History is remade again at Asiatic library
Chemical processes like deacidification
to conserve books were introduced 25 years ago, when the first conservation lab
was set up here. SUNIL BHIRUD, chief conservation officer
It’s like a super-specialty
state-of-the-art hospital — for books.
The iconic Asiatic library
now has a swanky, air-conditioned wing dedicated to conserving antique tomes,
records and manuscripts — which is a good thing, given that the beautiful
Greco-Roman structure is home to about 10,000 priceless books, some of them
over 650 years old.
The new conservation lab will
be library’s second.
“A pre-existing facility was
able to restore about 100 books a year. With the additional wing, we have
doubled that capacity,” says Rohan Dalal, 51, member of the Rotary Club of
Bombay’s Urban Heritage Renewal Committee, which sponsored the Rs 25-lakh
project and inaugurated the new lab on Tuesday.
The infrastructure has been
upgraded too, with air conditioned, temperature controlled and humidity controlled
chambers built so that the books can be worked on in complete safety.
The lab has been four months
in the making, says Jamshed Banaji, the chief architect for the project, and is
part of an ongoing process to modernise the library.
“Chemical
processes like de-acidification to conserve books were introduced 25 years ago,
when the first conservation lab was set up here,” adds chief conservation
officer Sunil Bhirud. “In 1999 the basement was renovated to create a special
collections room which is a treasure trove of the rarest of rare books —
including our most famous artefact: an original manuscript, in Italian, of
Dante’s Divine Comedy, dating back to 1350 AD.”
Source | Hindustan Times | 21 September
2016
Regards
Pralhad Jadhav
Senior Manager @ Library
Khaitan & Co
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