Volume 35, Issue 2 -

In the Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings) of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin), the collection of the drawings and prints of Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781–1841) is stored in cabinets made of laminated chipboard panels. The works are enclosed in portfolios that sit inside the cabinets on shelves made of bonded beech wood. Oddy tests carried out on the various storage materials showed their high corrosive potential on lead. In particular, the two wood composite materials caused a corrosion rate that was even higher than that of 5% acetic acid or 5% formic acid. The analysis of the air composition inside the storage cabinets confirmed this showing a considerably high concentration of acetic acid (4.7 mg/m 3 on average) and a slightly elevated concentration of formaldehyde. Filling the cabinet and measuring its air composition in several steps allowed the determination of the main emission sources which were the shelves for acetic acid, and the cabinet walls for acetic acid as well as for formaldehyde. Further research on the organic acid content in the beech wood shelves together with a literature review led to the conclusion that formic acid is also expected to be present in elevated concentrations inside the cabinet. However, it could not be detected in the air quality measurements for technical reasons. In a next step, the ability of various historical and modern papers with and without alkaline reserve to adsorb acetic acid and formic acid was tested. It was shown that all papers adsorbed acidic VOCs in a relatively short period of time, whereas afterwards the adsorption proceeded more slowly. It was further shown that the sorption capacity of alkaline papers on acetic acid and on formic acid was five times as high as of neutral or acidic papers. Finally, the effectiveness of various measures to reduce the emergence of volatile organic compounds in the objects’ surroundings was tested. The removal of the beech wood shelves led to a significant decrease in the acetic acid concentration, while the addition of alkaline papers did not show any positive effect at all.

The goal of the CHARTA project at the Universitätsbibliothek Graz is to document all the watermarks that appear in the collection’s medieval manuscripts. Because the watermarks are mostly located on parts of the page that have been written on, a specialist device called ATWISE 5242 was developed for the image capture of the watermarks in medieval manuscripts. In this system, light passes through text that is written in iron gall ink, so that the watermark can be represented clearly and appears without an overlay of writing that interferes with seeing the image. ATWISE stands for Austrian Watermark Imaging System. The number 5242 indicates that a maximum page size of 52×42 cm can be imaged using this procedure. This article describes how the apparatus was developed and how it was implemented into the documentation system of the library’s operations, which proved particularly efficient and cut down on the amount of staff time that was required.

There has been a great amount of historical research and scientific analysis done on the two main black inks, i.e. carbon ink and iron gall ink. However, Persian master calligraphers have passed down a great amount of information and recipes on making not only the mentioned inks, but other types as well. These recipes are found in the treatises and manuscripts of master calligraphers such as Abdullah Sayrafi (16th C), Sultan Ali Mashhadi (d. 1519), Baba Shah Isfahani (16th C) and Mir Ali Heravi (d. 1544) to name but a few. This paper focuses on such recipes that were categorized, translated and recreated by the author by using traditional ingredients and following the guidelines of master calligraphers. The newly created inks were studied and the characteristics and methods of identifying them were recorded using tests and analysis techniques such as abrasion endurance, water solubility, cross-section-analysis (for identifying the penetration levels of inks within paper), scanning electron microscopy, and finally, false colour infrared photography, which gave the most distinguishable identification method.

Many authors dealing with the phenomenon of foxing on paper point out its microbiological origin, but in fact, foxing-causing fungi can rarely be cultured. Leon Wyczółkowski’s drawing “The Market in Gniew” is an exception in this respect: its paper carrier shows foxing as well as numerous hyphae and cleistothecia, visible to the naked eye either as a white and fluffy coating or as a light yellow powder. Our aim was to investigate their role in the formation of foxing. Microscopic observations revealed uncountable amounts of lenticular spores and spherical asci. Incubation of the yellowish powder on microbiological media enabled the isolation of five strains: Eurotium rubrum , E. repens , Aspergillus versicolor, Penicillium solitum , and Penicillium decumbens . Three of them secreted yellow-colored pigments to the culture media. The reproduction of foxing on test papers with the use of these strains was successful. Brown stains resembling foxing appeared on the samples of all four types of paper placed on 1-week-old colonies of Eurotium rubrum. E. repens and Aspergillus versicolor also resulted in the creation of such stains, but only on some types of paper. It was not possible to determine the source of nutrition of the fungi unequivocally.

Paper biodeterioration by fungi has always been a concern in archives, libraries and museums. Several guidelines have been published regarding the prevention of fungal development in paper collections and recovery of affected objects, but what is actually being implemented from the literature by worldwide paper and book conservators? How common is this type of biodeterioration? What needs to be further studied? In order to access this information we conducted an online international questionnaire with participants from 20 different countries. The results show that fungal biodeterioration is highly common in paper collections. All of the respondents already had to deal with paper deteriorated by fungi, and although the vast majority uses active measures to prevent fungal development, most of them have already experienced active fungal infestations. The mainly used preventive measures are the ones concerned with the control of the environmental conditions in storage and display rooms. Drying the affected paper objects and applying 70% ethanol are the most preferred options to stop active fungal growth. The study of non-toxic and safer antifungals is considered here as the most relevant research topic in the area of paper biodeterioration by fungi, meaning that the options currently available are not totally satisfactory.