Conservation of the Mercator Atlas
The Mercator Atlas is a unique item compiled in the early 1570s which contains the only extant remaining parts of Mercator's influential 1554 wall map of Europe, along with two unique manuscript maps attributed to him.
A team of two conservators recently undertook the conservation of Mercator's Atlas of Europe, a unique item compiled in the early 1570s which contains the only extant remaining parts of Mercator's influential 1554 wall map of Europe, along with two unique manuscript maps attributed to him.
The Atlas was made by cutting and pasting multiple copies of his previously published wall maps of Europe, the British Isles and the world, with the addition of margins in some cases. The Atlas only came to light in 1967 - over 400 years after its compilation - and was acquired by the Library in May 1997, with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Even following conservation the Atlas is very fragile, and it is fortunate that the Library has a facsimile and has digitised the Atlas. Access to the original has to be managed carefully as the nature of the materials used in its preparation mean that the leaves of the book will remain vulnerable throughout its life.
Prior to treatment, almost all folios were torn at the edges, with creases and small losses. The verdigris pigment in the hand colouring had caused the paper to fracture. Old repairs had caused distortion and further extended the fracturing of the paper. Despite this, these repairs were part of the history of the Atlas and they were retained.
In some areas the verdigris damage to the paper was quite extensive. In addition investigations into suitable treatments revealed that there were risks involved in exposing verdigris degradation products - copper oxalates - to the usually recommended treatments such as washing, alkalisation and localised sizing with methyl cellulose, as copper oxalates are highly reactive to light, heat, acid, alkali and moisture. For this reason the decision was taken to repair fractured areas using fine fibre stitch repairs. Examination also revealed a gypsum layer under the pigment layer which is potentially very significant for academic understanding of atlas and map manufacture in the 16th century. Any aqueous treatment would have resulted in the loss of this information.
Fine fibre “strings” were drawn out from pulped kozo II tissue, trimmed and then adhered with zin shofu wheat starch paste. This repair method gives great support and strength with minimal exposure to moisture and allows the paper to move. The repairs are flexible so that the brittle areas are not put under increased tension.
In its pre-treatment condition, the binding was not offering the textblock any support. The boards were soft and worn, heavily abraded and delaminating at the edges. The sewing had completely broken and the backs of the textblock sections were exposed and broken.
The boards were consolidated and strengthened, and the worn and damaged edges were built up to ensure that the textblock was fully protected. Other components of the binding were repaired and consolidated to ensure that they could be retained and reused in order to keep as much of evidence of the history of this book as possible even though evidence clearly suggested that this was not the original binding. The book was carefully resewn using the original supports and recovered with a quarter binding.
The treatment was successful on many levels. Not only are the paper and binding stable but the Atlas is now in a condition to enable restricted careful handling. It can be put on display for limited periods and its long-term preservation has been greatly improved. A Press Release can be found online. For further information about the Codex Sinaiticus visit our Online Gallery.
Composite map showing verdigris damage and losses with old repairs through transmitted light
Fine fibre stitch repairs supporting fractures and infills of losses
