THE CONSERVATION OF CHARLES DICKENS'S MANUSCRIPTS

References

• The Old Curiosity Shop, Barnaby Rudge, American Notes, Martin Chuzzlewit, Dombey & Son, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Hard Times, Little Dorrit, A Tale of Two Cities and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The NAL holds the manuscripts of: Oliver Twist (incomplete), NAL nos. F.47.A.1–38
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• Shenton , H. “A conservation strategy for books at the Victoria and Albert Museum,” in The Institute of Paper Conservation ” . In Conference Papers Manchester 1992 Edited by: Sheila , Fairbrass . 133 – 140 . Leigh (1992)
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• Tillotson , K. and Butt , J. 1957 . Dickens at work (London:, p. 21
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• The Library 118 – 119 . A good description of this type of co-operation, the exigencies of time and marks on the manuscripts is also given in: K. Tillotson, “Oliver Twist in three volumes,”, 16(1963)
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• Tillotson , K. and Butt , J. 1849 . “ ibid., p.17; about ” . In David Copperfield No. IV, chapter 10 (July
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• 1937 . Dombey & Son ‘Large Post’ was a standard size of writing and printing paper, approximately 21″ × 16.5″ (535 × 420mm), E.J. Labarre, A Dictionary of faper and fapermaking Terms, (Some leaves seem to have been torn after writing. A cornplete bifolium is found at the beginning of I.A. (F.47.A.19)
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• 1856 . Paper and fapermaking 100 – 101 . The change of paper quality, introduction of synthetic ultramarine as a coloring agent and the associated difficulties of alum-size are described in R. Herring, (London:
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• The pigment could be seen under magnification. Exposure of a minute sampleto an acid solution confirmed it would be sensitive to low pH levels. The colourant could also have been Prussian Blue which is stable in acidic conditions but sensitive to alkaline conditions. This ruled out interleaving the manuscript with alkaline paper. I am thankful to Irene Bruckle for advice in this matter
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• As identified by the V & A Conservation Science Section
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• No attempt was made to identify the blue ink, as it would have taken a lot of time and was not strictly necessary
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• 1880 . Handbook of the Dyce and Forster Collection (London:, p. 88
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• 1869 . Dombey & Son The bindery of James Hayday in London existed from 1830 to 1861, merged with William Mansell in 1861 and was wholly taken over by Mansell in, before Edwin Drood was written. The ‘Hayday’ stamp could be detected on the bindings of The Old Curiosity Shop (written 1840–41), Martin Chuzzlewit (1842–44) and (1846–48)
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• Various papers were used as mending papers: cream or blue writing paper (different from the manuscript paper) as well as off-cuts of printed sheets of book pages
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• Brückle , I. 1993 . “The historical manufacture of blue-coloured paper,” . The Paper Conservator , 17 (28
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• Conroy , T. 1989 . “The need for re-evaluation of the use of alum in book conservation and the book art,” . In The AIC Book and Paper Group Annual 13 – 22 .
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• 1993 . To date (December. only a few manuscripts have been treated and rebound. This decision may be altered in cases of severe cockling or if there is evidence of damage caused from earlier repairs
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• 1993 . Restauro Surface pH measured with pH indicator strips, paper typically pH 4.5, ink pH 3–3.5. The significance of these pH differences is desribed in an article by F. Heller, F. Mairinger, M. Schreiner and O. Wächter, “Tintenfrass im Papier,”, 2(114.121
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• See , A . 1991 . De Restaurator , 22 : 36 – 48 . Liénardy and P. Van Damme in “Effet de la déacidification sur l'encre ferro-gallique,” Studies in Conservation, 155–160. Borax as a deacidification agent gave acceptable results in terms of pH and colour stability. The same substance used in the experiments of F. Heller etal. (see note 17) caused severe fading of the ink. R. Van Gulik and N. Kersten-Pampiglione published an interesting international survey on the different ways iron-gall inks are treated in “ljzergalinktvraat nader bekeken”, (1992, 41
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• 1987 . Journal of the American lnstitute for Conservation , 17 : 33 – 43 . Acidity is not removed as in aqueous deacidification and the magnesium compounds tend not to penetrate the paper. See G. Kelly and S. Fowler, “Penetration and placement of compounds in solution-deacidified paper,”
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• This decision was not easily taken and the question arises whether the outcome would have been different had there only been a small number of manuscript leaves
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• Slavin , J. and Hanlan , J. 1992 . “Environmental factors in migration-induced degradation,” . Restaurator , 13 : 78 – 94 .
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• Methyl cellulose was preferred as the stability of Klucel G as a non-aqueous adhesive is doubtful; personal communication with Helen Burgess
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• Calnan , C. 1989 . “Retannage with aluminium alkoxides,” . In Offenbacher Leather Conference 9 – 25 . ICOM Working Group Leather & Related Objects, postprints
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• Michalski , S. 1990 . “Humidity, temperature and pollution in libraries and archives,” unpublished draft,. Advice to store iron-gall manuscripts at low RH levels (<35%) could not be followed in this case
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• Computer: Apple Macintosh; programme: Adobe Photoshop
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