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The repairs of 1985-6

A brief survey of the manuscript’s condition made in July 1985 indicated that many edges were badly frayed and that folios 71-2 had finally been detached. Folios noted as requiring repair were folios 1, 2, 7, 13, 41, 47, 51, 55, 62, 67, 68, 70, and 71. Among these, folios 1 (badly torn, with old repairs causing further damage), 67, and 70 (with a small piece in danger of detaching) needed urgent attention. Accordingly, immediate repairs were carried out between July 11 and 18, 1985 by Linda Sutherland of the Bodleian Conservation Workshop. However, on this first occasion, only folios 67 (center fore-edge, end of river on recto) and 70 (edge of writing on recto at lower fore-edge) were repaired. The repairs were made with minimal tissue (Japanese tengujo) and dry paste (wheat and potato starch).

A more extensive program of paper repair was carried out in 1986 by Nancy Bell of the Bodleian Conservation Workshop in consultation with Christopher Clarkson and Bruce Barker-Benfield. The repairs were purposely kept to a minimum: the volume was not disbound and its sewing was left undisturbed. The bulk of the work consisted of reinforcing the fraying edges with tissue. However, the first and last quires of the Codex Mendoza (Part 1) required intervention at a somewhat deeper level to counteract the damage caused by old repairs and stubs and, at the end, to reattach folios 71-2; Christopher Clarkson took an active part in these repairs.