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).
In 2017, an Indian religious text known as a Kalpa-sūtra entered the lab in desperate need for improved storage. Being unfamiliar with this type of religious manuscript I jotted down notes in preparation for housing the item and came up with a basic housing solution. I briefly familiarized myself with terminology, format, and condition needs. This is a summary of those findings with links to resources.
Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library sent their Kalpa-sūtra to the Preservation Lab to receive improved storage. The original storage enclosure was not archival and did not properly fit the manuscript. This left the manuscript vulnerable to damage.
Kalpa-sūtra
Kalpa-sūtra translates to “the Book of Ritual” that was meant to be read daily. It follows a 3-part textural structure. The first part consists of the ‘Lives of the Jinas (an enlightened human being)’ and describes the lives of well-known figures. The second section, known as the ‘String of Elders’ celebrates early teachers of Jainism. And the final section, referred to as the ‘Right Monastic Conduct,’ provides rules to follow during the rainy time of year. The ‘rainy season,’ as it is often referred to, is a time of year when the festival of Paryusan is celebrated and the Kalpa-sutra is heavily used.
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that shares similarities to Buddhism and Hinduism, but is regarded as a separate religion. It’s believed to have originated in the 7th – 5th century BCE in the Ganges basin of Eastern India. Jains believe in karma, reincarnation and practicing non-violence to all living creatures. While learning more, I appreciated this article that described the Jain’s thoughtful practice of non-violence by explaining how Jains eat above-ground veggies but avoid eating roots of vegetables so as not to kill the plant.
Format
Earlier Kalpa-sūtra were written on palm leaves and stored in between decorated wooden covers. They were bound with rope or cord through holes punched in the center of the leaves and are read by flipping the leaves up, from bottom to top. To see an example of a palm leaf book, check out this one housed by the Preservation Lab in 2016.
Later Kalpa-sūtra, such as this one owned and digitized by the Public Library, were written on paper beginning in the 14th century but still follow the same horizontal single-sheet format of the palm leaf. Often they were hand colored, illuminated in gold, and written in a black ink calligraphic style on laid handmade paper. Like many others, the Public Library’s manuscript contains 135 individual loose leaves that have never been bound. The leaves, also referred to as folios, were traditionally written on both sides with seven lines of text.
To learn more about formats of Jain manuscripts please refer to Jainpedia.org.
Decorative Themes
The Public Library’s manuscript is a good example of a traditional paper Kalpa-sūtra manuscript. Its decoration consists of left and right margin lines, and decorative diamond-shaped marks that interrupt the text. The diamonds (often found as circles in other manuscripts) descend directly from the tradition of punching holes in palm leaf books for binding. They are located in similar locations to palm leaf holes and are predetermined when the text is written. On the recto of leaves there are three gold decorative diamonds, one located in the center and one each along the right and left margins. (The V&A refers to these decorations as “central and marginal string holes that are not pierced.”) The verso of leaves contain only one decorative diamond in the center. The religious manuscript is paginated on the recto in both calligraphy and graphite.
The three diamond shaped decorations descend from the tradition of punching holes in palm leaf books for binding. Palm leaf books were bound with strands of cord.
Public Library illuminations consist of red and blue opaque watercolor and gold illumination. The very base of the paintings are a thin open weave cloth attached directly to the handmade paper. On some leaves, you can see where this thin cloth is folded over onto the other side of the leaf.
Purple arrows point to a cloth that is wrapped around from the front of the manuscript folio.
In my research, I tried to understand how paper Kalpa-sūtra were traditionally stored. It is noted on Jainpedia.org that Jain manuscripts appear to have been stored within decorated covers of paper, cloth, and wood.
From what I can gather by surveying a collection of digitized manuscripts, loose sheets appear to have been stored within chemise-like covers, sometimes with multiple flaps, such as this one from the British Library (Or. 13950) andGamma 453 where a loose manuscript is stored within a cloth cover:
I also discovered some Kalpa-sūtra that had been treated in western traditions. Below are a few examples that include where one is tipped along the bottom edge and bound into a western style half leather binding. Another, MS 22393, appears to be bound along the top edge at the British Library. A third yet, MS 34, at the Royal Asiatic Society is bound in half leather with marbled paper:
Others found online have been inlaid into larger sheets of paper, such as the one below from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Manuscripts heavily illuminated and likely suffering from pigment corrosion have been encapsulated between sheets of plastic or glass, such as these from the British Library (Or. 14262 and Or. 13950). One manuscript has been both inlaid into paper and encapsulated:
There does not appear to be a conservation standard for storing Kalpa-sūtra manuscripts.
Storage solutions vary widely and are specific to how they will be displayed or handled.
While I appreciate the western tradition of binding loose pages to prevent them from becoming lost, I knew the Public Library preferred to house the manuscript with as little reformatting as possible in order to preserve cultural traditions.
While I came across a few examples that appear to be stored unbound within covers, it was unclear as to the date of the covers, when they were added, and how they might have been formatted. No images were provided of the sides of the covers.
Even though heavier than plastic, glass was likely used for encapsulation to protect the flaking and corroding illuminations from the static charge of plastic.
Conclusion
The housing solution selected at the lab is one of many options and provides a stop-gap until a more traditional format can be explored.
The most severely corroded leaves at the front and back of the text were encapsulated between glass while the rest of the leaves were left loose. This allowed the most vulnerable leaves to be protected from humidity while avoiding the weight of encapsulating the entirety of the manuscript.
The encapsulated and loose manuscript leaves were then stored together (the outer encapsulated leaves helped serve as de facto covers). An Asian four-flap enclosure with bone clasps was custom made to provide structure and stability, as well as perhaps provide a format more sympathetic in style to a Jain holder than a European style enclosure.
Damaged outer leaves are encapsulated while inner leaves are stored in a two-flap paper chemise
Further Research
There is much ripe for future study:
I hope to experience a historic Jain manuscript cover in person to learn the format and structure.
There are downsides to using glass that should be reconsidered in the future: 1. Glass is heavy and breakable. If the glass breaks, it could cause tears in the fragile paper. 2. Glass deteriorates in humid conditions. The alkali will eventually leach out and could cause staining in the paper. This storage solution should be considered a temporary solution until the pigments can be studied and safely consolidated.
Since there is a pigment contributing to corrosion and paper drop-out in the manuscript, it is likely that pigments in the Public Library manuscript contain copper. I would be interested in developing a plan to analyze the pigments to better understand their composition.
As a library book and paper conservator, I am less familiar with fine art painting traditions on paper, particularly Indian painting. This was my first experience with observing an open weave cloth used as a base for illuminated manuscripts. This initial research has me captivated to learn more about the traditions of Indian miniature painting and how they are connected with early stylized Kalpa-sūtra paintings, and if their implications for inherent condition issues can be extrapolated.
The word ‘sutra’ is literally interpreted as “thread” in Sanskrit. Different manuscripts contain the word “sutra” in their title, such as the Indian Kama Sutra, or Asian Buddhist sutras which are not to be confused with the Kalpa-sūtra. Is it possible that because these manuscripts were historically bound with cords or wrapped with ties give rise to the word sutra?
Interesting Side Note
I learned that The Diamond Sutra owned by the British Library is considered the oldest block printed book in existence AND it has been analyzed to find the scroll’s yellow plant dye extract, Berberine, is toxic. It’s possible the toxin can be absorbed through the skin (so those handling should wear gloves!) as mentioned in the Vol. 21, Number 4, Nov. 1997 Abbey Newsletter under the heading Peril in Old Paper.
