[BKARTS] Montefiascone Project 2005 -- course announcement

[Maria Fredericks <mf360@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

posted on behalf of Cheryl Porter, Director of the Montefiascone Project:

MONTEFIASCONE PROJECT

SUMMER 2005



Montefiascone is a small medieval walled city about 100 k (80 miles) north 
of Rome, on Lake Bolsena. Since 1988, conservators and others interested in 
books and their history have come together to work, to learn and to enjoy 
this special place.  Participants come to enjoy the medieval architecture, 
friendly people, a clean accessible lake, books and scholarship.  The 
Montefiascone Project is a non-profit making organisation, set up to fund 
the restoration of the Library of the Seminario Barbarigo in Montefiascone.

Courses for summer 2005:



Week I   25-29 July

Re-creating the Medieval Palette

Through illustrated lectures, participants will examine the story of colour 
in medieval times. The course will address the history, geography, 
chemistry, iconographic importance and the actual techniques of colour 
manufacture, with special reference to manuscript painting. Using original 
recipes, each participant will make and paint out the colours.  No previous 
experience is necessary.

Course tutor: Cheryl Porter



Week 2   1-5 August

Historic Album Structures

Throughout history the construction of photo albums has presented 
interesting challenges to book binders. Albums draw on basic book 
structures for construction, but must be altered to accommodate the 
photographs. The addition of photographs can set up complex mechanical 
interactions between the parts of an album and its photographs as the pages 
are being turned. Examination of structures used in nineteenth and 
twentieth century albums offers inspiration and insight for the 
construction of contemporary albums. The way the paper flexes, the way the 
photos or other additions are attached to a page, and the technique used 
for the leaf attachment influence how well an album works to display its 
contents. Participants will study various components and structures used in 
historic photo albums to inspire contemporary methods for adding materials 
to the book format. Participants will make models of the guarded leaf 
structure used for carte-de-visites and cabinet card albums.

Course tutor: Olivia Primanis



Week 3   8-12 August

The Conservation and Repair and binding of Parchment Manuscripts

This week?s practical course will cover the selection and preparation of 
materials for the flange repair of degraded membrane. Teaching will include 
slides of work undertaken by Antony Cains on the Ellesmere Chaucer (at the 
Huntington Library) and other manuscripts.

Course tutor: Tony Cains

Maximum class number:10



Week 4   15-19 August

The Stonyhurst Gospel

This course will enable participants to make their own book, based on the 
St Cuthbert Gospel of St John, known as the Stonyhurst Gospel and ascribed 
to the end of the seventh century. It miraculously retained its original 
binding, being buried in the coffin of the Bishop of Lindisfarne, 
Northumbria.

Through a series of lectures with slides, PowerPoint presentations and 
practical demonstrations, it is hoped that the student will gain an initial 
understanding of the construction of this remarkable little book. The 
binding process will include sewing, board preparation, endbanding, 
covering and surface decoration. All of the necessary materials required 
for making the book will be provided. Participants will be required to 
bring some basic bookbinding hand tools. Some knowledge of bookbinding is 
desirable, but not essential. The course will be of interest to 
bookbinders, conservators, design binders and those interested in the 
history of the book.

Course tutors: Jim Bloxam and Kristine Rose

Maximum class number: 10



BIOGRAPHIES

Cheryl Porter was trained in conservation of books and archives at 
Camberwell College of Arts and Crafts. After graduating, she worked with 
the Paintings Analysis Unit at University College London, and it was here 
she began to work with a Leverhulme-funded project using Laser Raman 
Spectroscopy to analyse pigments in manuscripts. From 1992 she has worked 
as a freelance conservator, until recently, with Dr Nicholas Hadgraft.  She 
has published many articles on pigments and manuscripts and has taught and 
lectured in the USA, Australia and many countries in Europe. Since 1988, in 
conjunction with Nicolas Barker and the local priests, she has organised 
and co-ordinated the restoration of the Cardinal Barbarigo Seminary Library 
in Montefiascone.



Olivia Primanis was apprentice-trained in bookbinding and conservation by 
Jean Gunner at Hunt institute, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh 
Pa., where, in 1975, she opened ?The Bookbinder? an art and bookbinding 
supply shop. When she moved to Los Angeles, she continued a private 
practice in book conservation and teaching bookbinding. Since 1990, she has 
worked as a book conservator at the Harry ransom Humanities Research 
Centre, Austin Texas.



Anthony Cains was apprenticed to the London trade bookbinder EA Neale Ltd 
(1954) and studied at the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts. He 
was awarded various prizes, including the Harrison Memorial Prize in 1957. 
He studied under many distinguished bookbinders including Bernard Middleton 
and the late William Matthews, who subsequently recommended him to Dr 
Sidney Cockerell at Lechworth (1961-5). He worked for a short time in the 
HMSO British Museum Bindery (1965) before establishing his own workshop at 
St Albans. He volunteered for salvage work in Florence following the flood 
in November 1966 and was later appointed Technical Director of the 
conservation system set up at the Biblioteca Nationale Centrale and to the 
Committee to rescue Italian Art (USA) 1967-72. In 1972 he was invited to 
design and establish a workshop and laboratory in the Library of Trinity 
College Dublin. He has contributed articles to The Paper Conservator and 
the New Bookbinder, and taught and lectured in Ireland and the UK, the USA 
and Australia.



Jim Bloxam is Senior Book Conservator in the Conservation Department at the 
Cambridge University Library, working on early printed books, manuscripts 
and archives. He is an Accredited Conservator/Restorer of the Institute of 
Paper Conservation and has an Honours degree (First Class) in Art History. 
His particular research interest lies mainly in the history of books; their 
structural qualities and cultural context.



Kristine Rose graduated from Camberwell College of Arts and Crafts BA 
(Hons) Conservation course in 2002. Since graduating she has been employed 
by Cambridge University Library, where she has worked on a variety of 
manuscript material. She has also worked as a volunteer on the 
Montefiascone Library Project for the past five years.



Costs: £345 UKP ($640 US. 495 euros) per week for all tuition (which is in 
English)

Scholarship: The Nicholas Hadgraft Montefiascone Scholarship is a new award 
from Conservation-by-Design. The successful applicant will be offered £1000 
(UKP)

towards tuition and accommodation for the Montefiascone course(s). For 
further information see Conservation-by Design website.

Accommodation: Participants may stay in our centrally-located house, with 
up to three persons per room. There are three bedrooms, kitchen, two 
bathrooms and a large sitting room. Prices are £12 ($22 US) per person per 
night.

There are also three centrally-located hotels, with special rates for 
participants on the Montefiascone Project.

For further information, contact Cheryl Porter:

7 Venice Lodge. 55 Maida Vale. London W9 1SD. England

Telephone +44 (0)7899856314. / +44 (0)207 266 0505

Email: chezzaporter@xxxxxxxxx

Or consult our website: www.monteproject.com

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