Conservation around the Millennium (Hungarian National Museum, 2001)

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manuscripts. This revealed that the decomposition of the manuscripts, most of them on parchment, continued probably for lack of proper treatment and appropriate storage. The ink faded or the text totally disappeared at some places, the parchment weakened, and whole lines got torn off. Some manuscripts could not be touched for fear of causing more damage. This deterioration was further triggered by the augmentation of air pollution and the adverse condition prevailing in the crammed building of the University Library that should long have been reconstructed.

In 1980, the new director found that the accelerating decomposition of the codices must be stopped, otherwise some volumes, among them the corvinas, would perish beyond repair. After he had sounded this opinion openly in different forums, public attention turned to the codices.

Finally, after long preparation and organisation, the Ministry of Education and the leaders of the libraries decided to start the restoration of the codices in the new restoration laboratory of the National Széchényi Library (OSZK) in the Buda castle. This was the so-called Corvina-project (see: Beöthyné Kozocsa Ildikó: A Corvina-program [The Corvina-project], Annual of the National Széchényi Library 1991-1993, Bp. 1997. 267-285).

ANALYSIS OF THE BINDING TECHNIQUE OF THE CORVINAS

The restoration of the corvinas in the collection of the OSZK started in the 1970’s and it was followed by the restoration of the corvinas of the University Library. Many up to then unknown data of binding technique were revealed during the processes. Although ample descriptions can be read in the technical literature about the ornament styles of the covers of the corvinas, there are only a few data concerning the binding technique and the materials used. The descriptions to be found are the followings:

György Ráth described the followings concerning the outer shaping of the codices in 1897: “...the boards were made of oak planks”. Later: “The ten volumes in the possession of the University Library of Budapest - the ones recovered from the Turks in 1877 - have painted fore-edges, and, originally, they were most probably covered with velvet.”3

Gyula Végh wrote the followings, among others, about the materials of the Corvinas in the “Mátyás Király Emlékkönyv [Memorial Volume of King Matthias] in 1940: ”... the parchment or paper sheets are stitched on a cord cut from untanned cowhide, ... the headband is stitched on a parchment ribbon, on more decorated ones it is hemmed by silver thread.”4

József Hunyadi also dealt with the binding of corvinas in the book “A magyar könyvkötés művészete a Mohácsi vészig” [The art of book binding in Hungary until the battle of Mohács].5 In the chapter called “Corvin kódexek kötései” [Bindings of the Corvin codices], he borrowed, sometimes word by word, György Ráth’s description concerning the technique of the binding.

To what degree can one rely on the authenticity of György Ráth and Gyula Végh’s observations? They probably came from simple scrutiny, since they never refer to the analysis of the material or the binding structure.

From the 1970’s, many binding technical data have been revealed by the restoration of the corvinas of the OSZK, then in the 1980’s, the convinas recovered from the Turks and preserved in the University Library were also restored in the Restoration Laboratory of the OSZK. The examination and restoration of the codices rebound by Turkish book binders revealed that two volumes were originally covered not with velvet but with leather, since there

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