Rehousing of print collections at The British Museum—the William Blake post binder project and other recent approaches

Summary The Department of Prints and Drawings at The British Museum has a very large collection of around two million prints, housed and stored in a variety of ways. There is a continuous programme of work to improve the organization and care of this collection and, in recent years, many prints have been rehoused. Because it is a study collection, the priority is not simply safe storage, but protection during handling and viewing. Consideration must also be given to the demands of exhibition and loan programmes, to economic and time factors and to storage space, which is very limited. To satisfy all these requirements a number of routine approaches have been adopted, utilizing, for example, standard-sized mounts in Solander boxes or—especially in recent years—post binders with Melinex sleeves. Such methods are useful when dealing with large numbers of objects but are not necessarily ideal in every case. Conservators responsible for big collections are often under pressure to complete large quantities of work, but must at the same time maintain an alertness and sensitivity to the particular needs of each object or group of objects they encounter and try, where appropriate, to come up with new and better solutions. This article discusses the considerations involved in some recent rehousing projects. It uses a current example involving some of William Blake's illuminated books, to illustrate one way in which a routine approach (in this case the use of post binders) has been adapted to provide a more sympathetic response to the needs of one particular group of objects.