So far, the project has produced more CT data of premodern and early modern book bindings than collectively on record. It has therefore become the model for staging work of this kind and scale. Detailed analysis of these data will produce a corpus of early binding information (at the micrometre level) for those working with such structures in conservation and collections care: for example, in this study we imaged at least four different approaches to endband sewing that might act as models for stitch patterns and attachment mechanisms used by conservators. The imaging data therefore presents a significant, if not immediately measurable, resource for those working in collections management. The approach itself also presents a model for these settings, situating CT imaging within the workflow of collections care as a means of recording object’s structure and state of repair, and to produce a workplan for stabilization, prior to invasive work.
More concrete results include the first successful µCT imaging of medieval iron-gall ink (black) on manuscript fragments hidden beneath a more modern binding. Success in this area validates the use of CT as a means to uncover and reconstruct fragmented manuscripts preserved in bindings. In some cases, these are the only locations in which important medieval texts (e.g. a section of an otherwise unattributed chanson de geste on Guillaume d’Orange found in a sixteenth-century English bookbinding in 2021) survive. Using CT imaging to recover items like this will allow researchers full access to the material the survives, without necessitating destruction or damage to the early binding the manuscript now supports. Verification that this method works for incidences of black ink on manuscript fragments represents an initial stage in the processing this imagery. Manuscript fragments will eventually be isolated, digitally unfolded, and flattened, to allow for reading of the complete text (as it is preserved) and the identification and digital reconstruction of any conjugate pieces. These fragments will provide evidence in turn for the histories of the books that contain them before they entered the Bolton Library, fleshing out the provenance and past of the collection.
The preservation of the Bolton Library, in which this project plays a role, as a complete collection in a secure and environmentally controlled location is an important step in understanding, maintaining, and celebrating Irish cultural heritage for the people of Ireland. The Bolton Library is the largest antiquarian book collection outside of Dublin. As such, it represents a crucial piece of evidence for the intellectual history of Ireland outside of the metropolitan centre. Its previous vulnerable state rendered it virtually inaccessible to researchers and the general public, as a result it has been little known or explored by either group. Once conservation and cataloguing are complete, the collection will be accessible (through in person visits, public events, digitization, and online cataloguing) to a much wider cross-section of interest groups, including academics, member of the public, and local groups. It will then be granted its appropriate place in the cultural heritage of Ireland as a hub of transnational exchange and intellectual endeavor.
