Conservation and rebinding of the Bligh notebook.

Engram, Chesley

The notebook of William Bligh (MS5393) and the List of Mutineers http://nationaltreasures.nla.gov.au/index/Treasures/item/nla.ms-ms5393-1-s13 have now been digitised as part of their inclusion in the exhibition National Treasures from Australia's Great Libraries.

The notebook and the list are Bligh's records of the famous mutiny by members of the crew of the HMS Bounty on 28 April 1789.

Led by the captain's second-in-command, Fletcher Christian, the mutiny was in apparent reaction to hostility to the captain, the privations of the long voyage, and reluctance to leave the haven of Tahiti . The ship's commander, Captain William Bligh, and 18 crew who refused to join in the mutiny were set adrift with very little food or water in the ship's long boat. For 47 harrowing days they travelled in an open launch that was just 23 feet long, finally reaching Timor on 14 June after a journey of some 3500 miles.

Bligh detailed their voyage in a notebook appropriated from midshipman Thomas Hayward. The entries consist of navigational recordings, calculations and rough sketch charts of islands. They show the boat's track through the Barrier Reef and along the coast of Australia to the Torres Strait, including an autograph chart titled 'Eye sketch of part of New Holland in the Bounty's launch by Lieut. Wm. Bligh'. There are occasional comments on Bligh's companions on the boat, and observations about the coastline and weather conditions. The most historically interesting comment is the list of mutineers, headed by Fletcher Christian, with each mutineer's physical appearance described in detail. The leader of the mutiny is immortalised in Bligh's notes as of 'high dark swarthy complexion ... a little bow-legged ... subject to violent perspiration & particularly His hands so that he soils anything he handles'.

Bligh guarded the notebook closely ('kept in my bosom') throughout the voyage and used it in the subsequent case against the mutineers--ten of whom were ultimately brought to court in England, with three hanged. He also used it to write up his own official narratives.

The notebook was acquired by the Library in 1976 for 55,000 [pounds sterling]. At that time it was tightly bound in leather-covered boards with marbled endpapers. There is wide agreement that this cover was not the original, largely because the writing often continues into the gutter of the pages where it is partially covered. Also, the notebook comprises four sections of differing papers, which could have been bound together at a later time.

Because the existing binding was very tight and prevented full opening of the pages, the notebook was disbound in 2005 to allow full digital copying of the text for the Treasures exhibition. The disbinding revealed a number of problematic features of the previous binding, such as the oversewing of the sections. This contributed to the tightness and deterioration of the volume.

The paper of the pages, though slightly acidic (pH 5.6), is in very good condition where not physically damaged. Typical damage includes considerable wear, cockling, creasing and rounding of corners, edge and spine-fold tears and old repairs. The front section, in particular, was extensively stained.

It appears that the notebook was written in iron-gall ink. Ongoing international research into chemical stabilisation of iron-gall ink documents has raised some questions about the suitability of previously accepted routine alkaline aqueous treatments (washing in alkaline water). Because of this, and to maintain the integrity and appearance of this very important document, it was decided not to perform an aqueous treatment.

The pages were dry-cleaned with powdered eraser then repairs to tears and infills of losses were made using colour-matched Japanese tissue, hand-made western paper and wheat starch paste. To approximate the weight, density and tone of each loss or repair, composite layers of both types of coloured papers were used. This part of the project was completed over an intense three-week period by two conservators, Susanne Wullen and Sophie Lewincamp, supervised by Kerry McInnis. The pages were then digitised.

The watermarks of the pages were also examined during the treatment to ascertain whether the sections were made of one original folded and cut sheet. This was an exciting opportunity because conservators rarely get an opportunity to closely examine documents in this way. It was concluded that the first two sections are from similar types of paper all displaying parts of a Britannia watermark and that the third and fourth sections were cut from a sheet of paper bearing the watermark JH & ZOON.

The three sheets of handmade paper comprising the List of Mutineers were also treated at this time. Again, a non-aqueous treatment was performed. Previous tear repairs which were misaligned, discoloured and obscured the script were removed and replaced and then the pages were flattened.

A decision was made to rebind the notebook with a new casing in a style similar to the existing one. The existing cover will be retained as a separate object and stored with the rebound notebook.

As mentioned, the existing binding was extremely tight and difficult to open. To alleviate this and to rectify other problems in the new binding it was decided to sew the text sections on to reversed V-guard sections. A guard usually consists of a strip of paper pasted around or into a section to prevent the sewing thread from tearing through. The reverse V-guard is a folded guard consisting of several strips of paper to which a section is sewn; the guard is then folded back on itself causing the fold to meet the section in reverse ( reverse V-guard ><--section). This style of reverse V-guard binding distances the binding operations, such as gluing, from the original text block. It provides a mechanism for the original text block to be easily and safely removed from the binding and allow future re-covering. The binding treatments were carried out by conservation binder Neale Wootton.

The original front and back fly leaves were joined together to form two separate sections, creating a total of six sections, each of which was sewn on to a reverse V-guard section. These guard sections were then stab-sewn together, glued, backed and rounded to create the text block. Kangaroo-skin covered archival boards and archival hand-made paper end-leaves were then used to re-case the notebook. The notebook is now able to be opened more easily without putting any pressure on the text pages.

Preservation Services staff obtained a great deal of satisfaction and pleasure from this opportunity to employ their professional expertise on such an invaluable manuscript. The notebook is now in a condition to be viewed by exhibition visitors and accessed by Library patrons for many years to come.

Chesley Engram

Preservation Services