The use of X-ray computed tomography and X-ray fluorescence in research into historical printing from the 17 th century

Abstract

This work presents the use of X-ray computed tomography and X-ray fluorescence in analyses and expert surveys of historical manuscripts and early prints. Historic early prints and manuscripts retain much information about their origins, owners and creators, or various defects hidden in the book binding or hidden between layers of material. The Department of Research Laboratories of the National Library of the Czech Republic has long been involved in non-invasive methods of making visible and documenting information that is not available during normal historical or restoration research. The book that was selected for the survey was a 17th-century historical print of the collection of the Slavic Library originally from Kiev, with the full title Eukhologīon albo Molitoslov, ili Trebnik. The main purpose of the survey was to confirm whether the book binding is original or whether it is a rebinding, and whether there are no fragments of older texts in the binding. Radiography was unable to provide sufficient quality documents confirming or refuting the binding or the presence of layers in the book binding carrying the text. Computed tomography made it possible to display detailed structure of bookbinding materials, including wooden boards. No fragments or layers with older texts were found in the structure of the book binding therefore, there is no need for invasive intervention. All binding elements were visible and no internal defects in materials and stitching were detected. The possibility of reading text in a closed book based on X-ray computed tomography will be presented, as this option may be advantageous for massively damaged manuscripts. Thanks to a very detailed representation of the wood structure using tomography, it was possible to carry out a dendrochronological survey without invasive intervention. Dendrochronological analysis confirmed the original bookbinding materials corresponding to the age of early printing. As part of the survey, an elemental analysis of the font was also carried out using an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The letters in the CT reconstruction have significantly different contrasts. The different elemental composition of the printing inks was verified using XRF analysis.