Repairing parchment with collagen

Jonathan and Christine,

Some resources you may find useful include:

    Alexander, Jerome, Glue and Gelatin The Chemical Catalog Co.,
    New York, 1923;

    Bogue, Robert H., The Chemistry and Technology of Gelatin and
    Glue, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1922;

    Karmas, Endel, Sausage Casing Technology, Noyes Data Corp., Park
    Ridge, New Jersey, 1974 (patent specifications for preparing
    natural and reconstituted collagen);

    Reed, R., Ancient Skins, Parchments and Leathers, Seminar Press,
    London, 1972;

    Skeist, Irving, Handbook of Adhesives, Van Nostrand Reinhold
    Co., New York, 1962;

    Stainsby, G., ed., Recent Advances in Gelatin and Glue Research,
    Pergamon Press, New York, 1958;

    Thompson, D.V., De Arte Illuminandi, Yale Univ. Press, New
    Haven, 1933;

    Ward, A.G., & Courts, A., The Science and Technology of Gelatin,
    Academic Press, London, 1977.

Also, check back issues of The Paper Conservator.

>Several adhesives have been used to attach collagen to parchment, from
>starch paste, through a dubious flirtation with gelatine, to the more
>recently popular, synthetic adhesives.

I don't understand the use of the term "dubious flirtation with
gelatin" in this context. Reed (see above) p. 231, describes gold
beater's skin patches on the Vienna Dioscorides which have
maintained their position and integrity for over 1450 years.  The
adhesive was likely gelatin

>Has anyone used isinglass with collagen?

Isinglass is a form of collagen, not a separate material.

>We are in the early stages of experimenting with isinglass, and we are
>finding information on it's use very difficult to find.

Some of my reference collection is still in boxes so I am unable to
put my hands on the abstracts of an AIC-IIC-CG conference in British
Columbia a few years ago, but, if memory serves, there was a paper
exploring the use of isinglass in conservation treatments.

Reed, p. 131, discounts isinglass as an adhesive for mss.
restoration, "...because [it is] invariably dark yellow in colour
and opaque."  However, I have been preparing isinglass from Columbia
River sturgeon (Pacific Northwest portion of the U.S.) and have
found that one need only remove unnecessary membranes and blood and
the resultant membrane is fairly clear. The same is true of air
bladders of catfish, which also makes a very good adhesive.  I have
also manufactured gold beater's skin from fresh ox intestine and
used it to repair spine folds in vellum mss. using gelatin as the
adhesive.

Fresh sinew, soaked in brine to remove blood and then well rinsed in
clear water, makes very good thread for sewing up slits/cuts in
vellum.

I would avoid the use of starch pastes when working with vellum,
except, *perhaps* a little bit added to gelatin to improve its
flexibility.

If you have further questions I'd be happy to try to answer them.
Jack

Jack C. Thompson
Thompson Conservation Laboratory
7549 N. Fenwick
Portland, OR  97217
503-735-3942

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 10:88
                 Distributed: Thursday, April 10, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-10-88-001
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