Analytical Techniques used for condition assessment of the Historical Prints from Belzoni's Atlas entitled

Mahmoud, Asmaa Abd El-samie; Wahba, Wafika Noshy; Marouf, Mohamed; Mohamed, Wael Sabry

doi:10.21608/arcs.2022.165880.1030

Analytical Techniques used for condition assessment of the Historical Prints from Belzoni's Atlas entitled "Plates Illustrative of the Researches and Operations of G. Belzoni in Egypt"

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ conservation department -Faculty of Archeology - Sohag University

² Conservation Department, Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

³ Conservation Department, Faculty of Archeology, Sohag University, Egypt

⁴ Polymers Department, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

10.21608/arcs.2022.165880.1030

Abstract

The studied historical printed plates, are dated back to the 19th century, and they are from an illustrating atlas of Belzoni's explorations and operations in Egypt. The Belzoni's Atlas is one of the outstanding pictorial records of Egyptology at this period. The aim of this study is to assess the rate of deterioration of rare historical printed plates, using different analytical techniques; pH values, color change measurements, isolation and identification of microorganisms (fungi and bacteria), investigation of the surface morphology by a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and determination of paper crystallinity by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). In addition, Attenuated total reflection – Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy was used to detect the changes in cellulose molecules of the paper samples. Based on the results of the analytical techniques mentioned above, the historical printed plates are suffering from deterioration. The pH value of the historical plates ranged between 5.08 and 5.98. Microorganism testing proved the presence of Aspergillus sp < /em>., Penicillium sp., Streptococcus sp. and Bacillus sp. The crystallinity index of cellulose in the historical plates decreased; indicating the degradation of cellulose. The ATR-FTIR spectrum proved that the historical plates had undergone destructive hydrolysis and oxidation processes of cellulose. The SEM investigation showed the effect of the natural ageing and surrounding environmental conditions on the surface morphology of the fibers. This mainly may be due to the preservation of the historical plates in poor storage conditions, which played an important role in the deterioration process.

Highlights

The state of preservation of the historical printed plates from a rare nineteenth-century Belzoni's Atlas was studied.
Some analytical techniques were used for condition assessment used for the historical plates studied.
Results showed that the historical prints studied suffered from deterioration caused by a variety of factors.
The presence of both gelatin and calcium salts in the historical papers plays a positive role in limiting its deterioration.

Keywords