{"id":1947,"date":"2020-10-19T08:30:10","date_gmt":"2020-10-19T08:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=1947"},"modified":"2020-10-19T08:32:02","modified_gmt":"2020-10-19T08:32:02","slug":"repairing-the-music-books-of-thomas-hardy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2020\/10\/19\/repairing-the-music-books-of-thomas-hardy\/","title":{"rendered":"Repairing the Music Books of Thomas Hardy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amongst a collection of items belonging to Dorset County Museum, that were brought to the Dorset History Centre for conservation, were two music books.\u00a0 One belonged to Thomas Hardy\u2019s father, and the other his grandfather (who were both also called Thomas).\u00a0 These books are fascinating examples of home-made bindings, with atypical sewing and making use of materials found around the house.<\/p>\n

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Thomas Hardy\u2019s grandfather\u2019s (left) and father\u2019s (right) music books.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The music book belonging to Hardy\u2019s grandfather is particularly interesting.\u00a0 Due to the damage to the binding, it was necessary to completely disbind it before conservation work could begin.\u00a0 This allowed a close examination of the paper and, although the sewing thread had broken in many places, it was possible to trace the original sewing pattern.<\/p>\n

It became apparent that four leaves (or two bifolio: meaning a piece of paper that is folded in half to create two leaves) had come from one sheet of handmade paper.\u00a0 Separating the sections, each bifolio could be matched with another to create a whole sheet.\u00a0 Viewed on a light box, the Britannia watermark can be seen and one half of the watermark was found on every bifolio in the textblock.<\/p>\n

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Two bifolio cut from one sheet of paper, and the Britannia watermark.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It appears that a supply of, most likely foolscap, paper was bought, and each sheet was cut in half.\u00a0 Six of these cut halves were grouped and folded in half together to make one section.\u00a0 Each section was trimmed independently before all the sections were all sewn together.\u00a0 The sewing itself is extremely unusual.\u00a0 A future blog will explore different types of sewing, but this is not a standard method and has never been seen before at the History Centre.\u00a0 It implies the book was sewn by someone unfamiliar with bookbinding techniques.<\/p>\n

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Sketch of original sewing pattern.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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New sewing and supports replicating original pattern.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The primary cover is made from thick paper laminated with half of an old parchment document, which can just be seen in the spine section inside the cover.\u00a0 The sewing supports were also cut from the document.<\/p>\n

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Parchment indenture laminated with thick paper to make cover.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The second half of the parchment was repurposed into a wrapper, which was folded around the binding and sewn into place.\u00a0 Whilst temporarily removed from the binding, the opportunity was taken to digitise the document.<\/p>\n

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Second half of parchment used as a wrapper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Inside of parchment wrapper digitised during treatment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To conserve the volume, all the components were cleaned and paper repairs were carried out to the textblock, which was re-sewn in the original pattern onto new parchment supports.\u00a0 The textblock was returned to its primary cover and the parchment wrapper was replaced.\u00a0 Any original material that could not be reused was saved within a polyester pocket which will be kept with the volume.<\/p>\n

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Music book before (left) and after (right) treatment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Polyester pocket containing original sewing threads and parchment supports.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The music book belonging to Hardy\u2019s father has a more traditional binding technique.\u00a0 Unfortunately, this volume had been exposed to damp at some point in its past and the paper had become soft and fragile.\u00a0 The fore-edge of each leaf needed supporting with a thin, transparent Japanese paper to prevent any further loss.<\/p>\n

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Fragile paper before (left) and after (right) repair.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The boards of the binding had suffered the same damage, and these had been supported by paper that, like the parchment indenture, was also reused.\u00a0 Whilst repairing the boards it was possible to ease open parts of this repair paper and through the wonder of modern search engines a poem was identified, from just a few legible sentences such as \u201chis sweet but awful lyre\u201d<\/em>, as William Cowper\u2019s \u2018Boadicea, an Ode\u2019.\u00a0 Areas of the text were digitised before being repaired, and future researchers may be able to use these images to identify the writer.<\/p>\n

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William Cowper\u2019s Boadicea, used to repair the boards.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This volume was also re-sewn after paper repairs were carried out, and the fragile board supported.\u00a0 The leather spine was repaired, and the book may now be safely viewed without risk of further damage or loss.<\/p>\n

These music books are not only a fantastic example of home-made bindings, they show how conservation can sometimes help reveal hidden secrets, that can shine a small light upon the lives and interests of the makers and users of these volumes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amongst a collection of items belonging to Dorset County Museum, that were brought to the Dorset History Centre for conservation, were two music books.\u00a0 One belonged to Thomas Hardy\u2019s father, and the other his grandfather (who were both also called Thomas).\u00a0 These books are fascinating examples of home-made bindings, with atypical sewing and making use… Read more Repairing the Music Books of Thomas Hardy<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[31],"tags":[82,9,238,109,187],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1947"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1959,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947\/revisions\/1959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}