The conservation of 14th century parchment documents with pendant seals

Abstract

This paper describes a pilot project for the restoration of bound parchment documents with pendant seals in the Archives of the Knights of Malta in the collection of the National Library in Valletta, Malta. Conservation of the selected volume was undertaken by the author to define appropriate procedures and to provide future guidance for the care of other similarly damaged volumes with pendant seals existing in the collection. A bound volume consisting of 10 parchment documents issued between 1336 and 1376 by Roger de Pinius, a Grand Master of the Knights of St John, was selected for conservation. The documents had been damaged by pendant seals inserted between the pages. In the course of conservation. © 1992, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.