Lietuvos nacionalinės Martyno Mažvydo bibliotekos restauratorių kasdienybė ir atradimai

ENThe Document Conservation Department (DCD) of Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania has been working for almost a four decades. A significant part of working time of seventeen highly qualified conservators is appointed by conservation of old and rare books. Although all the objects are interesting, unexpected situations occur as well. Thusduring the restoration of the book "Garbe diewui ant Auksztybes ir szlowe szwencziausej P. Marijai ant žemės" published in Vilnius in 1873, the hidden title-page had been unstuck. The obtained information revealed that the book is unique and not catalogued in any other library. The decorated manuscript on parchment - the latin copy of 12th century's tractate of French theologian Hugh of Fouilloy "De claustro animae" (The Cloister of the Soul) - has been restored at DCD recently and also deserves special attention. The ornamentation of paper by marbling and restoration of three-dimensional objects - boxes for pianola rolls - are new and interesting experiences acquired by conservators of DCD. The conservation of old manuscripts necessitates special attention too. Particularly with those written by iron-containing inks. Although the calcium phytate treatment of such manuscripts has been known for about two decades, it is necessary to obtain particular skills to treat such valuable and unique documents. To serve this purpose the experiments with model manuscripts and fragments of historical manuscripts were accomplished at DCD. With reference to results of experiments calcium phytate treatment is put to practicesince 2013.