Examination
The Masnavi, translated from Persian as "the Spiritual Couplets," is a masterpiece of Sufism (Islamic mysticism) and one of Rumi's most celebrated works. This copy was written 700 years after the poem was composed, in present-day Pakistan, by an unnamed scribe, in two columns of nastaʿlīq script. The poor condition of both the extant binding and of the leaves of the volume necessitated complete rebinding.
1 of 6
-
EnlargeThe front and spine of the volume. Condition problems visible: the missing front board; missing first leaves; only remnants of the spine leather remain; the loose textile spine lining (which was under the spine leather); the loose sewing thread binding the leaves together; losses in the textblock paper (left foreground).
-
Fourteen gatherings varying in size from four to fourteen folia (139 total folia) were bound into a tight back structure with a flat spine. The primary endband was sewn on a rolled core with cotton thread similar to the one used for the primary sewing and the secondary endband was sewn with red and white threads in a chevron pattern; the endbands at both the head and tail are still present. The leather endcaps -- mostly missing -- appear to have been cut flush with the board edges.
-
EnlargeThe back of the volume. The back board is still attached, with old cloth and cloth tape repairs clearly visible. The back board shows the binding was a partial leather binding, which has a leather spine and narrow leather strips around the perimeter of the paper-covered boards, like a frame. The binder made the boards by laminating about four sheets of manuscript waste paper together; this paperboard is visible at the fore-edge corners where the paper and leather board covering are completely abraded.
-
The scribe wrote the poem using carbon black ink and a red ink for occasional framing, other decoration, and special words on two different kinds of Asian paper, one lighter in color and weight and one darker in color and heavier. The loose sewing, loose spine lining, and missing spine leather created the several millimeter-wide crack in the gutter at this page opening.
-
Page opening with a large tear on the right-hand page and insect losses in the left-hand page (a loose white sheet of paper inserted behind the insect holes makes them more visible).
-
Old repairs in the gutter using thick paper created a hard edge, causing the paper to break.
The Manuscript, Disbound
Since much of the binding had deteriorated, disbinding the volume involved only cutting the endband tie-downs, mechanically detaching the rear board and the loose cloth spine lining from the text-block, then cutting the primary sewing to pull apart the gatherings. The loose leaves were then treated.
1 of 6
-
Disbinding clarified the collation structure of the manuscript. This diagram shows the collation before treatment. The lines (black lines = lighter color and weight paper; brown lines = heavier, browner paper) are bifolia and folia and shows how a single sheet was folded to make two leaves/four pages, as well as single leaves without a conjugate. The number to the right of the lines is the folio number. Mismatched catchphrases on the versos of folia 4, 12, and 57 with the first word on folia 5, 13, and 58 suggest an unknown number of missing folia at each instance.
-
All of the leaves were dry cleaned using a soft brush and torn blotter edges with scarfed edges.
-
Old paper mends in the text-block causing condition problems were removed by thinning down the thick paper mend with a scalpel, softening the adhesive with a 3% methyl cellulose poultice, then removing the mend and reducing the adhesive with a spatula. This image also shows that the old mends in the gutter obscured text in some places.
-
Breaks and tears in the leaves were mended with thin kozo tissue toned with liquid acrylics to match, adhered with refined wheat starch paste or a mixture of paste and methyl cellulose. The same tissue was used to guard partially broken bifolia; completely broken bifolia were mended with a thicker tengujo tissue.
-
The last folio of the manuscript has big losses as well as six small strips of pressure-sensitive tape. Before removing the tape, the area on the other side of the leaf was faced with kozo tissue adhered with 2% Klucel G in ethanol. The tape carrier was detached mechanically using a spatula and the still-sticky adhesive residue was picked up with a crepe eraser.
-
The breaks and tears in the last leaf were mended with thin kozo tissue. Losses were infilled with a layer of Korean chamdak paper and a layer of thin kozo, toned with liquid acrylics and attached with refined wheat starch paste. The facing tissue was released from the other side with ethanol.
Rebinding
Rebinding included reassembling the gatherings and re-diagramming the manuscript structure; adding new endleaves; resewing; sewing new endbands; making new boards and attaching them to the book block.
1 of 9
-
Collation diagram after treatment showing kozo hooked guards added to single folia and blank kozo leaves inserted in place of missing leaves. The new binding also incorporated new double fold endleaves out of western handmade paper (Griffen Mill).
-
Diagram of the original sewing structure, a link stitch on two stations. The lack of thread between the first and second holes and the third and fourth holes subjected the center fold to uneven stress. Image credit: Yasmeen R. Khan
-
Diagram of the new primary sewing (in red) structure, a chain stitch with two kettle stations. Adding the endband primary sewing (in black) yields thread all along the fold and even stress all along. The new sewing structure required making two new holes in the folds. Image credit: Yasmeen R. Khan
-
To counter the tendency of the flat spine of an Islamic binding to go concave, the spine was slightly rounded after re-sewing, lined with kozo paper, and lined again with a transverse aero-cotton lining; both linings adhered with wheat starch paste.
-
Primary endbands over a 3 mm leather strip core, sewn through the lining material and into the kettle hole of each gathering. Secondary, decorative endband sewing using red and white silk threads weaves through the primary endband sewing in a chevron pattern.
-
New boards made of 2-ply mat board covered with thick kozo paper toned with liquid acrylics. Following traditional practice, the cover paper was burnished with a smooth stone.
-
The new boards cut to the size of the text block and secured by pasting the cotton transverse lining onto the inside faces of the boards. In this image, the cardstock spine stiffener to which the spine leather will be adhered is visible.
-
Tanned goatskin dyed with BASF leather dyes diluted with ethanol. To make the texture of the skin less apparent, the hair side was dampened and the leather pieces pressed between smooth tin plates for two minutes.
-
Strips of the prepared leather around the edges of the boards frame the burnished paper. The head, tail, and fore-edge were covered first, then the spine. Blind tooled lines were created in the leather frame with a metal folder while the pasted leather strips were still moist.
Rehousing
Custom housing keeps and protects the remnants of the previous binding together with the volume.
1 of 3
-
The old left board and other old binding remains in Mylar sleeves. The delaminating board and remaining covering material were consolidated before placing in Mylar.
-
The Mylar sleeves in a four-flap cardstock enclosure on the right; the rebound manuscript in a four-flap on the left. A custom cloth-covered clamshell box houses both four-flaps together.
-
The finished clamshell box.
