A Medieval Psalter 'Perfected': Eighteenth-Century Conservationism and an Early (Female) Restorer of Rare Books and Manuscripts
Name
ebljarticle32013.pdf
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5.52 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (CRC64NVME)
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Resource type
Journal article
Creator (person)
Drimmer, Sonja
Date published
2013
Abstract
Many medieval manuscripts suffered from antiquarian zeal during the eighteenth-century revival of interest in medieval art: enthusiasts often augmented their own albums and private collections by removing attractive illuminations from manuscript pages, leaving wounded books in their wake. Less familiar is the restorative work of their contemporaries, a small number of facsimilists who repaired such damage by providing replacement paintings and text to compensate the manuscripts for their loss. A rediscovered manuscript in the British Library (Additional MS. 6894) contains some of the earliest known evidence of manuscript restoration, carried out c. 1792 by Eliza Dennis Denyer. A reconstruction of her biography and work as a restorer reveals a considerable portfolio, focused predominantly on the early printed books that made up the majority of her father’s collection. Attention to two of her most extensive campaigns along with accompanying documentation sheds new light on contemporary attitudes to medieval and early modern objects and suggests that there is a history of conservation practices extending back to the eighteenth century which remains to be written.
Journal title
Electronic British Library Journal
Volume
2013
Article number
3
Publisher
British Library
Place of publication
London, UK
eISSN
1478-0259
Official URL
Collection