Montefiascone Project

Montefiascone Project
Summer 2010

Montefiascone is a small medieval walled city about 100 k (80 miles)
north of Rome, on Lake Bolsena. Since 1988 conservators and others
interested in books and their history have come together to work, to
learn and to enjoy this special place. The summer 2010 programme is
as follows:

    Week 1:  July 26-30, 2010

        Re-creating the medieval Palette

        Through illustrated lectures, participants will examine the
        story of colour in medieval times. The class will address
        the history, geography, chemistry and iconographic
        importance, and the actual techniques of colour manufacture,
        with special reference to manuscript painting Western
        European and Islamic. Using original recipes, participants
        will then make and paint out the colours. No previous
        experience is necessary.

        Course tutor: Cheryl Porter

    Week 2: August 2-6, 2001

        Introduction to the Islamic Book Structure

        This five day course will be based on constructing a model
        of the Islamic book, by following and comparing historical
        treatises, in particular those of Tamin ibn al Mu'izz Ibn
        Badis of the 11th century and Abu l'Abbas  Ahmad ibn
        Muhammad al-Sufyani of the 17th century. Participants will
        be provided with the basic textblock and will then proceed
        to construct the paste boards, sew the text block, construct
        the endbands and finally, cover the book in leather, before
        tooling (decorating) the cover. The model will be put
        together using traditional materials and techniques.
        Participants will examine regional and historical variations
        in the techniques, the strengths and weaknesses of the
        structure, and discuss conservation issues. Participants
        will be required to bring some basic hand tools. All
        materials will be provided at nominal cost. No previous
        experience of bookbinding is necessary to do the class.
        Curators and custodians of collections are welcome to apply.

        Course tutor: John Mumford

    Week 3: August 9-13, 2010

        The Biccherne of Siena

        In Mediaeval Siena, the Comune commissioned artists to paint
        the book covers for various public records. These account
        books containing records of revenue and expenditure start in
        1226. Bound in wood, they were initially distinguished one
        from another by symbols or letters. In June 1257 (with Siena
        at its commercial peak) the administrators of the Biccherna
        (or Tax Office) decided to pay the painter Bartolemeo to
        paint the cover of the latest account book, adding luster to
        the functioning of the state, fetishising the books that
        stood for their actions and competence. This tradition
        endured for almost four centuries with painters such as
        Duccio di Buoninsegno and Lorenzo di Pietro continuing the
        tradition.  We plan to construct a model of these medieval
        bindings, using wooden covers attached to the textblock with
        split leather taws, carved and consolidated with hand-made
        nails, stained with mordant and coated with gesso -
        following the original constructions. Facsimiles of original
        cover designs will be supplied. Also pigments for the
        tempera work, Armenian bole and gold leaf. We will examine
        the calligraphy uniquely used on these covers.

        Materials will be provided at nominal cost. Students will be
        asked to bring some basic hand tools. The list will be
        supplied when enrolled.

        Course tutors: Jennifer Storey and Caroline Checkley-Scott

    Week 4: August 16-20, 2010

        Paper bindings had appeared in Italy and other parts of
        Europe by the late 15th century, and numerous examples
        dating from the 15th through to the 18th centuries can be
        found in the collections of the Barbarigo Seminary Library
        and the archives of the Benedictine Convent of St Peter,
        both located in Montefiascone. This course will provide a
        brief historical overview of European paper bindings, and
        give participants the opportunity to examine rare historical
        examples in Montefiascone collections. Three paper-covered
        binding models will be produced in the class. The first
        based on an Italian alla rustica binding, a laced case
        structure found on numerous printed books in the Seminary
        collection and made from a single folded sheet of paper; a
        second replicating a semi-limp, archival structure with a
        fore-edge flap and tie, found on an account book in the
        Benedictine convent; and a third using modern specifications
        for a paper case conservation binding. Emphasis will be
        placed on the structures and materials used for each of the
        bindings, but there will also be opportunities to embellish
        cover papers using traditional colored paste in spattered or
        block- printed patterns. Nicolas Barker will deliver an
        introductory lecture to provide historical context for the
        Montefiascone bindings and libraries.

        Tutor: Maria Fredericks (with Nicolas Barker)

Tutors:

    Cheryl Porter is Manager of Conservation and Preservation at the
    Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation and Deputy Director of the
    Project. She has been Director of the Montefiascone Project
    since its inception in 1988. After graduating from Camberwell
    College of Arts and Crafts, she worked with the Paintings
    Analysis Unit at University College London analysing the use of
    pigments in manuscripts. From 1992 to 2007 she worked as a
    freelance conservator. She has published many articles
    concerning color in manuscripts and has lectured in the USA,
    Australia and throughout Europe.

    John Mumford is the currently head of Manuscript Conservation at
    the Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation. He was formally Head of Book
    Conservation at the British Library.  John served a five year
    apprenticeship at the British Museum and subsequently helped
    establish the Rare and Early Book Conservation Studio at the
    British Library. In 1992 he was appointed manager of the
    Oriental and India Office Book Conservation Studio, furthering
    his study of early Oriental and Eastern binding structures. In
    1998 he became manager of the Oriental and Eastern Book
    Conservation Studio at the new British Library at St Pancras. He
    has taught frequently in Montefiascone and lectured and run
    workshops throughout the UK, Argentina, Patmos and many other
    European locations.

    Jennifer Storey trained as a bookbinder and book restorer in
    Sydney, Australia for four years and graduated from College as a
    calligrapher and illuminator soon after. She has worked in the
    fields of Fine binding, Restoration, Conservation and Book Arts
    for 21 years and assisted in mounting exhibitions at the Museum
    of Contemporary Art, Sydney, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris,
    as well as at various exhibitions in Switzerland, Germany and
    Italy, and at the Top Drawer in London 2002. She has a studio
    and a gallery in Siena, and teaches at the Siena School for
    Liberal Arts and Valle del Sole, at Casole del Elsa.

    Caroline Checkley-Scott is currently Head of Collection Care at
    the John Ryland's Library. She is Head of the Book and Paper for
    ICON. Caroline, studied printing and bookbinding in Dublin,
    Ireland and was appointed trainee book conservator at the
    British Library, London in 1991, where she worked at the House
    of Lords in the Palace of Westminster, and the Oriental and
    India Office Library and Records. Here she specialised in the
    conservation of early Christian manuscripts from the Middle
    East. Caroline was formally head of Conservation at the Wellcome
    Library and organised the planning and design of the new
    Wellcome Conservation Studios. She is an accredited member of
    the Institute of Paper Conservation. She has lectured both
    nationally and internationally in Italy, Slovenia, Argentina and
    Brazil.

    Maria Fredericks is Drue Heinz Book Conservator in the Thaw
    Conservation Center, Morgan Library and Museum, New York. From
    1998-2005 she was Head of Conservation at Columbia University
    Libraries. She has recently traveled to Cairo to participate in
    the Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation's manuscript survey project,
    and to help assess the storage conditions at the Coptic Museum
    Archive. Her past career includes conservation positions at the
    Huntington Library, the Winterthur Museum Library and the
    Library of Congress. She has taught workshops on binding
    structures for the Guild of Book Workers, the Montefiascone
    Project, and the Paper and Book Intensive, of which she was
    co-director for over twenty years.

    Nicolas Barker:  Editor of 'The Book Collector' since 1965, and
    first head of Conservation at the British Library, 1976-84,
    author and editor of many books, including 'Aldus Manutius and
    the Development of Greek Script and Type', 'Treasures of the
    British Library', 'The Oxford University Press, 1478-1978', the
    'ABC for Book-Collectors' and the complete catalogue of 'The
    Aldine Press'.

The cost of the classes is: 445 British pounds  ($640 US, 500 Euro)
per week and includes all tuition (which is in English) and (most)
materials. The Montefiascone Project is a not-for-profit
organization, and all extra monies are used to finance the
cataloguing and the conservation and preservation of the collection.

For further information or to register for one week or more, please
contact Cheryl Porter: chezzaporter<-at->yahoo<.>com . More information see

    <URL:http://www.monteproject.com>


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 23:31
                 Distributed: Monday, February 22, 2010
                       Message Id: cdl-23-31-008
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