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2025 Poster Session
Posters will be on display in the AIC Exhibit Hall on Thursday, May 29, and Friday, May 30. Poster authors will be at their poster for a Q&A session on Friday, May 30, at 3:30pm.


Banner photo by Lane Pelovsky, Courtesy of Meet Minneapolis 
Friday May 30, 2025 3:30pm - 4:00pm PDT
When the prayer book of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots was delivered for conservation a question was raised if the binding of the prayer book can be restored to open it more easily, so that the sewing wouldn’t cause distortion of the vellum and misplaced pages could return to the proper location. I wanted to apply as many non-invasive tests as possible before physically touching the precious book itself and for this reason I decided to focus on computed tomography (CT) imaging.




My project benefits from collaboration of art conservation and nuclear physics similarly to patient-hospital relations through a harmless evaluation of the condition. Application of CT in bookbinding restoration is still very rare or non-existent and this project is pioneering. The goal was to develop CT imaging as a standard tool to diagnose and solve bookbinding restoration problems.

Most of the historical books have lost their original covers over the years or were rebound multiple times. CT imaging can offer real visible answers as to the original book structure instead of guessing them by the time and place of the book origin, never compromising the safety, allowing to verify and justify planned restoration procedures.

First CT scans were performed on a medical scanner at the hospital. Depending on the scan viewing program, different structures of the bookbinding were revealed but I needed a better resolution like the one of micro CT to distinguish the sewing thread course.

Micro CT scans were performed at the university, scanning the book spine took significantly longer but yielded great results. 




The scan, although at first puzzling, exposed the true condition of the book after its 18 century rebinding - the pages’ spines were gone and needed a complete reconstruction to allow easy opening of the manuscript. Marks discovered on the book spine were interesting suggestions of the probable original 16 century binding. Also, they enabled me to precisely estimate the amount cut off from the edges of the prayer book. 




CT has proved immensely useful as a pre-renovation book binding analyzing tool. Both methods - medical CT and micro CT have revealed various binding structures invisible to the naked eye. Medical CT scans are faster to perform, and can uncover different complex layers depending on which viewing filter is applied. Designed to show human organs in detail, they treat the book as such allowing it to peel off every layer, and show every tissue.




When searching for the specific and minuscule detail, micro CT proved much more accurate though. In the bookbinding it meant I could observe the sewing thread course, even if it was hidden deep in the spine or covered with a thick layer of glue or lining. Understanding the makings of a binding without touching or compromising the valuable object is a priceless opportunity. Developing micro CT scans as fully operational bookbinding diagnostic tools will be an immense asset in the conservation process.
Speakers Authors
Friday May 30, 2025 3:30pm - 4:00pm PDT
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis 229 W 43RD St New York, NY 10036 USA

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