Linking the Past, Forging the Future: Conservation of a Medieval Chained Binding

In our digital age, it’s hard to remember (or even believe) that books were once so rare and costly that they were kept chained to the shelves. But even chains cannot protect a centuries-old book from the wear of time–and many hands. When a chained medieval book in Stanford Libraries’ collection needed repair it took a group effort to conserve the book and create a model of this unusual binding structure that could stand in its place for use by scholars and researchers: a group at the intersection of scholarship, conservation, and craft. Join us for a virtual panel discussion with Kathleen Smith, Aude Gabory, and Karen Hanmer as they discuss their collaboration across disciplines; see the resulting facsimile, and marvel at the thought, art, and skill that went into creating it.