ISSN 1461 4154 PO journal e director's comment The N PO has moved into the cp new British Library building at NPO Journal St Pancras! Turpin Distribution Services Ltd Blackhorse Road Letchworth Hertfordshire SG61 HN Tel: 01462 672555 Fax: 01462 480947 National Preservation Office The British Library, 96 Euston Road, LONDON, NW1 2DB Tel: 0171-412 7612 Fax: 0171-412 7796 he move to the new British the Office's main concern: the • Library building at St Pancras, development of a national supported by Tafter months of deliberation preservation strategy. The British Library and uncertainty, capped a year of In the last two years, we have The Public Record Office extensive growth and transition for continued to run the enquiry service The National Library of the NPO. on a fairly small scale. Over the last Scotland We moved in on the 14th six months we have been able to Trinity College Library Dublin December 1998, and after the devote more time and energy to it and The Consortium of University Christmas break, have begun to settle can now once more offer a fast­ Research Libraries in well and surprisingly quickly. The response enquiry and information Cambridge University library professional and practical benefits of service on aspects of preservation The National library of Wales th is move will become even more relevant to libraries and arch ives. Our The Bodleian library, apparent over this next year. aim is to continue to work on this so Oxford University The integration of the independent that the Office becomes a natural focus of the NPO, within the new focus to which professionals come to Cover picture: John British Library at St Pancras, means for advice and to share experiences. Chrysostom, Homiliae super that we ca n create closer links w ith We hope that colleagues in the BL Matthaem etc. Printed in our colleagues, whilst creating a and throughout the UK and Ireland Cologne, 1487. Cambridge bridge to other organisations and w ill feel they can contact us with University library, Inc. institutions on topical preservation relevant queries or ideas so that we 3.A.4.6(470) issues to the benefit of all . Over the can collaborate on projects, events Credit: Reproduced by kind next three years we will be piloting a and problems, and even reach perm iss ion of the Syndics of number of initiatives to gather the solutions. Please come and see what Cambridge University background information we need for we are doing! library. The vtcws expressed withtn this publi< alton an• not ne( cssanly Dr Vanessa Marshall, Director of thos(' of th(' Editor, the NPO or The National Preservation Office - The British Library. e cover story The Census of Medieval Bookbinding Structures to 1500 in British Libraries by jenny Sheppard 0 he British Census project is one of medieval period, especially from the three projects that are currently in later 13th century onwards. Tprogress in Eu rope (though they Secondly, the project aims to raise are unrelated). The other two are in Italy awareness among all w ho read, care and France w here research institutes for and handle medieval books, about are providing both teams of researchers proper hand Ii ng practices, for these rare and the support that such a project needs. and often fragile items. This includes The British project began to evolve reading room supervisors and I ibrary a number of years ago in Cambridge and archive staff w ho have the among a group of medieval book important but often uncons idered Psa/ter.Written in first half 13th century, scholars, keepers and conservators of responsibil ity of carrying medieva l probably in England. Cambridge, medieval books, and it is in Cambridge materials between storage areas and University Library, MS Add. 7220. that phase one of the project is being reading rooms. It raises awareness carried out. about the valuable evidence that is Interest in the structure of med ieva l embedded in su rviving bindings bookbindings is a comparatively new concerning the history of the text or development in the field of physical texts w hich each binding protects. This bibliography. Until about 50 years emerging branch of medieval phys ica l ago, research was directed almost bibliography has much to reveal to exclusively towards decorated covers. practised minds and eyes. The practised Because their importance has been observation of easily visible elements hitherto overlooked, medieval bindings of bindings and the st ra ightforward have for centuries been replaced and recording of these elements are ski lls discarded on a very large scale, though that anyone can develop. the texts within and the decorated To assist in furthering these aims, a coverings have been preserved. booklet cal led A Guide to the Census However, medieval binding structures has been produced and distributed john of Turrecremata, Quaestiones are wel l worth studying in their own to all collections and archives that, Evangeliorum de Tempore et de Sanctis. right as a part of the history of the book. according to our research, are likely to Printed in Cologne in1478. Cambridge, In addition, they may contain evidence hold books or arch ive materials in early University Library Inc. 3.A.4.16 (595 ). about the origin and provenance of a bindings. This comes together w ith book w hich is vital to all scholars who information about the project and a work on any aspect of medieval books, returnable form on w hich recipients their readers and med ieval libraries. can indicate their interest to participate The project has two main objectives. and w heth er in-house or other I ists of Fi rst, it aims to produce a list of su rviving books in early bindings exist. This well medieval binding structu res before illustrated book contains a copy of 1500 on books in British I ibraries. the form that is being used to record At present, there is no such I ist. Even information and an explanation of the where they exist, not all published work the project's researchers wi II be catalogues include systematic doing. It is hoped that the booklet w ill reference to bindings. As a resul t of the help keepers who need ass istance in census we shall know, for the fi rs t time, identifying books w hich the project's how many books in early bindings have researchers w ill need to see. Well over Origen, Super Cenesim, Exodus, survived in th is country and where they 500 booklets have been sent out across Leviticum. Written in England in are. The census may also generate the country. Repl ies from more than the second half of the 12th century. some research findings of its own, half this number have already been Cambridge, University Library, particularly with regard to identifying received, virtually 100% express ing MS Add 5368. practices which can be applied locally enthusias m forthe project. However, and the refinement of dating changes this leaves about 200 free booklets Credit: AI/ pictures reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics in binding structures through the unacknowledged ! If readers have of Cambridge Universi ty Library. people e received a communication from the The depositing of photocopies of the long-acknowledged difficulty in project (it w ill have arrived between represents a first rapid step towards estimating how long the research will November 1997 and March 1998) making the records avai lable for take in each centre have become more but have not yet replied, it would be consultation and comment. However, sharply focused. Attempting to co­ appreciated if they could do so as a more widely accessible means of ordinate up to 10 researchers working soon as possible, even if they believe disseminating the findings is currently in different places at once for different they have no early bindings or only being considered. A hard copy version periods of time would be likely to one or two, or if they do not w ish of the forms is a possibility, but it may make the administration unnecessari ly to participate. prove to be less useful than making the complex and the efficiency and smooth Production and distribution ofthe computerised findings available on the running of the project would be likely booklet and processing the replies internet . Currently the use of SGML to to be compromised. Secondly, it may have constituted a major element of encode information gathered from the be easier to raise funds for the project stage one in terms of time and cost. project and the possibility of scanning to proceed in stages. However, there The second element is the carrying the drawings made on the reverse of is no reason why, once research has out of the census in Cambridge the census form are under active been set in motion in one centre, work libraries, which is being done by investigation. Wider consultation, could not then begin to attract funds the project co-ordinator (currently its especially with the keepers of the books for research to commence in another. sole researcher) on a part-time bas is. in question, sti II remains to be done. A few copies of A Guide to the A ll books w ith pre-1500 bindings On completion of stage one (end Census are sti ll ava ilable for sa le and held by the University Library have 1999), when the computerisation and can be obtained from the address been recorded. Photocopies of the publication questions will have been below at £8.50 for one, or £8.00 for completed form for some 600 books resolved, the most recent thinking in more than one, including postage (MSS and incunables) have been light of the experience in running stage and packing.