BPG Parchment Condition Problems

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Book and Paper Group Wiki > Paper Conservation Wiki > Parchment Condition Problems

This page covers the condition issues that occur on parchment. See also: BPG Parchment, BPG Parchment Examination and Documentation, BPG Parchment Conservation Treatment, BPG Parchment Housing and Storage, and BPG Parchment Parchment Historic Treatment Methods and Materials.

Wiki Compiler: Cathie Magee
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Copyright 2025. The AIC Wiki is a publication of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC). It is published as a convenience for the members of AIC. Publication does not endorse nor recommend any treatments, methods, or techniques described herein. Information on researching with and citing the wiki can be found on the Reference and Bibliography Protocols page.

Cite this page:

American Institute for Conservation (AIC). "BPG Parchment Condition Problems." AIC Wiki. May 20, 2025. https://www.conservation-wiki.com/wiki/BPG_Parchment_Condition_Problems.

Parchment Support Condition Problems

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Evidence of Use

Surface grime

Surface grime comes in different forms. Books acquire so-called historic grime from use, generally appearing at the bottom corners of folios from the turning of pages by hand. These marks, likely the buildup of oils from skin and subsequent staining of the substrate, are important signs of the history of a book's use. Conservators generally do not attempt to remove these. Art historian Kathryn Rudy (2010) has attempted to quantify the accumulation of grime on manuscript folios by using a densitometer and correlate those values with the social value of certain folios.

More modern accumulations of dust and dirt are thought of as "museum grime" from days when objects were stored in more open conditions. These tend to be loose and can transfer to work surfaces, collection objects, or skin making contact. It is generally more acceptable to remove modern grime from parchment objects with dry cleaning. However, questions remain on whether removal of any grime may result in the removal of important evidence of the history of a book's location, such as from pollen samples.

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Insect Damage

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Tears

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Delamination

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Water Damage

Mold

(See also BPG Mold)

Mold can be particularly damaging to parchment, causing severe staining of the skin and general breakdown of the collagen fiber structure. In cases of light to moderate mold attack the parchment may appear pock-marked, with small depressions in the surface of the skin and associated areas of staining. In severe cases the entire thickness of the skin may be degraded so that it appears very fibrous and pulpy and has no mechanical strength. It is rare for the entire surface of a parchment artifact to be damaged by mold; usually the damage is more localized and limited to areas that have been especially damp such as the edges and corners of single sheets. Particularly interesting examples of mold attack have been described by Boethy-Kozocsa (1987) in a group of illuminated parchment manuscripts that once belonged to Matthias Corvinus, a 16^th-century King of Hungary. These manuscripts were stored at one time in very damp conditions and in many cases the mold attacked only the blank areas of parchment and avoided the text which was written in a type of iron gall ink.

Mold removal should be carried out before any other treatment step to prevent further contamination. See BPG Parchment Conservation Treatment > Mold Remediation.

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Parchment Book Block Problems

Abrasion from loose quires

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Previous Repair Efforts

Tape

[Copied from original BPG Parchment] Original Repairs, Compensation and Joins

Original repairs and compensation are usually absent in fine art on parchment (i.e., paintings, drawings and prints) because the artist only needed a single sheet for his work and was therefore able to choose one of very high quality. On the other hand, many sheets of parchment were required for a manuscript book, rolled document or large map or architectural plan. Although the craftsman might have preferred to have the skins all of fine quality, his choice was often limited to what was available or by the amount of money he was able to pay for good skins. In general, folio size manuscript books (and, by association, their detached leaves) tend to have a greater number of original repairs than much smaller manuscripts of the same type.

• Sewn Repairs

Repairs to parchment were often done while the skin was still wet or damp, before it was dried on the frame. These types of repairs, sewn in a figure of eight pattern across the damaged area, can be recognized by the bunching up of the damp skin and the pulling on the sewing holes that would occur as the skin dried under tension (Clarkson 1992, Figs. 22, 23, 36, 37). Sewn repairs in dry skins were also carried out by the parchment maker or by the scribe at a later stage and would tend to look quite different, with the sewing holes still circular in shape and not extended (Clarkson 1992, Fig. 38). In both cases these repairs were most often done with linen thread, but sometimes silk thread or narrow strips of parchment were also employed. In cases where the available parchment sheet was of an irregular shape, due to its having been cut along the outer perimeter of the full skin, additional pieces would be attached to compensate for the irregularity. These pieces were usually secured by sewing with thread or parchment thongs. Sewing was also a common technique for the joining of multiple pieces of parchment to form a scroll. Both thread and a type of sinew or gut (in the case of Hebrew manuscripts) were used as sewing materials. (Certain types of medieval parchment documents made in scroll form often had textile or leather covers sewn onto the upper end. When the document was rolled up these covers would protect the object from damage during storage or transport.)

• Patched Repairs

Patched repairs usually were carried out with a similar if not identical type of parchment as the original. Contemporary patches of transparent goldbeater's skin are much less common than parchment repairs although they have been recorded in some early manuscripts such as the 6th century Vienna Dioscurides (Wächter 1962, p.25). Original patches usually cover small holes that developed during the manufacturing process; it is assumed that they were attached with a collagen-based adhesive such as parchment size. Although these repairs could be performed by the parchment maker on the finished sheet, once it was removed from the frame, they were more likely to have been executed in the scribal workshop. In many cases final preparation of the surface (pumicing, chalking) would be done after the repairs were completed, thus making the scarfed joins that much more invisible (Clarkson 1992, Figs. 33, 34).

• Fills or Compensation

Larger pieces of parchment are sometimes used to compensate for the irregular edge of a given sheet. These patches or “fills” are applied in the same manner as smaller patched repairs, by scarfing the overlapped areas and attaching the parchment piece with adhesive. Multiple pieces of parchment would often be joined to make one very large sheet, to be used for an architectural drawing or garden plan, or for a rolled document. These pieces of parchment were connected with overlapped adhesive joins which, although perfectly functional, would not always be as precisely executed as patches or joins found in medieval manuscripts

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Media Condition Problems

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Pigment

Flaking

Szirmai 2017, 124. importance of correct binding structure

Previous consolidation efforts

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Staining

(lead white, copper green, silver, brass)

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Iron Gall Ink

Fading, efforts to reverse ink fading

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References

Non-Threatening Evidence of Use

Rudy, Kathryn. 2010. "Dirty Books: Quantifying Patterns of Use in Medieval Manuscripts Using a Densitometer." Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 2 (1-2).

Media Condition Problems

Pigment

Szirmai, J. A. 2017. "Conservation Bindings: Part 1 – Wooden Board Bindings." Journal of Paper Conservation 18 (4): 123–33.

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Bibliography

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History of This Page

This page was created in April 2022 when the Parchment page was updated.