Innovative Historical Conservation in SCOLAR

A seminar in the University Library organized by SCOLAR showcased two new innovative methods of conservation for rare books – one to extend the lifespan of the books, the other to extend our knowledge of the history of those books and their bindings.

A guest speaker from Northampton’s Leather Conservation Centre, Lara Meredith, a professional conservator, outlined a new technique for combating acidification in leather, which causes red dusty rot of the material. The new technique will give at least another generation of life to rare books suffering from ‘red rot’.

A second speaker, Professor Nicholas Pickwoad, of the University of the Arts London, has devised a new methodology for analysing, identifying, and describing the historical physical structure of rare books – in a way which opens up a whole new field for extending our knowledge of the early origins, production, trade, and use of rare books. Such new data will trace the historical and geographical journey of volumes, and chronicle the narrative of their use over the centuries, the ‘archaeology of the book’ as Prof. Pickwoad noted. Such studies based on whole collections could open up whole new layers of historical evidence to enhance our understanding of the material conditions which prevailed in the book trade and libraries, and of individual ownership and use of books since the dawn of printing in the 15th century.

Dr Thanasis Velios, a colleague of Prof. Pickwoad, demonstrated the database he has created to capture the layers of data discovered using the new methodology of analysis of binding structures and materials, and showed the potential to utilize the data for a range of potential research fields across the Humanities.

An external conservation grant from the Colwinston Trust, negotiated via Development and Alumni Relations (DEVAR), has enabled conservation already to begin on the Cardiff Rare Books Collection, and enabled this seminar, which was attended by University academics, librarians, archivists, and staff from the National Museum of Wales Library and Glamorgan Archives, to take place.

Tynged yr Iaith – Darlith Caerdydd

Pum deg mlynedd yn ôl darlledodd y BBC ddarlith gan Saunders Lewis (cyn-aelod o staff Prifysgol Caerdydd), dan y teitl ‘Tynged yr Iaith’: ei fwriad oedd sbarduno Cymry Cymraeg i fynnu eu hawliau i ddefnyddio’r iaith Gymraeg; rhywbeth y honnodd fyddai’n gyfystyr a ‘chwyldro’ . Cyn 1962 nid oedd gan siaradwyr Cymraeg hawliau cyfreithiol i wasanaethau yn yr iaith, ac roedd y cefndir hanesyddol yn un o ragfarn a difaterwch – o’r Ddeddf Uno yn 1536 a waharddodd yr iaith mewn llywodraeth, hyd at yr ugeinfed ganrif.

Saunders Lewis

Mewn arddangosfa yn SCOLAR, yn seiliedig ar ddarlith Saunders Lewis, ac sy’n cynnwys copi o’r Ddeddf Uno 1536, o gyfnod Harri VIII, olrheinir hanes ac effaith y ddarlith ar y gymdeithas Gymraeg o 1962 hyd at 2012: gwelir dogfennau o’r 16 G. hyd at bamffledi gwleidyddol Cymdeithas yr Iaith o’r 1960au hyd at 2002. Mae’n bosibl gweld detholiad o’r arddangosfa ar-lein, ar ein gwefan yma -

http://www.cf.ac.uk/insrv/libraries/scolar/digital/images.html

[An exhibition based on the 1962 BBC lecture by Saunders Lewis - 'Tynged yr Iaith', on the fate of the Welsh language - and its immense effect on society in the fifty years afterwards].

Harvard University Librarian visits SCOLAR

On Monday 5th December 2011, Professor Robert Darnton, Director of Harvard University Library, delivered Cardiff University’s Distinguished Lecture on the subject of Jefferson’s Taper and the Future of Books; this was one of Cardiff University’s high-profile Distinguished Lecture Series, which brings eminent and influential guest speakers to the University to showcase their work to a wider audience. A leading cultural historian who is internationally recognised for his research into books, digital scholarship and French cultural history, Professor Darnton’s lecture illuminated the campaign to create a Digital Public Library of America.

Professor Robert Darnton.Copyright 2010, Brian Smith/Boston.

Before his lecture Professor Darnton visited SCOLAR to see some of our special library collections, and talked with Humanities academics who are working with some of these historical rare books sources, including Dr Melanie Bigold’s work on Restoration Drama texts, and Professor Judi Loach’s work with our 19th and 20th century Private Press collections. He was also shown some of SCOLAR’s works on the French Revolution from our Salisbury Library Welsh collections, including a 1795 description of the Revolution by a lady dentist, dedicated to the Ladies of Llangollen!

Professor Darnton’s fascinating lecture outlined the major ‘public good’ that a freely accessible library of digital texts would entail for society, without the ‘pay walls’ and other restrictions of commercial publishers and Google type book monopolies. Amongst the guests in the lecture audience were Dame Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library, and Mr Rhodri Morgan, previous First Minister/Prif Weinidog of the National Assembly for Wales.

The lecture can be viewed as a videocast here: Robert Darton, Cardiff University Distinguished Lecture, 5 Dec 2011.

Historical Travel Literature – a ‘rough guide’

SCOLAR has just launched a new onsite and online exhibition based on its historical Travel Writing works, and a presentation has been given on this topic in the ongoing Cardiff  Rare Books Lecture Series. Investigation of this topic was spurred by enquiries from the School of European Studies, so an oultine listing was produced of our historical books (1500-1914), and this shows we have around 2,000 volumes in stock for this topic and era (not all yet catalogued though). We have not yet explored our ancient/medieval travel sources amongst our rare books, nor looked at our modern 20th century travels in the Library’s collections.

We have a wide ranging collection of early modern overseas travel works, from Drake and Raleigh, through later sources from Cook and Dampier, up to more recent works by H.M. Stanley, Shackleton and others. However, the main strength in our collections lies in the wide coverage we have of British travels and the ‘Grand Tour’ of the continent in the 18th and 19th centuries; this is supported by our very strong holdings of Welsh travel writers on this topic.

Amongst the well known authors in our collections are Lady Montagu, Mary Wollstonecroft, and Isabella Bird, as well as Addison, Boswell, Sterne, Goethe, Voltaire and Wordsworth. On top of this we hold a multitude of volumes by minor or unknown authors, all providing a barometer of cultural opinion on their travels across the centuries and the continents. Our collections include works from slaves and shipwrecks, missionaries and ambassadors, traders and adventurers, and many by early ‘tourists’ !

 

 

 

 

 

( See  our  online digital travel writing exhibition selection at:     www.cf.ac.uk/insrv/libraries/scolar/digital/travel.html    )

( See our online listings of Welsh related travel writings at: www.cf.ac.uk/insrv/libraries/scolar/special/welsh/index.html   )

TTP yn yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol

Ymddangosodd TTP (Turning The Pages) yn yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol am y tro cyntaf yn ystod yr wythnos. Mae TTP yn cynnwys meddalwedd i droi tudalennau mewn 3D ar sgrin 40″, ac mae’n cynnwys 10 o’r llyfrau prinnaf yn SCOLAR – o’r 14g hyd at yr 20g. Bydd TTP ar gael i deithio o amgylch Cymru mewn fersiynau symudol, er mwyn dangos trysorau ein llyfrau prin i’r cyhoedd. Prifysgol Caerdydd yw’r unig sefydliad yng Nghymru sy’n defnyddio TTP i hyrwyddo eu casgliadau arbennig.

TTP - Troi'r Tudalennau

 

 

 

 

[ TTP appears in the National Eisteddfod for the first time. ]http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/eisteddfod/

Art and Architecture across Europe – Marburger Index

The Voyager library catalogue now describes one of our largest microfiche collections in SCOLAR, the Marburger Index. This is a collection of photographs and pictures of art and architecture, collected from many German and  other institutions across Europe, containing 1.8 million images. The subjects covered by the collection include painting, sculpture, crafts, buildings and more; it covers all historical periods,  and there is a searchable database index which refers to the images on the microfiche. Our microfilm/fiche readers feature scanning software, which allows digital images to be saved to a memory stick. This is the largest of SCOLAR’s image collections, but we hold hundreds of thousands of other pictorial and illustrated materials, ranging from rare books to newspapers to archives.

Digital scanner