- 1984 . Conservation of Manuscripts and Printings of South-cast Asia 27 – 31 . London : Butterworths . Depending on regional traditions, a variety of methods have been used to prepare palm leaves for writing and painting supports. For information on these processes, see Agrawal, O.P
- Kronkright , D. 1990 . “ ‘The processes of deterioration’ ” . In The Conservation of Artifacts Made from Plant Materials Edited by: Florian , M. L. , Kronkright , D. and Norton , R. E. 145 – 151 . Marina del Rey : Getty Conservation Institute . For additional information regarding degradation of plant structure, see
- Agrawal . 48 – 49 .
- The American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works currently recommends in its ‘Commentaries to the Guidelines for Practice of Historic & Artistic Works’ 2004 that materials chosen for treatment should be distinguishable from the materials of the cultural property
- Kōzo white inner bark is raw fibre stripped of outer black and green bark, before preparation for papermaking. It is sold by suppliers of papermaking materials. The quality of Kōzo fibre, particularly in how well it has been stripped of its outer bark, differs among suppliers. Kōzo for this project was obtained from: Twinrocker, 100 East Third Street, Brookston, Indiana 47923, USA
- 1983 . 248 Timothy Barrett provides a detailed description of processing fibres in soda ash (sodium carbonate). He also notes that conservators have recommended gentle cooking in calcium hydroxide to reduce the unwanted materials, while imparting an alkaline reserve. Perhaps this method could be tailored so that the structure of the bark remains sufficiently intact. See Lutz, Winifred, ‘Appendix One. Non-Japanese fibers for Japanese Papermaking’, Japanese Papermaking: Traditions, Tools and Techniques, by T. Barrett (New York Weatherhill
- Uyeda , T. , Saito , K. , Inaba , M. and Okawa , A. 1999 . ‘The effect of cooking agents on Japanese paper’ . Restaurator , 20 : 123 The authors note the chemical composition of lignin in Kōzo fibre prior to cooking (untreated) to be 2.3% and after cooking, 1.5–2%, depending on the strength of alkaline agent. It should be noted that lignin is not completely removed though this processing
- Suryawanshi , D. G. , Sinha , P. M. and Agrawal , O. P. 1994 . ‘Basic studies on the properties of palm leaves’ . Restaurator , 15 : 66
- Diringer , D. 1953 . The Book Before Printing: Ancient, Medieval and Oriental 360 New York : Dover .
- Sah , A. 2002 . ‘Palm leaf manuscripts of the world: Material, technology and conservation’ . Reviews in Conservation , 3 : 18
- Sincere thanks to Timothy Barrett, Director of University of Iowa Papermaking Facility, for supplying us with some beautiful Japanese Nasu Kōzo from the Ibaraki Prefecture
The Paper Conservator
Volume 28, 2004 - Issue 1