'Chemical Principles of Textile Conservation' provides must-have knowledge for conservators who do not always have a scientific background. This vital book brings together from many sources the material science necessary to understand the properties, deterioration and investigation of textile artefacts. It also aids understanding of the chemical processes during various treatments, such as: cleaning; humidification; drying; disinfestation; disinfection; and the use of adhesives and consolidants in conservation of historical textiles. Textile conservators will now have ready access to the necessary knowledge to understand the chemistry of the objects they are asked to treat and to make informed decisions about how to preserve textiles. The combination of a chemist and a conservator provides the perfect authorial team. It ensures a unique dual function of the text which provides textile conservators with vital chemical knowledge and gives scientists an understanding of textile conservation necessary to direct their research. The many practical examples and case studies illustrate the utility of the relatively large chemical introduction and the essential chemical information which is included. The case studies, many illustrated in colour, range from the treatment of the Ghandis' clothes, high-altitude flying suits and a Mary Quant raincoat, to the Hungarian Coronation Mantle.

This book aims to provide the critical tools to help scholars in their use of Samaritan manuscripts. The basic codicological tools is a series of complementary data-bases compiled from typological studies of the physical properties of manuscripts. Each typology is in effect a diachronic profile created by painstaking comparison and analysis of the physical properties of manuscripts of known provenance and/or date. Using these typologies or diachronic profiles it is possible to evaluate the chronology of the physical characteristics of any manuscript - the quire or gathering structure, ink, ruling, spacing of the text on the folio, sewing of the sections ... Naturally, the more information available about the physical properties of any manuscript the better the chance of making correlations between the typologies of different properties. The basic rule in palaeography and codicology is that the researcher works on an inductive basis from as wide a sample as possible of dated manuscripts. It is hoped that in the studies in this volume, evidence has been provided which will serve as a guide both to the appearance and the nature of Samaritan manuscripts and to the evaluative process that one would employ in examining them for codicological purposes. The reader should be able to apply the criteria provided here to the evaluation of whatever data can be retrieved from any undated Samaritan manuscripts with which he is confronted. Alan D. Crown in the preface

"Both medieval panel painters and those working in the fifteenth century created works that evoke the glow of precious stones, the sheen of polished gold and silver, and the colorful radiance of stained glass. Yet their approach to rendering these materials is markedly different. Marjolijn Bol explores some of the reasons behind this radical transformation by telling the history of the two oil painting techniques used to depict everything that glistens and glows-the varnish and the glaze. For more than a century after his death, the fifteenth century painter Jan van Eyck was widely credited with the invention of varnish and oil paint, on account of his unique visual realism. This was a myth, however, and after it was revealed as such, the remarkable verisimilitude of his work was attributed instead to a new translucent painting technique, a technique the artist could have only innovated with oil paint already at his disposal: the glaze. Today, most theories about how Van Eyck achieved his visual realism revolve around this idea: that he was the first to discover or refine the glazing technique. Bol, however, argues that, rather than being a fifteenth-century refinement, varnishing and glazing began centuries before and, moreover, that these two techniques were not only explored by painters but were developed by a variety of artisans as part of the medieval material culture of splendor. Artisans embellished metalwork and wood with varnishes and glazes to imitate gems and enamel; infused rock crystal with oil, resin, and colorants to imitate more precious minerals; and oiled parchment to transform it into the appearance of green glass. Likewise, medieval panel painters used varnishes and glazes to create the look of water, silk, and more. What's more, Bol shows how the explorations of materials and their optical properties by these artists stimulated natural philosophers to come up with theories about transparent and translucent materials produced by nature"--

For more than ten years, The Science for Conservators Series has provided the key basic texts for conservators throughout the world. Scientific concepts are basic to the conservation of artefacts of every type, yet many conservators have little or no scientific training. These introductory volumes provide non-scientists with the essential theoretical background to their work.

For more than ten years, the Science for Conservators Series have been the key basic texts for conservators throughout the world. Scientific concepts are basic to the conservation of artefacts of every type, yet many conservators have little or no scientific training. These introductory volumes provide non-scientists with the essential theoretical backgound to their work. The prime reason for the books' continuing success is that they clarify often complex ideas, without distortion or over-simplification. They are essential basic textbooks for all conservators in training, and as such are in use throughout the world. Now part of the Heritage: Care-Preservation-Management handbook programme, these volumes in the collection have now been provided with carefully selected bibliographies and reading lists, to bring the student into contact with the most recent work in the field. Further volumes are in preparation.