The Kennicott Bible: Its Illumination, Binding, Conservation Problems and Repair

This paper was originally delivered at "The Changing Book: Transitions in the Design, Production & Repair", in At the University of Iowa, in July 2005. It was subsequently published in the journal Collection Management 31:1&2, in 2007. The Kennicott Bible is one of the greatest treasures of medieval Jewish bookmaking in Spain. It survives in its original Spanish box binding, in which the back board of the book forms a box which encloses the whole bookblock when the book is closed. Only a handful of these bindings survive and this one of the best preserved. The separation of the back board from the bookblock in recent years required a very neat, skillful repair that did not disturb the original structure but which gave sufficient support to this large book to allow it to be handled safely. Chris Clarkson treated this book according to the principle of minimum intervention repairs, i.e. repairs which are designed to allow the original elements of a book structure to survive undisturbed. The concept of the minimum intervention repair has been developed by Chris Clarkson himself and is now common practice in the profession. The specific work was successfully completed and this is a report of this work. Article Abstract: The Kennicott Bible was made at Corunna in northwest Spain for Isaac de Braga. It was written by a famous scribe named Moses ibn Zabara, who completed the work in 1476. The illuminations were executed by Joseph ibn Hayyim. The manuscript has an extremely rare, highly decorated and contemporary Hispano-Moresque box-binding. Clarkson describes aspects of the parchment, text and outstanding illuminations as well as the construction of the box binding. He concludes with a description of conservation problems, such as consolidation of the decorative layers within the text-block and stabilization of the unique binding