Rare antique book at UBC

[grammafreddy]

http://www.castanet.net/news/BC/100916/ ... ves-at-UBC

700-year-old manuscript arrives at UBC
by The Canadian Press - Story: 100916
Oct 20, 2013 / 11:40 am


Photo: Contributed - UBC
Postdoctoral fellow Richard Pollard uses the 14th century book as a teaching tool in his courses.

Students at the University of British Columbia have learned they can actually be amazed by a textbook — at least one that's more than 700 years old and written in a language they can't read.

The theological manuscript was scribed in Latin in northern France during the 1350s, said UBC history instructor Richard Pollard, who helped the university acquire it from a private collection in London.

"It was probably studied by university students in the 14th century," he said of the former academic best-selling title. "There are some notes in it that suggest that might be the case."

Pollard, a post-doctoral fellow who specializes in early European medieval history, said University of Paris would likely have been the place where post-graduate students used the introductory textbook, which includes red- and blue-colour letters.

The 400-page manuscript is kept in UBC library's rare books collection, where Pollard had shown his students books from the 15th century when they were studying that period.

"They were completely amazed that these books were anywhere in Vancouver, that UBC had them, these wonderful things from the 15th century."

Then along came the even older 14th-century theological book on Christianity called the Compendium Theologicae Veritatis, or Compendium of Theological Truth, which students leafed through as part of their studies.

Its seven sections on theological philosophy include creation, the fall, the incarnation, grace and the sacraments, along with prayers, Pollard said.

The manuscript is believed to have been copied on parchment by multiple scribes about 100 years before movable type and Johannes Gutenberg's printing press.

Beyond history students, it's a valuable resource for people studying the economics of book production hundreds of years ago, Pollard said.

"Getting the animal skins to make the parchment, employing a room full of scribes to write sections of the text to produce the book. Something like this would have cost the equivalent of thousands of dollars at the time."

The textbook on durable animal skin is likely to survive at least another 700 years, he said.

"When it's kept in a professional rare books library like here where it's going to be kept in a climate controlled environment and away from UV light there's no telling how long it could last given that we have parchment manuscripts that survive in less-than-ideal conditions from the fifth century."

The University of B.C. acquired the book in June for $15,000 with the help of a British firm specializing in rare books.

It will be featured at an exhibition at the university next January.
The Canadian Press

IF that is the rare 14th century book in his hands in the photograph, why the hell is he handling it without gloves? No professional who knows anything about preservation would use their bare hands. The oil from his hands would contaminate the parchment. What a dummy. And then he says his students handled the book, too? Hopefully they had the sense to wear gloves. So much for a "professional rare books library like here where it's going to be kept in a climate controlled environment and away from UV light".

[GordonH]

My first thoughts as well GF, where is his gloves. I suspect for the photo they just picked and old book (hopefully).

[AwakeFromDreamland]

No professional who knows anything about preservation would use their bare hands. The oil from his hands would contaminate the parchment. What a dummy. So much for a "professional rare books library

Whenever a British Library manuscript is featured in the press or on television, we inevitably receive adverse comments about our failure to wear white gloves! The association of glove-wearing with handling old books is in fact a modern phenomenon, and one that has little scientific basis.Essentially, we recommend that it is preferable to handle manuscripts with clean dry hands. Wearing cotton gloves to hold or turn the pages of a book or manuscript actually reduces manual dexterity, and increases the likelihood of causing damage. Gloves also have a tendency to transfer dirt to the object being consulted, and to dislodge pigments or inks from the surface of pages.

http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2011/08/white-gloves-or-not-white-gloves.html

Given the widespread belief that routine handling of paper with bare hands chemically damages it, it is telling that our research uncovered no scientific evidence supporting this notion. gloves provide no guarantee of protecting books and paper from perspiration and dirt, yet they increase the likelihood of people inflicting physical damage to collection material

http://www.betweenthecovers.com/btc/articles/49

[grammafreddy]

Interesting. Thanks for posting that. There's a neat video at your first link that demonstrates and makes sense (to me). Guess the white gloves are now old school, for books and papers at least. The video says they are still required for some artifacts.

[BelieveNothing]

I say this is a crock.

I am certain that you are correct grammafeddy, the paragraphs following explaining why gloves are not needed is a further crock.

[Fancy]

Look at a pair of white gloves under a magnifying glass and then look at your clean fingertips and you'll see a major difference. It is a lot easier turning pages without the gloves and, as stated, the gloves do carry dirt while your hands can be kept cleaner. The explanation of why the gloves started getting used makes sense but it makes better sense to revert back to the old ways of keeping pages clean (sans gloves).

[Ken7]

Look at a pair of white gloves under a magnifying glass and then look at your clean fingertips and you'll see a major difference. It is a lot easier turning pages without the gloves and, as stated, the gloves do carry dirt while your hands can be kept cleaner. The explanation of why the gloves started getting used makes sense but it makes better sense to revert back to the old ways of keeping pages clean (sans gloves).

I used to work at a Museum some time ago. The idea behind gloves is the natural oils in your fingers do not come into contact with the artifact.

The gloves are cared for and washed after use. I would say they are incorrect not wearing gloves.

Dry gloves do not transfer dirt as it doesn't cling to then easily. They futher are not doing oil changes and then looking at documents.

[Fancy]

It was stated gloves are still used handling artifacts and so that thinking was passed over to rare books. The only gloves that seem to be acceptable are vinyl/latex - not white cotton gloves.

[Ken7]

Why white cotton, because it shows the dirt. When people who know use them they wont even wipe there foreheads with the glove. It picks up oils from the skin. The oils transfer the dirt, not the glove.

If the glove becomes soiled it is quickly noted. You then pull gloves and put on new ones. That is why they wear white gloves.

I still find it unusual that the book, which one can not be read as it is in a differant language and two is so old it is left out to be held. Makes no since to me but I don't have a University degree... so who am I...LOL.

You can't buy common sense or learn it in University I guess. There are some that missed that gift.

[Fancy]

Who knew there was so much information about this?

In most cases, simple hand washing is enough to protect books from damage and, Silverman said in a phone interview, bare hands offer “greater tactile control”.

http://www.ilab.org/eng/documentation/4 ... nable.html

[BelieveNothing]

I still find it unusual that the book, which one can not be read as it is in a differant language and two is so old it is left out to be held. Makes no since to me but I don't have a University degree... so who am I...LOL.

You can't buy common sense or learn it in University I guess. There are some that missed that gift.

Also the ph. of our skin tends toward acidic, acidity tends to corrode fibers.

Something is off with this little story - for sure.

Ken7, so funny and so true.

[Fancy]

Being a modern day occurrence I guess it would be hard to acknowledge the old ways are best.

Sweat itself is a slightly acidic liquid composed almost exclusively of water (99.0-99.5%). The remaining solutes are nearly evenly divided between inorganic salts and organic substances (Hurley 2001, 71-72). Sebaceous glands, responsible for secreting sebum (skin oil), do not exist on the palms of the hands (Botek and Lookingbill 2001, 87-94) so the direct transfer of sebum through normal collection handling is not a significant issue.

I liked this site:

http://chethamslibrary.blogspot.ca/2012 ... loves.html

Clean hands, washed and thoroughly dried are perfectly adequate to safeguard rare books and archival collections. If you are still in any doubt, we direct you to the British Library guidelines 'The use of white cotton gloves for handling collection items'. For full research see the article ‘Misperceptions about white gloves’ by Dr. Cathleen A. Baker and Randy Silverman in the December 2005 issue of International Preservation News.

Finally, to hammer the message home, it is time to resurrect the old joke: What do archivists and Michael Jackson have in common? They both wear white gloves for no purpose.