Title: The Books of Survey and Distribution

Artist: Unknown

Media: Iron-gall ink

Paper: Cream coloured laid paper

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The collection is owned by the Irish Manuscript Commission. The volumes were compiled around 1680 as a result of the wars after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. The National Archives of Ireland was to digitise the books to enable a complete archival listing. The project was given two conservators and the project was completed in the 12 week timeframe.

As this was an externally funded project with tight and strict deadlines, time taken to carry out treatments was closely monitored and treatments revised to improve progress and meet targets.

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The condition report highlighted several conservation problems, notably :

• Large areas of loss and many burn-through areas due to iron gall ink corrosion, especially in the headers.

• Different types of old repairs (scotch tape, glassine paper and plastic tape) with a high degree of oxidation.

• In Vol. Six, a section of the text block was completely separated. Overstitching prevented easy opening and severely reduced the capacity to read or capture a clear digital image of the text.

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The treatment was performed to ensure that each page was in good repair, all text was legible and the volumes could ba handled and digitise without risks.

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• Dry cleaning of each page with a brush and smoke sponge.

• Tear repairs with a remoistenable tissue with tapioca starch. A heated spatula was used to partially dry the adhesive, improving the flexibility and speed of the repairs.

• Removal of the over stitches in Volume Six. The pages, heavily glued together, were separated using controlled humidification under GoreTex and a spatula.

• Due to the presence of iron-gall ink and the amount of time required to remove the different kinds of tapes, the old repairs were left in place.

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