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 15th 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.
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:
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).
Upper cover.Lower cover with the tension clasps (created by Chris)
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 15th century bookbinding, and this would provide the students with the experience of handling a book with clasps and allow them to understand their function.
pine with three raised bands, bottom weighted.Tension clasps were common in the 15th century. Chris created these using brass plates.As a teaching model, the interior of the upper cover was left exposed to show how the boards were laced and what material was used.On the lower cover, the pastedown was adhered. An alum tawed pastedown was not very common for the time of the Book of Hours.
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.
Removable suede chemiseBook model with the chemise attached on the lower cover. 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).
Admittedly the title of this blog is a bit dry, but whenever I see the phrase stationery binding my eyes dart and the corners of my mouth start to move upward. Since trying my hand at an accounting book at Paper and Book Intensive 2017 in Chela Metzger’s workshop Early Modern Record-Keeping Book Structures, I have enjoyed learning more about their variations, creating historical models, and using the form as an inspiration for artist’s books.
After digging into Katherine Beaty’s essay Tackets, Buckles, and Overbands: Italian Stationery Bindings of the HBS Medici Family Collectionthe in the latest volume of Suave Mechanicals (http://www.thelegacypress.com/suave-mechanicals-vol-6.html), I decided to attempt a model of the second largest laminated archival bind. Beaty’s essay provides excellent descriptions of the various accounting books within the Medici collection, helping guide me in the construction of the model and filling in large gaps in my knowledge.
Katherine Beaty’s essay is not a “how to” manual, so all the errors and false assumptions that present themselves in the final model are mine alone. Making this at home with materials I had on-hand provided some challenges, so there are some missteps in terms of historical accuracy. But, in the end I’ll give the final product solid B for effort! And I had a great time making it.
Laminated leather archival binding with buckle fastening, size 34 x 27 cm.
Each year, the Preservation Lab hosts an annual open house during ALA’s Preservation Week, inviting the entire community to visit the Lab and tour our facilities. Each Preservation Week we choose a theme and dedicate our annual open house to that theme. For instance, last year was dedicated to the history of the codex, where the community was able to discover and explore hands-on the evolution and history of the codex, through various book models created by the Preservation Lab staff. This was a great opportunity to share, with the public, the importance of the materiality of the book and how we can use primary resources as teaching tools.
The history of the codex is a subject that I am deeply interested and has led me to meet and learn from great scholars such as Julia Miller, an expert in early book forms. As a result, I have been developing my own research skills, learning more about the history of the codex, creating historical book models, and sharing this knowledge with my colleagues and with different communities through opportunities such as Preservation Week.
One of the most famous pictures of the Nag Hammadi Codices. Image retrieved from https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/the-nag-hammadi-codices/
My interest in the history of the codex has led to a fascination for the Nag Hammadi Codices (NHC), also known as Gnostic Gospels. The Nag Hammadi Codices were discovered in 1945 in Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi. The Nag Hammadi Codices appear to have been written during the fourth century. These codices are among some of the oldest codices to have survived with their bindings still intact. There were thirteen codices found, but only eleven bindings have survived. At the time of the discovery eleven covers were found with their texts, text fragments of a twelfth codex, and one text unbound (Codex XIII – tractate (treatise))1.The codices were leather bound with Coptic text written on papyrus sheets. The writings in these codices include fifty-two mostly Gnostic treatises, but they also include other works, such as the Corpus Hermeticum.
This discovery was extremely important, since there were many texts within the Nag Hammadi Codices that were not known elsewhere at the time. For instance, one of the most famous writings is the Gospel of Thomas which is only complete in the Nag Hammadi Codices2. This was an incredible discovery not only in the world of paleography, religion but also codicology.
Because of my fascination with the Nag Hammadi Codices, I decided to dedicate some time to creating my own Nag Hammadi models over the years; creating to-scale the eleven bindings found in 1945.
There are many reasons one chooses to make a model of a book structure, to learn its unique features, how the different materials work together, among others. In my case, I wanted to understand the differences between each of the covers, what features made each cover unique and not exactly the same as the others, and the differences between cover and quire attachment, as well as why some of the codices were more elaborate than others, with cover decoration and blind tooling. This has not been an easy task and has become much longer journey than expected. The tremendous research conducted by scholars and researchers over the years on the study of these texts within the Nag Hammadi Codices, as well as the bindings itself, has helped a great deal in my task of model making. I still have so much more to learn.
The long journey of model making
I should start by saying that over the years, Julia Miller has been a great mentor to me; providing resources, guidance and advice throughout my endeavors to complete my full set of the NHC models.
My first NHC model with its many mistakes, such as parchment tackets (not found in any NHC).
My first attempt to create a Nag Hammadi Codex (NHC) model was back in 2013. I started by reading The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding by J.A. Szirmai, where the NHC are explored in the first chapters related to single-quire codices. I also based my initial model from one created by the Lab’s conservator, Ashleigh Schieszer. At that time, I knew little about the unique features of each Nag Hammadi Codex and their bindings.
In 2017, I was able to attend a week-long course at the American Academy of Bookbinding (AAB) on early book forms with the conservator and researcher, Julia Miller. It was at the AAB that my interest for these historical structures solidified and where I learned a lot more about early codex forms. It was also in this workshop that I learn about the mistakes I had made with my first NHC model. This only deepened my interest and conviction that I had to make my own set of NHC to understand how these early codices were made.
Codex VI created in the Morgan Conservatory workshop
Codex VI – A very interesting feature of Codex VI is the fact that Codex XIII was found loosely inside the cover of Codex VI. Codex XIII has been left unbound.
Codex XIII, also created at the Morgan Conservatory workshop
I would come to learn from Julia Miller again when I attended a weekend workshop at the Morgan Conservatory. During this weekend workshop, I created my first full-scale Nag Hammadi Codex VI model. In addition, as a side project I was able to create a small version of Nag Hammadi Codex VIII. This was a great opportunity to learn about each codex and their unique binding and quire attachment features. With the full-scale model of Codex VI, I was on the right path to continue with my other full-scale models.
Another model created at the Morgan Conservatory workshop.
This model illustrates the different quire-cover attachments found in the NHC.
Two resources that have been extremely helpful in creating the full-scale models are the Meeting by Accident, by Julia Miller, where there is a dedicated chapter on the Nag Hammadi Codices with full descriptions, measurements and pictures of each codex; and The facsimile edition of the Nag Hammadi codices by James M. Robinson. At times I became lost reading Robinson’s description of the measurements of each codex cover, and other features as it is all written in a continuous text. Luckily, Julia Miller’s book has each description organized, which makes the task of taking notes and model making a lot simpler.
Another resource that has helped me immensely in this process was studying Julia’s own set of NHC models and paper templates. Seeing Julia’s physical models provided me further insights into visualizing and understanding the descriptions within her book and Robinson’s descriptions.
For the rest of the NHC models, I started by attempting to make Codex I without any paper template. I soon learned that this was a big mistake, as I ended up making the wrong dimensions of the cover and ruining the model. I realized that by first making a paper template, it allowed me to make mistakes without wasting materials such as leather and papyrus. Even though these were only models, representations of the NHC, I wanted to be as accurate as possible.
Paper template for Codex I
Paper template for Codex IV
As I mentioned before, my model making journey has been long; each model beginning with research and note taking. Once I am satisfied with my research, I create a paper template that I will use to create the model with materials used at the time, such as leather and papyrus. This process of model making has been a great learning opportunity for me.
Paper template for Codex VIII
Paper template for Codex X
This past Spring I was able to share what I had learned more broadly when the Preservation Lab co-taught a Book Arts class with UC’s English Department. I taught our students about the Nah Hammadi Codices, and together we created a small model of a Nag Hammadi Codex VIII.
The Book Arts students learning about the Nag Hammadi Codex VIII (photo courtesty: Melissa Cox Norris)
As we continue to work from home, I have been able to dedicate time to continue my model making of the NHC, and research more about early book structures and their discoveries. So far I have completed the following NHC models:
Codex I
Codec IV
Codex VI
Codex VIII
Codex X
Codex XI
Codex XIII
Model of Codex I
Model of Codex I
Model of Codex IV
Model of Codex IV
Model of Codex VIII
Model of Codex VIII
Model of Codex X
Model of Codex X
Model of Codex XI
Model of Codex XI
These models are not perfect, but they represent the unique features of the different Nag Hammadi Codices found in 1945. I am hopeful that these models will be a great addition to the teaching collection at the Preservation Lab, and that perhaps I have inspired others to start their own model making journey during this Preservation Week 2020!
All the models that I have created so far: Codex I, IV, VI, VIII, X, XI, XIII.
References:
Miller, J. (., Spitzmueller, P. J., & Legacy Press. (2018). Meeting by accident: Selected historical bindings. Ann Arbor, Michigan: The Legacy Press.
Layton, B., & Sieber, J. H. (1991). Nag Hammadi codex VIII. E.J. Brill. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.kent.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=cat02507a&AN=ohiolink.b31949312&site=eds-live&scope=site
Robinson, J. M. (1972). The facsimile edition of the Nag Hammadi codices. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Robinson, J. M. (2000). The Coptic gnostic library: a complete edition of the Nag Hammadi codices. Netherlands: Brill.
Make sure to check out our Instagram (@thepreservationlab) where we’ll share Catarina’s process of making her Codex X model later today. And, if you missed yesterday’s Instagram stories where Jessica shared the exciting journey of photography the choir psalter then take a look at our “PresWeek 2020” story highlight (see below).
The Preservation Lab staff are all settled into the new reality of working from home. Today marks the close of our third week working remotely and quarantining ourselves during COVID-19, and after two weeks of adjustments, realizations, and finding our grooves, we thought week three was the perfect time to tackle a fun group project! You may recall last April when we were fortunate enough to have the wonderful Julia Miller come to the lab and teach us a variety of historical structures. In that one week with Julia we learned so many structures, from tablets to scrolls & rolls to a model of Ms 815. Julia also left each of us with a packet of all the materials we needed to create a model of Ms 987; a single-quire codex containing the proverbs of Solomon, which is part of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin’s collection. But in the past year, our day-to-day priorities always took precedent over model-making and we just never found the time to work on it together. Well, what better way to relieve a little stress and commemorate the anniversary of our workshop with Julia than with a little coordinated model-making!?
Since Catarina had made an Ms 987 model in a previous workshop she had taken with Julia [pictured below], she was kind enough to guide us through the steps in two Microsoft Teams chat sessions. She was also available via chat to answer any questions we had as we went along.
Catarina’s model from a previous workshop that we used as a reference during our at-home-model-making
Here are the finished at-home models:
Catarina’s model that will become part of the Lab’s permanent model collection
Sidney’s model
Hyacinth’s model
Jessica’s model
Jessica’s model
Holly’s model
Kasie’s model
Kasie’s model – like several of us, Kasie created a cutaway model, not fully pasting down one side of the leather and turn-ins and not attaching the pastedown
Kasie’s model featuring her furry coworker, Ru!
Many of us also took photos of our progress as we were making the models and we posted them in our Instagram stories. You can find those images within our story highlight entitled “Ms.987 Models” in the profile. We also shared our models with each other in our scheduled Friday morning video chat!
Where you can find our highlighted stories of our Ms 987 models
Kasie, Catarina, Holly, Ashleigh, and me (in the corner) showing off our models
We are so grateful to Julia for preparing all the materials for this model, as part of our workshop last April. The preparation she did for us made it so easy to construct these models at home. I would also like to thank Catarina for walking us through the construction process and for answering all our questions throughout.
Happy Friday everyone! Stay happy, stay healthy and stay safe!
This Spring the Preservation Lab is partnering with the English Department to co-teach Book Arts (ENG3097). The Lab is leading the hands-on experiential learning portion of the course, with Gary Weissman (Associate Professor and Director of Literary & Cultural Studies, Department of English) leading the seminar portion.
During the Lab portion, students will be exposed to a brief history of the codex, make western-style paper, learn to a variety of sewn structures, have an overview of printing techniques, and explore ways to add interest to the codex structure (movable structures, closures, enclosures, material choice, etc.), among other activities.
For the February 5th class session, students made a model of the Nag Hammadi Codex VIII. Catarina Figueirinhas, Assistant Conservator, began the session with a short lecture on the discovery of the codices and the importance of the find to papyrologists, and book history and religious scholars. She then led the students through the creation of the half scale model.
It was a wonderfully successful afternoon thanks to a group of very engaged students and an amazingly prepared, as always, Catarina Figueirinhas.
Catarina Figueirinhas building up the cover structure – cartonnage.Nag Hammadi models created by Catarina Figueirinhas.
Holly Prochaska (UCL) — Preservation Librarian
All images provided by Melissa Norris (UCL) — Director of Communications
Chris Voynovich discussing papyrus and paper with attendees
We celebrated Preservation Week (a week late) with our Annual Preservation Open House, and we want to thank everyone who was able to stop by! This year we took a step back through time to share a brief history of the book, starting with some examples of cuneiform tablets and ending with a modern e-reader and computer technology. By displaying our staffs‘ models of book structures through time, visitors were able to take a hands-on approach to understanding how these structures were made, used, and evolved. This is information we use to inform the work we do in preservation every day.
Examples of early codices, including clay tablets, single quires, multi-quires, wooden tablets, rolls and scrolls
14th to 19th century models
We were also able to show recent conservation projects, including a two-volume set of a 17th century German bible, which highlighted what one volume looked like before treatment and what the other looked like after treatment. Another item in the lab for treatment is an oversized missal, which received RTI to offer a closer look at the metalwork on the binding.
“An obscenely abbreviated History of the Codex by The Preservation Lab” one-page wonder
Visitors were invited to make a “One Page Wonder,” which coversanobscenely abbreviated history of the codex. We hope this little book and the hands-on interaction helped spread preservation awareness and inspire a deeper love of the book!
If you missed us this year and want to see what all the fuss is about, check out a live video posted to our UC Library Page. We hope to see you all again at next year’s Preservation Open House!
The lab received this book from the UC Classics Library in very poor condition. Ashleigh identified that the red cloth cover was not original to the textblock and overtime it had fallen off, exposing prior binding repairs. Paper fragments along the spine indicated to her that the binding was once originally cased in a paper wrapper before being rebound in a variety of ways. The book, originally sewn with only two sewing stations, had also been side stapled (!!).The staples were extremely corroded, staining the textblock and causing tears along the spine of the textblock pages, however; the original folded gatherings were mostly intact with original sewing stations revealed.
Since this book was important to the library and the librarians wanted the book to be handled by patrons and available to all, we needed to come up with a solution for a new cover that would be supportive of the textblock, flexible and could withstand handling from patrons. We also wanted to conserve the binding in a sympathetic structure to how the text was originally cased and sewn.
While talking with the Lab Conservator, Ashleigh, we explored various ideas for the new conservation cover, and ended up combining what we both had in mind. Clearly, our ideas had been influenced by our professional development opportunities that we attended in May; the AIC meeting Ashleigh attended and the weeklong workshop I attended on historical book structures with Karen Hanmer.
Inspired by the Smithsonian Archives AIC poster, Ashleigh suggested a combination of a sewn boards binding from Gary Frost and a limp vellum binding, adapting the structure of a non-adhesive paper case I learned with Karen Hanmer. Together we decided to explore a combination of all binding structures. Using the sewn boards binding for inspiration, we sewed on library boards as an extra set of endsheets, in addition to paper endsheets. Conservation endbands were sewn on with a back bead, similar to a vellum binding, and were laced through the endsheets and cover, providing extra support and flexibility to the two sewing stations.
To test our idea, I created a small model (as we always do for new ideas). By creating a model I could explore our ideas without causing any harm to the original object.
Model: Sewn boards binding, limp vellum binding and non-adhesive paper case combination, with conservation endbands.
Textblock sewn through the original holes
The model structure was a success! Therefore we proceeded to conserve the original book, starting with removing the staples. After Ashleigh removed the staples, I guarded several gatherings throughout the textblock with Japanese tissue and the textblock was sewn with a link stitch through the original sewing holes with an 18/3 linen thread.
In preparation for the new cover, a combination of sewn boards binding by Gary Frost, limp vellum binding and non-adhesive paper case by Karen Hanmer, two folios of 10 point board Bristol were sewn onto the textblock, one on each side, and lined on the inside with a sheet of 20 point board adhered with PVA.
Conservation endbands of a laminate of alum tawed leather and parchment were sewn, providing extra support for the cover attachment to the textblock.
Sewn boards onto the textblock with conservation endbands
The new cover was created with Cave Paper and adhered to the textblock by wrapping the paper case around the sewn boards and lacing the endbands through the cover.
And the final result…You can see, two minds are better than one…
Were you unable to attend our annual preservation week open house at the end of April? OR maybe you did attend but didn’t get to see everything you wanted? Well, have no fear! I’ve created a quirky little video to encapsulate (fyi, that’s a scrapbook conservation joke) all the excitement, activity, and overall bombardment of information and cool stuff to your senses that our open houses generally entail.
A big thank you again to everyone who was able to make it and celebrate Preservation Week with us. This was definitely our biggest, most jammed packed year yet and it was so much fun! If you missed the event, definitely mark your calendars for next years’ preservation week, April 21-27, 2019 and stay tuned at the beginning of 2019 for an exact open house date. Until next time…
Our conservator, Ashleigh, ordered these GLOP custom temporary tattoos for all the staff members and we all couldn’t wait to sport them during the event! GLOP is our little nickname for our team and our preservation friends and it stands for Gorgeous Ladies/Lads of Preservation.
