When Gonville & Caius College discovers any issue with manuscripts, incunabula, early printed books or archival records, support is sought from The Cambridge Colleges’ Conservation Consortium (CCCC).

The Lower Library of Gonville & Caius College houses the historic collections of around 26,000 incunabula and early printed books, and over 800 manuscripts. More information on the collection is on the College website. Alongside is the Archive, which collects, documents, and provides long–term access to records illustrating the history of the College and its members. 

Whether an acute incident has occurred or a problem has surfaced over time, Head of Conservation Flavio Marzo and his team can be called upon to conserve the collection for generations to come. Caius College Librarian Mark Statham and College Archivist James Cox work closely with The CCCC to identify items which require their attention.

Based at Corpus Christi College, at the other end of King’s Parade from Caius, The CCCC is a not-for-profit collaborative body that undertakes conservation and preservation work for Cambridge college libraries and archives. The CCCC was founded in 1987 with the aim of developing and sharing expertise in the conservation of rare books and manuscripts in Cambridge Colleges’ libraries. The CCCC is comprised of 15 member colleges: Christ’s, Clare, Corpus Christi, Downing, Emmanuel, Gonville and Caius, Jesus, King’s, Magdalene, Pembroke, Queens’, St Catharine's, Sidney Sussex, St John’s and Trinity Hall.

Specialist conservation care on a wide variety of materials is considered and often bespoke solutions are required. Flavio and his team – Lizzie Willetts (Book & Manuscript Conservator), Flo Watson (Book Conservator) and Ann Tang (Conservator) – are highly skilled and very patient as they carefully address each issue.

They record the work they do in detail, documenting the condition of the item they are tasked with and chronicling the work they do to both preserve it for future generations and make it more accessible for those seeking access. “The book has to go back to the shelf, and be strong enough to be fit for use and handling,” Flavio says.

Flavio shared some examples of work undertaken for Caius, since his arrival at The CCCC in 2018. Both example projects were accompanied by forensic cleaning of the pages – careful to avoid the printed text and illuminations.

Pictured: The scroll, above, and the scroll and its pouch below, both pre-treatment (courtesy of The CCCC)

The first example shows a long parchment scroll manuscript with illuminated initials with red and blue pigments and gold and writing in iron gall ink. Multiple parchment pieces are glued to each other with overlapping of edges, with the scroll kept in its original contemporary alum tawed skin pouch. The CCCC were tasked to stabilise damage on the first parchment sheet and provide a secured housing system for both the scroll and its pouch to improve accessibility.

“Scrolls are commonly rolled very tight to save space, but that causes the parchment over time to become stiff and to spring when rolled out,” Flavio says.

Gelatine mousse was used as a paste to glue the parchment together, and a bespoke box was designed and constructed to hold all items separately but housed together. A cylinder was made to support the shape of the pouch, pictured below.

A palm-sized 15th century Flemish book of hours, a prayer book, had a new 20th-century full leather binding which restricted its opening. The binding was removed, with the manuscript re-bound in a more sympathetic way. A delicate operation to consider the structure of the book-block and determine the re-sewing of the structure was required in an operation which required both patience and precision. A non-glued leather spine cover with saddle stitched end-bands was created to provide support, and a box was crafted for safe storage.

Pictured: The Flemish book of hours, including a diagram of its construction (courtesy of The CCCC)

Removing the spine of the prayer book was a chance to analyse its construction – and it was discovered that a page was missing.

Flavio says: “We had the unique opportunity to follow the sequence of the folios, which is valuable information for scholars. We could see what was added, what was part of the first structure and if it has been re-ordered. Some pages were moved around following taste and instructions depending on the ownership; some families would cut or add pages on purpose. It’s almost impossible to gain that information when the book is bound.

“This page, number 100, never existed. Someone made a mistake during an earlier foliation, and the folio jumped. The page was mentioned in a journal article, and thankfully I knew the author of the article. I called everybody and showed them the book, showing page 100 doesn’t exist. 

“At the British Library, we wouldn’t take items which were not foliated to avoid misunderstandings; it’s not something we insist on here because rarely do we dismantle items to that level. But we found new information.

“Sometimes what can be perceived as a mistake is actually part of the history of the object. The curator or librarian has to take any decision related to the content and tell us what to do – whether to rectify the mistake or continue with it in place. Our responsibility is to clearly record and document everything is done to the items during the conservation process.”

Pictured: The Flemish book of hours, post-treatment

The CCCC work with archivists to support conservation and restoration of primary records in archives, which Flavio believes are under utilised. “They’re the memory of the College,” he adds.

Flavio is an ICON Accredited Book Conservator with an extensive experience both as bench conservator and conservation manager. He earned a conservation degree from the European Conservation School in Spoleto in 1999 and worked at the British Library between 2005 and 2018. He has also taught throughout Europe. During his career he worked on Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament of the Bible and the St Cutberth Gospel, the oldest surviving Western binding .

He has also supported police in convicting criminals by providing evidence as a forensic expert.

“There are so many aspects of conservation, trying to tell something about material which is part of the history of humanity,” Flavio adds.