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Preservation Condition of the Collection

H ACI does not have a preservation budget. Therefore, I surveyed the collection myself, item-by-item, and constructed a database of the results. Fifty nine percent of the collection demonstrated unsatisfactory bindings, with three or more defects per item. Defects include tears, lack of locks, fraying, vermin-bites, loose text blocks, leather cuts, wear, and broken wooden boards. Sixty percent of the collection demonstrated text blocks with damages such as breaking, perforation, moisture, fraying, torn pages, missing pages, and vermin problems. Only 1.1% of the collection did not have problems. If you wish to help preserve the HACI collection, contact me.

Preservation Condition of the Collection

T he researcher conducted item-by-item analysis of the physical condition of the manuscripts, and built a database containing all the physical features and the specific preservation problems.


Damages of the Book Binding

image of damage to book binding when shut  image of damage to book binding when open
Broken wooden boards
A fter a thorough physical examination performed last fall we established that the most common problems in the manuscript binding are: tears, lack of locks, fraying, vermin-bites, loose text blocks, leather cuts and wear, and broken wooden boards. THE PREDOMINANT CONDITION OF THE BINDING IS UNSATISFACTORY AS 59% OF THE COLLECTION HAS MORE THAN TWO DEFECTS. Only 1.4% of the manuscripts do not contain any binding damages.

image of broken wooden boards of book cover  image of disbound text block of book cover
Completely disbound text block and vermin-eaten wooden boards

Damages to the Text Block

T he majority of the manuscripts text blocks was also severely damaged. Such problems included breaking of the text block, perforation, moisture, fraying, tearing of the pages, missing pages, and vermin problems. In the overall analysis, again 60% of the manuscripts showed defects of the text body and only 1.1% did not have any problems at all.

image of disbound text block Text block disbound image of moisture on the text block Moisture on the text block
image of frayed pages of text Frayed (ragged) pages image of frayed pages of text Frayed (ragged) pages
image of wax drops on pages of text Wax drops on the pages image of molds on pages of text Mold

 

PEARLS AND PERILS OF SLAVONIC MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS:
Preservation Assessment of HACI collection, 2001

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Last Updated: April 29, 2002

 
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