Conserving an Endeavour Journal: paper and binding treatment in concert

Abstract

The State Library NSW’s copy of Captain James Cook’s Endeavour Journal was prioritised for treatment in preparation for the 250th anniversary of Cook’s landing at Botany Bay. One of four known copies, it was hand-written on the voyage by Cook’s clerk Richard Orton and signed in Cook’s hand. Written in iron gall ink, the journal is made up of four sections of approximately 22 bifolios each, bound after the voyage into a full leather case binding. The deterioration of the ink, combined with the stress of the binding structure, caused extensive damage, including cracking and losses throughout the text. A risk assessment framework was used to select a paper treatment and binding method that worked in concert. The manuscript was washed, deacidified, resized and repaired to slow the deterioration of the iron gall ink and return strength to the paper. The existing case binding was inappropriate for rebinding the manuscript. A new custom conservation binding was designed. The sections are sewn onto four vellum concertina folded guards packed out with paper to compensate for the thickness of the sections. The guards are sewn onto vellum supports and laced into a limp vellum cover. The spine of the structure is strengthened by Japanese tissue.

Keywords:

• Iron gall
• Non-adhesive binding
• Journal
• Logbook
• James Cook

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the generous funding support received for this treatment from the Maple-Brown Family Foundation and the Jean Garling Bequest through the State Library New South Wales Foundation. Thank you to our Executive Director Louise Anemaat and Manager Jonathan London for their continuous support and advocacy for this project. We would also like to thank the whole Collection Care team for their support and contributions to this project. Most especially we thank the treatment team on this project: Cecilia Harvey, Nichola Parshall, Wendy Richards, Nicole Ellis and Ruth Drayson.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The State Library of NSW Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Kate Hughes

Kate Hughes has been a Paper and Photograph Conservator at the State Library of New South Wales since 2011. She completed a Master of Cultural Material Conservation at the University of Melbourne in 2010 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Printmaking from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2006. She has completed extensive materials research and treatment of the Library’s early colonial manuscript and watercolour collections and was awarded a Churchill fellowship in 2015 to extend this research internationally.

Steven Bell

Steven Bell has been binding, restoring and conserving books for over 40 years, He completed a 4-year hand-bookbinding apprenticeship in the UK in 1983 and went on to become a Master Binder with a UK company. Since moving to Australia in 1988, he carried-on the hand-binding tradition, then moving to Sydney in 1995 and working for the State Library of NSW in the conservation department, concentrated on developing his book conservation skills and continues to develop the craft.