A leather-bound bible once owned by Robert Burns and containing his detailed hand-written record of the Burns' family history is being painstakingly conserved at the University of Dundee's Conservation Unit.
The bible, bought by Burns for £2 in 1788, was transferred to Dundee this week from the Burns Cottage and Museum in Alloway to allow the University conservation experts to protect its brittle pages and delicate leather cover from decay.
The bible details in Burns' own hand his birth date and those of his wife and children. It will be on public display this weekend when the Conservation Unit takes part in Doors Open Day. On Saturday, September 21, the Unit's team of conservators will be taking time out from their work on the bible to offer advice to visitors on preserving their own precious paper-based items, from books and letters to photographs, prints and drawings.
Chief Conservator at the Unit, Ylva Player-Dahnsjö said, "The Burns bible has suffered some water damage, so its pages are very brittle. Fortunately, no mould is visible, although there is some staining on the pages, the fly-leaves are very creased and the backboard has fallen off.
"It will be a slow and delicate process - repairing the pages and minimising any further deterioration will probably take around three weeks of very careful work."
In order to repair the bible without taking it apart, a specialist machine with a suction platen has been commissioned from a conservation supplier in Australia which will allow conservator Andrew Megaw to work on each individual page to remove the staining. The leather cover will be repaired with pieces of strength-giving linen, which will then be covered with Japanese hand-made paper.
While the items brought in by the public may not need such intensive conservation work, Ylva and her team will be able to offer advice on how they should be stored, displayed and looked after, as well as on what action should be taken in the event of a disaster.
"The items don't necessarily have to be old - we can help if they have been damaged in flood or fire, or even by sticky fingers, or the pet dog chewing it," said Ylva.
The Conservation Unit, which is unique in Scotland and one of only a handful in the UK, has been operating since 1985 to offer conservation services for libraries, museums, archives, churches, trusts and private individuals. The Unit is one of several University buildings whose doors will be thrown open to the public as part of Doors Open Day on Saturday. Phone 01382 344000 for more details.
HISTORY OF THE BIBLE
In a letter, dated Mauchline, 18th July, 1788, to a Peter Hill, bookseller in Edinburgh, the Poet asked to be set down as a subscriber to a Bible which was then being issued in numbers, "if it is really what it pretends to be". Hill apparently did not think much of the Bible to which Burns had referred, and sent him one to which the Poet, in another letter, dated Mauchline, 1st October, 1788, refers thus: "The Bible you sent me is truly elegant; I only wish it had been in two volumes." This was doubtless the Bible here shown. It cost the Poet £2.
The bible was bequeathed by Jean Armour Burns to her eldest son, Robert; and a receipt for the book, signed by him, is in existence. From Robert Burns II, it passed to the second surviving son of the Poet, William Nichol Burns; and he, in his lifetime, gave it to Mrs Sarah E.M.T. Burns Hutchieson, eldest surviving daughter of his younger Brother (James Glencairn Burns). As the property of Mrs Burns Hitchieson, the Bible was offered for sale at auction in the rooms of Messers. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge; at London, on Saturday, 10th December, 1904 and was purchased by Mr Bernard Quaritch, bookseller of London - the under bidder being the Honorary Secretary on behalf of the Trustees of Burns Monument. Five days later, however, it was acquired by the trustees from Quaritch.
By Jane Smernicki, Press Officer 01382 344768 j.m.smernicki@dundee.ac.uk