple or palace erected by Salmanser III, king of Assyria. The provenance of how the University acquired the tablet is uncertain.

A translation of the cuneiform writing reads, ““Salmaneser, the great king, the mighty king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, son of Asurnaserpal, the great king, the mighty king, the king of Assyria, son of Tukulbi-Ninib, king of the universe, king of Assyria, and indeed builder of the temple-tower of the city of Calah.”

Front, Raking Illumination with Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) by Jessica Ebert
Front, Normal Illumination by Jessica Ebert
Back, Raking Illumination by Jessica Ebert
Back, Normal Illumination by Jessica Ebert

After surface cleaning and digitizing the cornerstone, finding suitable storage for an Assyrian cornerstone tablet seemed like a straightforward task in the beginning. I thought, “Let’s get it off the floor, house it, and protect it from dust!” No problem, right?

But once we got the item back in the lab, the weight of the object combined with its fragility proved more of a challenge after Chris, Holly and I began thinking about how the object would be retrieved from storage and how it would be handled. Rather than being stored in specialty shelving (such as items might be in a museum), this item was a library item. We needed to fit the tablet amongst archival book shelving. We were also faced with the prospect of transporting the cornerstone up and down a flight of stairs from the secure rare book storage. There is no easy elevator access! And finally, once it was put in an enclosure, how would a librarian get it out to show researchers and students?

We decided on an industrial case with wheels that could be transported and stored anywhere. I knew I wanted a device with handles to pull the object in and out of the case, but immediately decided against the idea of ratchet straps. The threat of fracturing would be too great if the ratchet straps were over-tightened.

After careful thought (and the creation of mock up solutions!) the following custom design was created in five stages:

1. A waterproof, shock-proof rolling Nanuk 950 case (similar to a Pelican case) was purchased.

2. The interior was customized with foam and supports.

3. The lid was fashioned with a Tyvek pillow screwed to the top with an interior Coroplast sheet.

4. The cornerstone was wrapped around all sides in a foam sheet with four flaps.

5. A cloth wrapper with custom handles was sewn to support the tablet during insertion into and retrieval from the case.

In addition, life-size surrogate photographs were printed by Jessica Ebert and stored in a polyester sleeve within the case. These images may prove even more useful during exhibition or teaching than seeing the actual tablet as they were captured with raking light that beautifully highlights the cuneiform writing. They could even be used as an alternative to handling the heavy tablet.

To help guide future librarians on how to handle the cuneiform tablet in the future, handling instructions were provided, a handling video was created, and a QR code of the video was pasted onto the case. Check out the video below.

I was appreciative to have been able to hearken back to my object’s conservation experience working at the Musical Instrument Museum. My prior experience helped guide me to dust the tablet and store surface cleaning samples, however, this was a project that took me out of my library conservation comfort zone. The knowledge required to house such an object (and the amount of textile sewing used to create the cloth wrapper!) gave me even more appreciation for the work objects and textile conservators do to preserve our oversized and heavy materials – especially when transporting and taking them on and off display!

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer [CHPL] – Rare book and paper conservator

Video by Jessica Ebert

Hidden Treasures in a 1791 English Bible

The lab received a heavy bible in exceptionally bad condition. The spine was almost nonexistent, with the leather fragments that were hanging on “by a thread.” There were many breaks in the sewing and the book block was in many pieces. The boards were also completely detached making it nearly impossible to handle. With pages that were water stained, the culmination of condition issues demonstrated how the bible had been around the block (a couple times!).

While examining the book in preparation for constructing a housing solution, there within the pages I unexpectedly discovered plant specimens! There were quite a few different types. While impossible to know for sure, it seemed to me at one point these specimens were added to mark significant passages. For example, there is a passage in the Christian bible that reads, “And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations,” Revelation 22:2. When I saw the added plant specimens near this passage, my mind immediately went there.

It’s funny how things can trigger thoughts and emotions. With a religious item such as a bible, the dried plant fragments made me imagine how a reader might be moved spiritually to express something they felt deeply in the text in a material way. I was also inspired and glanced at passages beneath the plant specimens seeking out hidden connections. My quest sometimes proved rewarding while others I was left to ponder the hidden meaning.

After rehousing, book is wrapped in foam with cloth ties

The unique plant specimens were retained and stored in polyester sleeves in the same position on each page as they were discovered. Upon the completion of sleeving, I also consolidated and performed minor leather repair and care to prevent leather fragments from falling off. For long-term storage I created an archival blue corrugated clamshell and wrapped the fragile binding in a sheet of polyester foam.

Chris Voynovich [CHPL] – Senior Conservation Assistant

Photography by Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer

Our Wonderful Week with Jeff Peachey: A Recap in Instagram Reels

At the end of October we were lucky enough to have Jeff Peachey come to the Lab for a week-long workshop on Leather Conservation. We covered sewing extensions, joint tacketing, board splitting and cotton hinges, leather rebacks, and knife sharpening. In the weeks following the workshop we shared highlights from the workshop on our Instagram…

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Highlights from the workshop

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Sewing extensions and joint tacketing

And we couldn’t not highlight the master at work (sharpening and paring leather likes its butter) and the amazing tools Jeff makes:

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Leather rebacks, including board slitting, inserting a cloth hinge, lifting the original leather, dyeing the new leather, and paring and attaching the reback.

Finally, conservation ASMR…Jeff Peachey style! Make sure the sound is on for this one…

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We had the best time with Jeff. He is such a knowledgable and approachable instructor, and we learned so much from him. Thanks for coming to the Preservation Lab, Jeff!

Fun fact, did you know that Jeff was inspired by a press we have in the Lab to collaborate with Timothy Moore to create a “perfect all purpose” press that you can buy for your lab or studio?!

Jessica Ebert [UCL] – Social Media Coordinator and Sr. Conservation & Photographic Documentation Specialist

Vestiges of Color in an Album of John Robinson’s Ten Big Shows

John Robinson

John Robinson’s circus was a famous, traveling, family-owned circus’ that toured the United States for 69 years beginning in 1842. The family business stopped touring around 1910 and was officially sold in 1916. It was managed by four generations, all named John Robinson.

Packing up after a show. Image from the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library.

Tillie

As a local tidbit to note, the circus was stationed during the winters near Cincinnati, OH, where the family owners kept Tillie, the beloved elephant. Tillie was said to roam the neighborhood of Terrace Park and was well known in the community and beyond. Many stories were written of heroic accounts and even her ability to “talk”. She was memorialized when she passed in 1932 and a marker can be found at Circus Place in Terrace Park today.

Elephants being forced to perform in John Robinson’s 10 Big Shows. Image from the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

Cincinnati and Hamilton County Photographic Album

A rare photographic album owned by the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library (CHPL) dates to the late 19^th to early 20th century and contains albumen portraits of John Robinson’s circus performers. The images have been fully digitized after receiving treatment to improve legibility at the Preservation Lab. The CHPL Digital Library catalog describes the object as follows:

“Album of 266 photographs of varying sizes. Most are portraits of Robinson family members and of the circus staff and performers. Included are group portraits of the work crew, musicians, clowns, acrobats, novelty acts, and family acts, and circus animals. Many of the individual portraits are of side-show performers such as tattooed men, albinos, women with floor-length hair, dwarfs, etc. Some of these are studio shots that may have been sold or used as advertising. A small number have captions, and the few with dates are from 1901-1909.”

Toned Images

While the content of the images is spellbinding, the album is also unique as many of the photographs appear to be once toned overall with pink, yellow, or orange colors.

An online reference from the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) Preprints in 1980 refers to historic albumen photographs that were dyed and are extremely light sensitive. In the article, James Reilly states, “A great deal of the paper sold during the 1880’s and 1890’s was “doubly albumenized”, i.e., floated twice to obtain maximum gloss. Another common practice was the addition of aniline dyes to the albumen solution. Tinted paper was mainly used for portraits, and the most popular tint appeared to be pink, but various shades of purple, blue and even green were also used. Because the dyes had such poor lightfastness–especially in such dilute solution–most of the dyed paper is difficult to recognize today.” It’s fun to imagine that these tinted papers might have been used to capture and celebrate the lives of circus performers in John Robinson’s 10 big shows.

Many of the colors in the photograph album have faded irregularly, with the pink being the most prominent color remaining. This colored photograph phenomenon does not appear to be widely documented elsewhere as the fugitive dyes were not light-fast. They may have also been susceptible to dark fading and chemical instability. Because these photos were preserved within pages in an album, it’s possible they’ve been protected from light and some of the more chemically stable images have not yet completely faded, allowing us a glimpse of this rare format.

While treatment cannot be performed to recolor the images, some photographs did receive conservation treatment to improve visual legibility. There were nearly 30 images that appeared to have a dark discoloration. These photographs were identified to be missing fragments of paper backings. As a result, the dark album pages behind the photographs were obscuring the visibility of the photographic emulsion layer. Some of the more badly damaged images were carefully lifted, relined and reattached. Others received general surface cleaning. A few examples of improved readability are below.

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer (CHPL) – Special Collections Conservator

References and Resources:

Reilly, James. The History, Technique and Structure of Albumen Prints, AIC Preprints. May 1980. Pp.93-98. https://cool.culturalheritage.org/albumen/library/c20/reilly1980.html

Suess, Jeff. Robinson’s circus wintered in Terrace Park, The Enquirer, Cincinnati.com, published Jan 26, 2017. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2017/01/26/robinsons-circus-wintered-terrace-park/97093392/

The Annual Record of the John Robinson’s 10 big Shows for 1900 is fully digitized at Illinois State where the roster of performers are listed and the program of displays are outlined. (See https://digital.library.illinoisstate.edu/digital/collection/p15990coll5/id/12035). Perhaps some cross examination of resources, such as this one, can lead to the identification of some of the portrait identities. See also https://digital.library.illinoisstate.edu/digital/collection/p15990coll5/id/11909.

Circus posters:

Additional articles:

A librarian’s new favorite teaching tool? A historical book model!

A before image of the original Book of Hours, open to the center. The image shows that the sewing is broken and leaves are detaching.

In February 2019, the Lab received a unique item at the special collections’ meetings for the UC Libraries, a Book of Hours (ms.37) from 1475 from the Archives and Rare Books Library. I was so excited when this book came into the Lab.

This 15^th century Book of Hours was in poor condition and in need of conservation treatment. Not only was the binding structure failing and the text block broken in half, but this book was also heavily used as a teaching tool at the ARB library, and in its current condition it could not be safely handled. This was the perfect project for Ashleigh and I to collaborate.

From the beginning, it was decided that in conjunction with the conservation treatment of the Book of Hours, I would create a book model like the original Book of Hours, to be used as a teaching tool in the ARB library collection. In addition, the model would have a leather chemise, a common feature in some Book of Hours of the time.

Image of the book of hours model closed. The chemise is attached to the lower board, but not the upper board. — The Book of Hours MODEL with a removable chemise.

Now here is where this story begins with the model of the Book of Hours. Often, here in the lab, we all create book models for various reasons: to learn about a new treatment, test different treatment options, to understand how some materials work together, and as teaching tools.

As a teaching tool in the ARB library collection, this model needed to resemble the original Book of Hours in its structure and materials used.

The primary goal for this model was to show how a Book of Hours was historically built, its sewing structure, the materials used, and also to provide the ARB library with a book that could be easily handled by students and scholars.

Once the treatment for the Book of Hours was fully established and confirmed with the ARB curator, I was able to start working on the book model. I will save you form reading about all the different steps of making the model, but here are the main features of model:

Text block

Primary support – Khadi paper white cotton rag
Endsheets with leather hinge – Two bifolios of calligraphy goat parchment skin wrapped along the spine edge with a hinge of Allum tawed leather (later would be used as pastedowns)
Sewing – Sewn on three double raised cords with a linen 18/3 thread. The dimensions of the text block and sewing holes, were guided from the original sewing holes of the Book of Hours.
Endbands – Primary conservation endband with the bead on the spine, and secondary endband with the bead on the text block.
Spine linings:
- Reversible layer of Usu Gami thin and Zen Shofu wheat starch paste.
- Slotted Airplane cotton cloth with flanges to be used as board attachments.

Cover

Boards – Oak wood
Board attachment – Boards were laced with the sewing supports through carved channels
Covering material – Full alum tawed leather binding with removable chemise
Clasps – Brass tension clasps (these were created in-house by Chris Voynovich, and he did an amazing job).

Overall image of the model — Upper cover.

There was no evidence that the original Book of Hours had clasps, but the curator requested tension clasps for the book model. Clasps were common in the 15^th century bookbinding, and this would provide the students with the experience of handling a book with clasps and allow them to understand their function.

Image of the spine of the model — pine with three raised bands, bottom weighted.

Image of the fore edge of the model — pine with three raised bands, bottom weighted.

The curator also requested that one of the pastedowns be kept unattached, so the students could see how the boards were attached to the text block and that they were wooden boards.

In addition, I created a removable chemise, also requested by the curator of the ARB library. In some Books of Hours, it was common to have a leather chemise, but most often they were not removable. The chemise was created from a vegetable tanned goat split skin.

Image of just the chemise — Removable suede chemise

Gif of the chemise on and off the model. — The chemise in action.

Video tutorial of how to put on and remove the chemise from the model.

Stay tuned for a future blog post where we will dive into the conservation treatment and research we did on the Book of Hours (ms.37).

Catarina Figueirinhas (UCL) —- Assistant Conservator

Photographic Documentation by Catarina Figueirinhas and Jessica Ebert

Our New Website is LIVE!

Check it out: www.thepreservationlab.org

Vesalius in the news (plus a RTI cameo)

The Preservation Lab has enjoyed our involvement in the Vesalius lecture series and exhibits including preparing the loan agreements, leading and assisting with photographic documentation, and providing spectral and computational imaging to the Vesalius researchers and lecturers.

Some of this work made a guest appearance on the FoxNews 19 segment, starring Dr. Stephen Joffe, on the three rare books that had been on view in December in the Winkler Center.

To view the full news segment visit this website.

Te learn more about upcoming lectures visit this website,

Holly Prochaska (UCL) —- Preservation Librarian

An Oversized Enclosure that “Slays”

Winter is approaching here in Cincinnati, far too quickly for my taste! But at the Lab we have been thinking about a winter staple a bit differently… The sled! A book sled, that is. This open-topped carrier of bound treasures has become the newest edition to our enclosure family. It is perfect for housing oversized books to be stored flat, as it enables easy transport of these large tomes, without adding too much extra weight.

The sled has been honed and developed over the years by conservation professionals, but it has its roots at the Newberry in Chicago, where they were used to house their large antiphonary collection. I had the privilege of working at the Newberry prior to joining the incredible team here at The Preservation Lab, so the idea of starting to create book sleds at the Lab has been lurking at the back of my mind. At the Newberry, I was able to create my very first book sled, and understand the simple, yet highly functional structure.

Photo of a sled at the Newberry Library courtesy of Henry Harris.

The book sled was refined by Ann Lindsey and Melina Avery from the University of Chicago when they treated and housed a 52-pound antiphonary from their collection. They were able to design a sled with additional walls and stronger reinforcements. Chris Saclolo from the University of Central Florida further enhanced the book sled by adding wall reinforcements and a removable lower tray.

When the Lab received an elephant folio from the University of Cincinnati Classic’s Library that needed treatment and housing, we were able to create the very first book sled at our Lab! Housing a book over 20 inches tall is no easy feat, so we were thrilled to be able to use the experience and advice from our fellow conservation professionals. I worked alongside Chris Voynovich and Catarina Figueirinhas (because 3 minds are so much better than 1) where we problem solved, planned, and constructed this large book sled. The finished sled design closely follows Saclolo’s recommendations, with minor adjustments to the tray, as our book did not have bosses.

Kasie and Chris working together to construct the book sled.

Ultimately, the book sled will allow the book, Facsimiles of National Manuscripts of Ireland, to be visible on the shelf while also aiding in transporting the book through the library when needed. It will also prevent additional damage and abrasion to the leather at the spine, which received a reback during treatment.

*Facsimiles of National Manuscripts of Ireland* in the finished book sled.

We already have additional oversized books in the Lab for treatment, so more sleds will be on the docket this winter!

Kasie Janssen (CHPL) – Senior Conservation Technician

Instagram Live Event – 10/20 at 3pm (EST)

Join the Preservation Lab staff on Wednesday, October 20th at 3pm (EST) for an quick Instagram Live event centered around a collection of Japanese bindings that were recently conserved and are now in the process of receiving specialized, custom enclosures. We’ll be talking about the two different types of bindings in the collection, creating Japanese four-sided enclosures, why we make models, and answering any questions you might have!

Mark your calendars, or better yet, follow us on Instagram @thepreservationlab for updates, because you won’t want to miss this behind-the-scenes look at what goes on in the Lab. See you then!

You can now view the live event on the Preservation Lab’s IGTV.

Jessica Ebert [UCL] – Sr. Conservation & Photographic Documentation Specialist

Fun with PhotoDoc: Collaborative RTI (Edition 12)

One of the exciting things about the Preservation Lab is you never know what’s going to come into the Lab next! Sure, sometimes we know a little bit ahead of time about upcoming projects, but usually the special collections intake meetings are filled with “oohh’s”, “aahh’s” and sometimes “oh no’s”. But it’s not very often that you get to work on a project, here in Cincinnati, while the objects themselves are across the Atlantic. Combine that with RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging), a variety of Vesalius related texts, and an opportunity to collaborate with other photographers, and you’ve got a recipe for one exciting project!

Currently in the planning stages, the Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions will host a series of Cecil Striker lectures and a physical exhibition that will celebrate the work of Andreas Vesalius. The series and exhibition is entitled The Illustrated Human: the Impact of Andreas Vesalius and is sponsored by Stephen and Sandra Joffe. Vesalius was a renowned 16^th century author and physician, whose iconic work on human anatomy, De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem, is considered one of the most influential anatomy books ever written. Three rare first edition Vesalius volumes will be exhibited during this upcoming lecture series, gratuitously on loan from Stephen and Sandra Joffe. Dr. Joffe is a long-time UC supporter and an emeritus faculty member.

For the upcoming exhibit, the Lab will be creating custom supports, as needed, to display the volumes, and providing imaging of various pages and illustrations for promotion. I will also be doing any additional specialized imaging that might be helpful.

Since we believe that some, if not all three bindings coming to Cincinnati, might be original to the volumes, and we immediately thought of RTI and wondered if it could provide new insights to researchers. After seeing the wonders of RTI, via RTI examples from the Lab, the owners of the Vesalius editions were interested in having RTI done on a selection of Vesalius items in their collection, including some that wouldn’t be coming to the Lab. The only hitch? The volumes are at their home in Scotland. The solution: hire a local photographer, Iain McLean, to carry out the capture portion of the RTI in Scotland, and have the files shared with the Lab for processing and rendering. Though Iain is an established commercial photographer with a digital imaging background, RTI was a new adventure for him, so I shared some resources with him, including CHI’s Guide to Highlight Image Capture and some notes and resources created by the Lab during our various capture sessions. Iain and I then met via Zoom in mid- August to discuss the ins and outs of RTI highlight capture prior to his capture session on August 20^th. Iain also brought his colleague and fellow photographer, John Linton, into the fold to assist him during the capture session, which I recommended highly because though it might be possible to do RTI solo, I can’t imagine a capture session without my normal collaborator and the Lab’s Assistant Conservator, Catarina Figueirinhas. The session would take double the time and I’d make five times the mistakes without Cat! (Check out a time lapse video of Cat and I doing RTI in the Lab on our YouTube channel).

Image of Iain and John carrying out the RTI capture session in Dunderave castle. — Iain and John during the capture session, featuring one of my favorite volumes that they captured that day. (This image was taken by Iain and kindly shared with me.)

After a successful test capture session, Iain and John were ready for the main capture session on August 20^th. They ended up capturing the front and back covers of seven volumes. Once the massive capture session was completed, Iain shared the jpegs with me so that I could begin processing the images in RTI Builder and then rendering the snapshots in RTI Viewer.

This is a time lapse video of the capture session. (This video was created by Iain and kindly shared with me.)

After processing the 679 images and rendering the snapshots, here are some of my favorite finds:

This is a composite of two RTI generated images. The left shows the default mode, and the right specular enhancement. — This a side-by-side of an upper cover. The left image shows the default lighting mode in RTI Viewer and the right show the specular enhancement mode. On the right, just above the center panel, you can see the letters GFV (above the panel) and 1567 (below the panel), which are much more visible with the specular enhancement mode than under normal illumination.

This is a composite of three RTI generated images. The left is the default mode, the center is Normals Visual mode and the right is specular enhancement mode. — Here you can see a detailed composite of another cover’s center panel. On the left is the default/normal illumination mode, the center shows the normals visualization mode, and the right is the specular enhancement mode. You can see by employing the two specialized RTI modes the ornate detail of the cover is far more readable.

This is a composite of two RTI generated images, diffuse gain mode and default mode. — This composite of the upper cover features the diffuse gain mode on the upper left half, and the default lighting mode on the lower left half. The diffuse gain mode really accentuates the features of the man in the center panel.

This is a composite of two RTI generated images, default mode and specular enhancement mode. — This composite of the upper cover features the diffuse gain mode on the upper left half, and the default lighting mode on the lower left half. The diffuse gain mode really accentuates the features of the man in the center panel.

This is a composite of two RTI generated images, default mode on the left and specular enhancement mode on the right. — This composite of another upper cover shows the default mode on the left and the specular enhancement mode on the right. With this one, the discoloration of the cover distracts the eye and pulls it away from the detail of the decoration, but with the specular enhancement mode you can eliminate the color completely and modify the secularity so that your eye can focus solely on the elaborate detail.

This was such a fun experience for me, and I really enjoyed collaborating with colleagues outside the conservation field and across the pond! And I look forward to the condition photography of the three volumes and any additional specialized photography that might be helpful.

Special thank you to Stephen and Sandra Joffe for allowing their important collection items to be photographed, and for giving the Lab full permission to use the generated images. Also, a very special thanks to photographers Iain McLean and John Linton for capturing these covers and for collaborating with me on this exciting project.

Jessica Ebert [UCL] – Sr. Conservation & Photographic Documentation Specialist