Books in Permanent Exhibitions. A Multi-Perspective Approach

ABSTRACT The impulse for this article was the current publication ‘Book supports of open books in exhibitions. A guide for conservators and exhibition designers’ (Buchstützen für geöffnete Bücher in Ausstellungen. Ein Leitfaden für Restauratoren und Ausstellungsgestalter) (Brückle, 2019). This two-part article focuses on the special challenges of permanent—as opposed to temporary—exhibitions with their inherent preservation challenges and limited options for conservators within the overall decision-making process. The multi-perspective approach offers solutions contributed from two different professionals, i.e., conservators and exhibition designers. Part 1 presents a practical compromise developed by book conservators for protecting of books in permanent exhibition at the German Historical Museum Foundation Berlin (Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum – DHM) from light-damage. Here, the book conservators have developed the ‘facsimile view page’ as a combination of original book and overlying facsimile. Part 2, for a bigger picture, looks at a range of exhibition designs and presentation forms. Most importantly, by allowing a reduction in the number of items displayed, not only does exhibition design comply with the stated preservation goals, but it is also closely connected with the conservator’s work.