Restoration specialist Germán Hernández Pérez explains the painstaking process undertaken to restore one of Malta’s oldest legal documents the, Codice de Rohan.

Germán Hernández Pérez

Recently, the Chamber of Advocates decided to restore one of Malta’s most important historical legal documents, the famous Del Dritto Municipale di Malta, more commonly referred to as the Codice de Rohan.

The codice was the first proper codification of laws on the island. The last attempt to restore the book was made in the 1920s – unfortunately, said restoration did more harm than good, with inappropriate binding preventing the book from being opened fully. The paper also suffered greatly from the careless use of sticky tape, intended to plug up the considerable wormholes scattered throughout.

The entire restoration process of the Codice de Rohan offers a clear overview of the major problems that one can typically find in a book in need of restoration. This provided me with the opportunity of working on what one could easily call a Maltese masterpiece.

The manuscript is one of the first constitutional documents written for Emmanuel de Rohan, who was born in Toledo, Spain. It makes me smile to think that, 200 years later, another Spaniard, me, would open his own studio in Valletta and be entrusted to take this project under his wing.

The initial state of the book was clearly in poor condition, having evidently been attacked by worms in the main text block, with almost 85 per cent of the pages marked by holes. The spine, with its high concentration of animal protein due to the use of rabbit glue, was even more affected, with fracturing of the gutter that resulted in the manuscript being split into three parts. As a result, a lot of the leaves had tears, with a number of pages coming loose.

The holes, chewed areas and scraped surfaces showed clear evidence of attacks by beetles silverfish. The relatively high humidity and high temperature are two of the main factors to be kept in mind when devising a proper and effective plan for pest control – unfortunately, weather conditions in Malta seem to be perfect for bookworms to thrive.

The deterioration of the book itself made it impossible to appreciate its characteristics, like the raised bands, the full leather covers and gold decorations. This, in turn, diminished the historical value and minimised the character of such a valuable 18th-century book.

Restoring an Antoine Camilleri piece.

My strategy was to revert back to the original style that an 18th- century book should have. To achieve this, I took references from the restoration period without going too astray from the style of Roger Payne and his books for aristocrats and nobles.

Throughout the years, attempts at restoration had been made, but these only aggravated the integrity of the manuscript. The setbacks were various… there was the use of adhesive tapes, as well as synthetic materials instead of leather. Marbled paper was used when they decided to restore the manuscript in the style of half and quarter 20th-century binding.

The dilapidated condition of this book, a book originally written for a wealthy and influential de Rohan family of France, appeared to have been summoning me to have it bound in full dark blue calf leather, embellished with none other than the Grand Master’s coat of arms on the main cover.

After my conversation with Robert Thake, responsible for the library at the law courts, I was informed that there was keen interest in exhibiting the code, so I decided to make an aesthetically-pleasing, acid-free box that acted both as proper preservation for this unique specimen, as well as being visually attractive to the layman.

Throughout the years, attempts at restoration had been made, but these only aggravated the integrity of the manuscript

After researching past designs, I was inspired to create a box design showcasing a window, revealing the coat of arms in gold.

The aim behind the box was twofold: the transportation of the book and its exhibition. The significant structural damages, the lack of cohesion in the spine (which, in turn, produced deformations on all the pages), the binding system which was not appropriate to the period of the book and similar poor conditions resulted in a lengthy restoration process.

The process started with the dismounting of the book, during which part I cleaned the spine from aged animal glue and thread and separated each section that formed the entire block of the book. The removal of the tape and its adhesive was done by scalpel and methyl cellulose; so the tape was meticulously removed without damaging the fibres of the document.

A painting that needed restoration at the Arcidiacono offices.

Eventually, I used Japanese paper to consolidate the manuscript and stitched it with 100 per cent lino thread, adding new covers and rebinding the book with dark, calf leather and adding the design of the de Rohan coat of arms in gold.

Of course, the restoration of old manuscripts involves a different process from that of prints, drawings, watercolours and the like. With the latter, the most common problems are dust, adhesives, tears, foxing, mould and discolouration by the effects of sunlight. I always try to minimise the effects of the restoration on paper by avoiding the use of chemicals that can further degrade the original artefact in the future, because this tends to become unstable with the passage of time.

The Codice de Rohan

The causes and the occurrence of foxing is not well understood. One theory is that it is caused by a fungal growth on the paper. Another theory holds that foxing arises due to the oxidation of iron, copper or other substances in the pulp or rag from which the paper was made. It is probable that a multiple of factors are involved, including our high humidity.

Mould, on the other hand, derives its food (and its colour) from the substance on which it forms; for example, the materials of a book. During their growth they produce various acids that can damage paper, leather and cloth.

Photo-oxidation is the degradation of a polymer surface in the presence of oxygen or ozone. The effect is facilitated by radiant energy, such as UV or artificial light. Photo-oxidation is a chemical change that reduces the polymer’s molecular weight. As a consequence of this change, the material becomes more brittle. Discoloration and loss of surface smoothness accompany photo-oxidation, with high temperature and localised stress concentrations significantly increasing its effects.

Cleaning a picture can involve the removal of dirt, grime or accretions that have built up over time on the surface of the work of art. This involves a delicate process that should only be carried out after testing and careful examination of the work of art. It is crucial that dirt is removed as this can carry materials that will stain unprotected paint surfaces. Most paintings involve two layers of cleaning: the first removing layers of dirt that build up naturally, the second, mostly on older paintings, is the removal of discoloured varnish.

Over time, transparent varnish layers can become more opaque and discoloured, resulting in the original paint layers being viewed through a distorting yellow, or even brown, filter that can alter the original colours and tones of a painting and flatten the three dimensional effect.

It is important to test individual paintings for the safety and viability of dissolving the varnishes without affecting the original paint film. The dirty, discoloured varnishes are generally removed using a variety of solvents.

Germán Hernández Pérez is qualified in restoration, conservation and art history and has been conserving and restoring books, artefacts on paper and paintings for over four years in Malta.

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