Paper Splitting: History and Modern Technology
Name
JAIC , Volume 39, Number 3, Article 1 (pp. to ).pdf
Description
The authors outline the history of paper splitting and describe the contemporary processes from firsthand observations and interviews with the conservators in Germany.
Size
4.45 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
841461b6f4793f35017010b342c8791f
Author(s)
Brueckle, Irene
Dambrogio, Jana L.
Date Issued
February 2001
Journal
Journal of the American Institute for Conservation
Citation
Brückle, Irene and Jana Dambrogio. "Paper Splitting: History and Modern Technology." Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 39.3 (2000).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
In the 19th century, restorers used paper splitting to separate recto and verso of double-sided prints or drawings. Today, the treatment is employed for strengthening weakened paper. Two German conservation centers are chiefly responsible for the development of the process to its current level of sophistication: over the course of more than 30 years, Günter Müller at the Thuringian University and State Library at Jena perfected manual paper splitting; over the same time period, Wolfgang Wächter, now at the Zentrum für Bucherhaltung in Leipzig, developed the paper-splitting machine. We outline the history of paper splitting and describe the contemporary processes from firsthand observations and interviews with the conservators at Jena and Leipzig. Technical evaluations of contemporary paper splitting are summarized, and some observations on objects that were split for the authors are documented (a 19th-century newspaper page, a 17th-century document written in iron gall ink, 17th-century book leaves). A short guide to the identification of papers that may have historically undergone splitting is provided. A bibliography can be found under “Web-accessible Projects” at www.buffalostate.edu/~artcon/.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
http://cool.conservation-us.org/jaic/articles/jaic39-03-001_indx.html
