AN EVALUATION OF THE PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF JAVANESE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE ORIENTAL AND INDIA OFFICE COLLECTIONS, THE BRITISH LIBRARY PRESERVATION & CONSERVATION POINT OF VIEW by Tamara Adriani Salim A Master's dissertation, submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Master of Arts degree of the Loughborough University of Technology February, 1992 Supervisor: Professor J. P. Feather Department of Information and Library Studies © Tamara A. Salim, 1992 To Papah, Mamah, my sister Miriam Pudjohastuti, and my brother Kemal Hastobroto (his name written Asta Brata appears on page 74) With love and thanks for praying and supporting endlessly from afar. It was indeed a great pleasure, whilst studying the physical condition of the manuscripts, to come across familiar names, customs and traditions of which I have heard about from my parents and ancestors. CONTENTS Page Dedication page i Table of contents 1i Abstracts vi Acknowledgements viii Illustrations 1x List of Tables xii List of Illustrations xiii List of Appendices xiii CHAPTER 1: SITUATIONAL BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 1. 1 Definition of Preservation and Conservation 1 1.2 Preservation and Conservation Policy of the British Library 3 1.3 The Importance of Javanese Manuscripts 5 1.4 Brief History of the Oriental and India Office Collections, The British Library 8 1.5 Javanese Manuscripts in the Oriental and India Office Collections, The Bri tish Library 10 1. 5.1 Prominent Collectors of Javanese Manuscripts 12 1.5.1.1 Crawfurd, John (1783- 1868) 14 1.5.1.2 Mackenzie, Colin (1753- 1821) 15 1.5.1.3 Sloane, Sir Hans (1660- 15 1753 ) 1.5.1.4 Raffles, Sir Thomas Stamford (1781-1826) 16 1. 5.2 Types of Materials 16 1.6 Damaging Agents Contributing to the Physical Condition of the Manuscripts 17 1.7 Concluding Remarks 21 CHAPTER 2: OBJECTIVE AND METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY 2.1 The Aim of the Study 22 2.2 Brief Overview of the Dissertation 23 2.3 Methodology 2.3.1 Population of the Study 24 2.3.2 The Sample 26 2.3.3 Sampling Procedures 28 2.3.4 Data Gathering 29 2.3.5 Data Analysis and Presentation 32 CHAPTER 3: DESCRIPTIVE OVERVIEW OF THE CONDITION OF THE JAVANESE MANUSCRIPTS EXAMINED IN THIS STUDY 3.1 Copper Plates Manuscripts (Red Copper Plates) 3.1.1 Introduction 34 3.1. 2 Copper-Plate Manuscripts in the Oriental Collection 35 3.1. 3 Copper-Plate Manuscripts in the India Office Library 37 3.2 Palm-Leaf and Bamboo Manuscripts 3.2.1 Introduction 39 3.2.2 Palm-Leaf and Bamboo Manuscripts in the Oriental Collection 42 3.2.2.1 Sloane's palm-leaf and bamboo manuscripts collection 43 iii 3.2.2.2 Crawfurd's palm-leaf manuscript collection 46 3.2.2.3 Other palm-leaf manucripts in the Oriental Collection from other prominent collectors 48 3.2.3 Palm-Leaf Manuscripts in the India Office Library 51 3.3 Paper Manuscripts 3.3.1 Introduction 59 3.3.2 Dluwang Javanese Paper Manuscripts 60 3.3.3 English Paper Manuscripts 66 3.3.4 European Paper Manuscripts 3.3.4.1 European Paper Manuscripts in the Oriental Collection 72 3.3.4.2 European Paper Manuscripts in the India Office Library 79 3.3.5 Chinese Paper Manuscripts 83 3.3.6 Manuscripts of Various Combination of Papers 84 3.4 Concluding Remarks 87 CHAPTER 4: STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: TABULAR PRESENTATIONS AND ANALYSIS OF OBSERVED PHYSICAL CONDITION AND POSSIBLE AFFECTING FACTORS 91 4.1 Observed Physical Condition of Javanese Manuscripts According to the Degree of Physical Damage Suffered 92 4.2 Observed Physical Condition of the Javanese Manuscripts According to the Possible Agents 94 4.3 Observed Physical Condition of Javanese Manuscripts According to the Types of Materials 96 iv 4.4 Observed Physical Condition of Javanese Manuscripts According to the Original Institution 98 4.5 Observed Physical Condition of Javanese Manuscripts wi th Illustration (22 manuscripts) According to the Types of Materials 99 4.6 Observed Physical Condition of Javanese Manuscripts According to the Collectors 100 4.7 Categories of Physical Condition of Javanese Manuscripts According to the Date of Publishing 101 4.8 Concluding Remarks 103 CHAPTER 5: STORAGE HANDLING 5.1 Introduction 104 5.2 Storage Handling in the Oriental Collection 105 5.3 Storage Handling in the India Office Library 108 5.4 Concluding Remarks 110 CHAPTER 6: SUMMARY, CONCLUS IONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 6.1 Summary and Conclusions 116 6.2 Recommendations 118 REFERENCES 120 APPENDICES 127 v ABSTRACT AN EVALUATION OF THE PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF JAVANESE MANUSCRIPTS IN THE ORIENTAL AND INDIA OFFICE COLLECTIONS, THE BRITISH LIBRARY: PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION POINT OF VIEW Salim, Tamara Adriani (1992) In summary, there are three factors which have prompted the conduct of the present study, namely: (1) The importance of Javanese manuscripts as cultural heritage as well as subjects and sources of research (2) The significant collection of Javanese manuscripts available in the British Library (3) The lack of studies concerning the physical condition of Javanese manuscripts which may benefit preservation and conservation of the manuscripts. This research is a preliminary study of which objectives are to examine the physical condition of Javanese manuscripts from the preservation and conservation point of view, and to explore possible factors affecting the physical condition of the manuscript. This study was carried out in the Oriental and India Office Collection, the British Library. Seventy-five (30.9%) of Javanese manuscripts from both institutions were chosen as samples. Stratified and purposive random sampling method were used for choosing this sample. The Javanese manuscripts examined consist of 2 (100%) copper­ plate, 47 (100%) palm-leaf and 26 (13.4%) paper manuscripts. A modification and combination of McCranck's (1984) and Agrawal's (1984) forms were used to gather data on the physical condition of the manuscripts (see Appendix 1). The overall condition of these manuscripts was grouped according to five categories. Category I, 11 and III is a continuum concerning the physical condition ranging from the poor (Category I) to the good condition (Category Ill). Category IV is for manuscripts which have received treatment, and Category V is for manuscripts which have been reproduced. These criteria for evaluating the physical condition of manuscripts under study were a slight modification of those developed by Wright and Yurkiw (1986). Interviews and observations were conducted in order to gather information on the storage handling of the manuscripts. The results show that, in general, the manuscripts under study are in poor condition (Category I) and hence require immediate treatment. However, the present study found that only less than 30% of the manuscripts of Category I have ever received treatment. And only less than 10% had been reproduced (duplicated). Most of the Category I manuscripts belong to the India Office Library. This study also discovered that almost all of the time, chemical agents were found to be the most damaging agents. The condition of the storage and accommodation of library materials including the security issues in the Oriental Collection can be said to be more satisfying when compared with the India Office Library. To conclude, although the present study is still far from complete and thorough, its result may provide the British Library with information which is useful for its systematic and effective action of preventing and conserving the manuscripts and even for conducting a further study. The present study also provides recommendations for further study. vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT On finishing this dissertation, I gratefully acknowledge the guiding support of Professor J. P. Feather, Head of the Department of Information and Library Studies, providing me with kind help and comments. I would also like to express my gratitude to Ms Annabel Teh Gallop, Curator of the Indonesian and Malay collection in the Oriental and India Office Collections, for the kind attention, guidance and assistance in providing much information; and also to Mr Peter Lawson and his staff in the Manuscripts Conservation Studios in the Bri tish Library Preservation Service at the Oriental and India Office Collections. My gratitude is also due to the kind co-operation of the reading room staff of the Oriental and India Office Collections, the British Library. I give my gratitude to Mrs Janet Stevenson, Language Tutor, for thoroughly going through the text and making it sound. I am sincerely thankful to my colleagues and friends whom I have met during my study in Loughborough University of Technology, in David Collett Hall, Borrowdale Way, and Falkner-Eggington Court, for the wholehearted support, not forgetting Mbak Ai Lien for kindly going through the text and making useful suggestions. I am especially grateful for the opportunity given to me to obtain my M.A. Degree in Information and Library Studies at Loughborough Uni versi ty of Technology. This is realised by the good co­ operation of the University of Indonesia and the British Council. Finally, I would like to thank my parents who gave me their consent and blessings to study abroad and my sister Miriam, who accompanied me during my first winter in England. And, by saying Alhamdulillah, I would like to end this dissertation. INDONESIA .. - ... H I SOUTH CHINA SEA --' I .i/!.....- p o -- LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Population and sample of Javanese Manuscripts According to the Original Institutions Table 2: Population and Sample of Javanese Manuscripts According to Types of Materials Table 3: Population and Sample of Javanese Manuscripts in