Paper splitting: History and modern technology

In the 19th century, restorers used paper splitting to separate recto and v erso of double sided prints or drawings. Today, the treatment is employed f or strengthening weakened paper. Two German conservation centers are chiefl y responsible for the development of the process to its current level of so phistication: over the course of more than 30 years, Gunter Muller at the T huringian University and State Library at Jena perfected manual paper split ting; over the same time period, Wolfgang Wachter, now at the Zentrum fur B ucherhaltung in Leipzig, developed the paper-splitting machine. We outline the history of paper splitting and describe the contemporary processes from firsthand observations and interviews with the conservators at Jena and Le ipzig. Technical evaluations of contemporary paper splitting are summarized , and some observations on objects that were split for the authors are docu mented (a 19th century newspaper page, a 17th century document written in i ron gall ink, 17th century book leaves). A short guide to the identificatio n of papers that may have historically undergone splitting is provided. A b ibliography can be found under "Web-accessible Projects" at www.buffalostat e.edu/(sic)artcon/.