Some alternative strategies in matching and toning paper and parchment for repair of books and manuscripts

Abstract

Summary This article describes some of the methods used to tone repair materials, in particular use of the airbrush with watercolour pigment whilst repairing leaves of a copy of the Discorsi of Pierandrea Mattioli. The principles of repair are discussed, and a selection of available materials and methods, including Japanese tissues, western hand-made papers, blank original leaves and leaf-casting techniques are outlined. Traditional aqueous methods of dyeing parchment and methods of toning modern skins with solvent dyes are described. The nature of the dyeing process and the use of direct and fibre reactive dyes for paper are discussed, together with the use of the fixative Sandofix WEM. Other treatment options considered are the use of dry pigments, ‘palimpsest’ repairs for vellum manuscripts, and a method of treating modern vellum with polyethylene glycol to make it more compatible with original material.