BSBL · Book Science in the Bolton Library
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2022-08-15 → 2024-08-14
- EU contribution
- €184,591
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Book Science in the Bolton Library
Book Science in the Bolton Library used computer microtomography (µCT) as a means of studying the binding structures of early printed books. The diocesan library of Cashel (the Bolton Library) is one of the largest early modern library collections in Ireland outside of Dublin. However, due to deteriorating housing conditions, it had become a preservation risk. The aims of BSBL were two-fold: 1. To assist in the University of Limerick-based project to conserve and care for the collection by providing high resolution images of the interior sewing structures of items too fragile to be manually investigated; 2. To assess the presence of fragments of earlier written texts reused as material supports for the early modern bindings, and digitally unfold, read, and reconstruct those fragments. In turn, the fragments will allow for an assessment of provenance, trade links, and collecting practices that situates the Bolton collection as an important node in the history of interconnected, transnational, Irish intellectualism. More globally, the project’s success will position it as a model for future conservation and discovery projects, in which µCT imaging allows for non-manual assessment and care planning prior to invasive action on fragile book objects. In fact, this would be the first time that µCT had been used to successfully read black inks hidden in the bindings of other books—building on the successful use of macro x-ray fluorescence (macro XRF)—and the first time the technique had been used over a significant sample of a collection (as opposed to with individual objects of significant interest). Our use of µCT to unfold and read the small pieces of writing history represented by fragmentary manuscripts in the bindings of early modern books provides proof of concept for its use in uncovering other hidden pieces of written history.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The Bolton Library, newly housed at the University of Limerick (UL), is one of Ireland’s most important private library collections. It is currently part of a major conservation effort aimed at saving the books from decades of damage. However, some of the earliest books are too fragile for conservators to handle easily. My project pilots a new application of micro computed x-ray tomography (µCT) that will facilitate the conservation of these important books while revealing new information about the history of the Irish book. I have four main aims: first, to examine the bindings of the medieval books in the library in order to learn more about the cultural and intellectual contexts of book production and collection during early English colonialism. Second, to position these books within a global network of trade in materials and craft techniques. Third, to pilot a novel use of µCT in special collections care, particularly as a means of understanding the status and structure of fragile items in order to plan treatment. Finally, to establish a network of scholars to support further studies in book science in Ireland and internationally. The research takes place in three overlapping phases detailed in my work packages. All of the medieval books in the library will be assessed and catalogued during the data collection phase. Suitable books will be selected for µCT imaging at UL’s Bernal Institute. Processing of the primary data takes place in a second phase, when any further lines of scientific enquiry will be pursued. In the second year I will translate this quantitative data into qualitative argument. Guided by new analytical approaches, my project will reveal the full significance of the materials and structures that medieval books in Ireland comprise: advancing a new holistic account of the history of the book in Ireland, and its participation in global networks of trade and production. Here regionally specific techniques are embedded in their international conte
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK · LimerickCoordinatorIreland
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union