{"id":12433,"date":"2015-05-22T09:53:23","date_gmt":"2015-05-22T14:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conservators-converse.org\/?p=12433"},"modified":"2015-05-22T09:53:23","modified_gmt":"2015-05-22T14:53:23","slug":"43rd-annual-meeting-book-and-paper-session-may-14-the-brut-chronicle-revived-and-reconstructed-by-deborah-howe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/2015\/05\/22\/43rd-annual-meeting-book-and-paper-session-may-14-the-brut-chronicle-revived-and-reconstructed-by-deborah-howe\/","title":{"rendered":"43rd Annual Meeting- Book and Paper Session, May 14, "The Brut Chronicle: Revived and Reconstructed by Deborah Howe""},"content":{"rendered":"

In her talk about the treatment of Dartmouth College Library\u2019s Brut manuscript, Collections Conservator Deborah Howe addressed the history of the manuscript, its condition and intended use, and the process involved in determining an appropriate binding structure. The major challenge she encountered was that the Brut was bound in a historic binding in poor condition that was not contemporary to the text block.
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\"Brut_BT\"
Dartmouth Brut Before Treatment<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nDeborah began her talk with an overview of the Brut text and its historic significance. According to Deborah, The Brut text is a chronicle of both English history and mythology, and covers the history of England from its settlement until 1461; it contains records of battles and histories of rulers, as well as tales of Merlin and King Lear.\u00a0 While variants of the text were written in Latin, French, and Middle English, 181 of 240 existing Brut manuscripts are written in Middle English, including Dartmouth\u2019s Brut manuscript.\u00a0 Dartmouth\u2019s Special Collections Library acquired their copy of the Brut with the intention that the manuscript would be used heavily for research and teaching.\u00a0 Dartmouth\u2019s Brut is of particular interest because it has a significant amount of marginalia which is now available for scholarly research.\u00a0 Prior to being acquired by Dartmouth, the Brut was in a private collection, and was not available to scholars.
\nThis manuscript was unusual in that it was bound in a stationers binding that was in poor condition and was no longer functional.\u00a0 As Deborah explained, this created a dilemma, because while the binding dated to around 1600, it was not contemporary to the text block, which dates to about 1430.\u00a0 In making her treatment decision, Deborah consulted with conservation colleagues who suggested stabilization of the stationers binding in conjunction with limited use.\u00a0 Because this book was intended to be used frequently, Deborah felt that a different solution was necessary.
\nFirst, the Brut was disbound, surface cleaned, mended, and digitized.\u00a0 In the process of disbinding Deborah found evidence of a previous binding, which she conjectured might have included wooden boards.\u00a0 Prior to determining an appropriate new binding, Deborah created a model of the stationers binding.\u00a0 She also had the opportunity to consult with a group of Brut scholars who were visiting Dartmouth for a conference, and asked for their opinions regarding binding possibilities.\u00a0 Through this consultation, Deborah decided that a binding was needed that would reflect the history of the book but would also suit its current needs.
\nDeborah chose to resew the Brut on tanned leather supports which were left long.\u00a0 She created new boards from multiple layers of handmade flax paper, and three slots were left in the boards where the supports could be inserted.\u00a0 Later, in response to a question, Deborah also mentioned that she attached strips of parchment to the supports as stiffeners in order to facilitate putting the leather supports into the boards.\u00a0 She then created a chemise of alum-tawed leather to cover the book as a whole.\u00a0 This created a reversible binding; there are no linings or adhesive present on the spine, and the cover can be easily removed to show the sewing.\u00a0 The stationers binding and sewing materials were saved and are stored with the Brut.\u00a0 In conclusion, Deborah emphasized the practical nature of this solution, in that the new binding references historic materials while making the book accessible and stable.
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\"Brut_AT2\"<\/a>
Dartmouth Brut After Treatment: showing supports inserted into boards<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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\"Brut_AT4\"<\/a>
Dartmouth Brut After Treatment<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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\nIn the questions session, Deborah elaborated on how often Dartmouth\u2019s Brut is used and how the new binding was holding up. She mentioned that it has been a few years since the treatment was completed and that the book is accessed, either for teaching or research, at least once per week.\u00a0 Despite this frequent handling, the new binding is still in great condition, and functions well.\u00a0 One audience member asked Deborah to elaborate on her collaboration with scholars, and Deborah emphasized that this opportunity was both rare and essential.\u00a0 Another audience member asked about the impact of digitization on access, and Deborah responded that digitization has increased access greatly, but that the digitized manuscript is mainly accessed by scholars, while the physical book is frequently used for classes.
\nDeborah\u2019s talk tied in nicely with the two talks that followed, including Evan Knight\u2019s “Understanding and Preserving the Print Culture of the Confederacy” and Todd Pattison\u2019s “The Book as Art; Conserving the Bible from Edward Kienholz\u2019s The Minister,”<\/a> in that all three speakers devoted time to in-depth discussions of their treatment rationale and their inner debates regarding a possible range of treatment options.\u00a0 Many thanks to Deborah for providing the images!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In her talk about the treatment of Dartmouth College Library\u2019s Brut manuscript, Collections Conservator Deborah Howe addressed the history of the manuscript, its condition and intended use, and the process involved in determining an appropriate binding structure. The major challenge she encountered was that the Brut was bound in a historic binding in poor condition … Continue reading “43rd Annual Meeting- Book and Paper Session, May 14, "The Brut Chronicle: Revived and Reconstructed by Deborah Howe"”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":246,"featured_media":12312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,23,16],"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-12433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-annual-meeting","category-book-and-paper","category-specialty-sessions","tag-aics-43rd-annual-meeting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/246"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}