| Behind the scenes in a restoration lab for ancient books and manuscripts |
| By Kate Durham |
| With gloved fingers, specialists in lab coats gingerly examine the patient on the table. It's a bad case: a broken spine, massive infections and the body is being eaten away from the inside. One false move and the patient will fall apart —literally. It is a manuscript hundreds of years old, priceless not just for its antiquity but the knowledge it holds. If the team of chemists, microbiologists and conservators are successful, this paper artifact could last for centuries more and its pages can be digitized for the world. Before it can come close to a scanner, though, it has to be restored. In Egypt, the largest restoration labs are located in Cairo's Dar El-Kotob, encompassing the National Library and Archives, and in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA). Both agencies work with not just the country's collections of manuscripts, books and newspapers, but also with archives from across the region.Restoring a paper artifact is similar to treating a human patient. It requires diagnosis and treatment best suited to the document's individual qualities. Hossam El Deeb, head of BA's Chemistry and Environmental Monitoring Section, guides Egypt Today along the path a document takes through the Restoration Laboratory. Triage. First, the chemists perform microchemical spot testing to determine the type of ink, dye and paper pulp used in the artifact. In the mid-19th century, paper makers began using wood pulp and artificial chemicals, marking the start of the modern book era. Before this, paper was often made from cotton or linen plants and treated with natural substances. Modern paper is weaker; as a result, it suffers more from yellowing and cracking than ancient paper. Inks have also evolved over the centuries. Inks and dyes used in handwritten manuscripts are usually water soluble, while printing press inks are not. Diagnosis. A paper artifact has many enemies, some from outside and some from within. Egypt's humidity provides happy hunting grounds for bugs and molds, which attack every part of the book. Insects cause the most visible damage, with some eating channels through the paper and other boring holes to lay their eggs. Using microscopes, petri dishes and incubators, microbiologists identify any fungi and insects causing external deterioration. High acidity is the main cause of internal deterioration, and it could be the paper, inks, dyes and even the cover causing the artifact to gradually self-destruct. Chemists conduct pH tests to determine how to neutralize the acidity. Bugs and Mold. To counter the deterioration, the team starts with the outside invaders. It is possible to go after bugs and some molds with chemical fumigation, but El-Deeb points out that process risks further damaging the papers, inks and more importantly the humans doing the treatment. The BA's lab uses a green approach, controlling bugs and mold with fluctuating temperatures. Most insects die when exposed to -30 degrees Celsius, and incrementally increasing the temperature up to 50 degrees Celsius usually takes care of the rest. The fungi becomes dormant in freezing temperatures, giving the microbiologists time to find the right disinfectant to kill them. Bath Time. The next step is to dramatically slow the deterioration from acidity, and the approach depends on the triage findings. The restoration team can use aqueous treatments for printed books, but manuscripts require a more labor-intensive, non-aqueous treatment to keep the inks and dyes from bleeding. In the aqueous treatment, the book is taken apart and the pages are submerged in warm mineral water with an alkaline solution to neutralize the acidity by decreasing the pH. Disinfectants can also be applied via the water-based treatment. In many cases, this treatment can reverse the yellowing caused by highly acidic wood pulp. The process goes relatively quickly, with several pages treated in the same bath. Manuscripts are also taken apart for the non-aqueous treatment, but the alkaline and disinfectants are in an alcohol-based solution. The solution is applied by hand with a mister or dabbed on by cotton swabs, and the technicians must constantly monitor the effect of the solution on the ink. El Deeb estimates that it takes three weeks to one month to treat one entire manuscript. A book or manuscript cover also gets treated, as the acidity in a vellum, parchment or leather cover can affect the paper and inks inside. Fill in the Gaps. Once the chemists and microbiologists have done all they can to delay future damage, the restoration team steps in to repair the existing damage. Here again, they must choose between aqueous and non-aqueous approaches. Leaf-casting is used to repair most modern books. Conservators create their own paper pulp using different plant fibers to match the color and weight of the original paper. According to El-Deeb, Japanese pulp — made from the kozo, gampi or mitsumata plants — is the international standard because it creates strong, pH-neutral paper. The new pulp is poured over the damaged pages, and the water is removed via pressure and suction, leaving the holes, channels and cracks filled with new paper. A natural adhesive is applied to secure the new paper and to strengthen the original paper. When the paper is very damaged, a layer of nearly transparent chiffon is also added as a backing to strengthen the page. To repair manuscripts, which cannot be exposed to water, the conservator fills small holes and cracks by hand with Japanese paper, using a natural adhesive to secure it to the affected area. Chiffon is also used to strengthen the page. El-Deeb explains there are two schools of thought for restoring documents. One approach is to make the repairs as seamless as possible, matching new material to the original. The second, preferred by the BA, uses new material that is visually different so people can see where the original ends and the restoration starts. For that reason, if a document is missing a large piece, BA technicians will not fill the gap with pulp or paper, only strengthen the page with chiffon. If a cover is very damaged, a new cover is created and the remnants of the original cover is attached in the same place like floating puzzle pieces. El Deeb says if the original cover is damaged beyond repair, it would be placed in a protective envelope and kept with the original manuscript. Put it Back Together. Once the pages are repaired and trimmed of excess paper, leaf-casting and chiffon, they are sewn back into their original order and rebound using the same techniques as when the book or manuscript was created. Looking much healthier, it makes one last stop in the chemistry section for a dose of natural preservatives and fixers to protect the cover. El-Deeb says that ordinary treatment can preserve the paper for 50-100 years. For very old, heavily damaged or very valuable artifacts — for example, incunabula books, printed in the 15th century at the dawn of the printing press era — there is a very advanced and expensive treatment protocol that can extend paper life up to 300 years. The restoration team finally can bid goodbye to their 'patient' and send it off to live in a temperature and humidity controlled environment. The rise of digital archives promises to extend the life of these priceless paper artifacts even longer: When a book or a manuscript is scanned and made available online, researchers have access to the contents without causing more wear and tear on the container. |
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