31/07/2015

"Cuirs et peaux", dans Encyclopédie berbère, par Gast (1994)


Gast, M., “Cuirs et peaux”, in Gabriel Camps (ed.), Encyclopédie berbère 14, Aix-en-Provence, Éditions Édisud (1994) pp. 2144–2153.
URL (Revues.org)

17/07/2015

Traité pratique de la fabrication des cuirs et du travail des peaux par Villon (1889)

Villon, A.-M., Traité pratique de la fabrication des cuirs et du travail des peaux: tannage, corroyage, hongroyage, mégisserie, chamoiserie, parcheminerie, cuirs vernis, maroquins, fourrures, courroies, selles, équipements militaires, harnais, théorie du tannage, statistique des cuirs et des peaux, Paris, Librairie Polytechnique (1889).
URL (Internet Archive/ Getty Research Institute)

11/07/2015

Textes sur cuir et peau dans l'oeuvre L'alun de Méditerranée (2005)

The book L’alun de Méditerranée, edited by Philippe Borgard, Jean-Pierre Brun and Maurice Picon, published in 2005 by the Centre Jean Bérard, was recently made available on line through OpenEdition Books. Some of the texts describe the use of alum to preserve animal skins (tawing, mégissage, hongroyage, concia). The authors and the titles are as follows:

- Cheryl Porter,
“The use of Alum in the preparation of tawed skin for book covers in the 11th – 15th centuries: advantages and disadvantages for the book structure”, pp. 293–298.
URL

- Claire Chahine,
“L’utilisation de l’alun dans la transformation de la peau en cuir”, pp. 299–309.
URL

- Eva Halasz Csiba,
"Le cuir de Hongrie en France entre les XIVe et XVIIIe siècles: Histoire et problématique d’un transfert technique basé sur l’usage de l’alun", pp. 311-322.
URL

- Fulvia Lo Schiavo,
"La concia delle pelli nella Sardegna nuragica: un problema aperto", pp. 343-352.
URL
 

10/07/2015

"Unmasking the measles-like parchment discoloration: molecular and microanalytical approach” by Piñar et al (2015)

Piñar, Guadalupe; Sterflinger, Katja; Pinzari, Flavia, “Unmasking the measles-like parchment discoloration: molecular and microanalytical approach”, Environmental Microbiology 17(2) (2015) 427–443.
DOI:10.1111/1462-2920.12471 / PDF

Abstract:
Many ancient parchments are defaced by red or purple maculae associated with localized destruction of collagen fibres. Although the main characteristics of this damage were present in most of the manuscripts analysed by many authors, no common microbial or fungal denominator has been found so far, and little or no correspondence between the microbial or fungal species isolated from materials could be addressed. In this study, culture-independent molecular methods and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to identify fungal and bacterial communities on parchments affected by the purple stains. Protocols for c extraction and nucleic-acid-based strategies were selected for assays examining the community structure of fungi and bacteria on biodeteriorated parchment. Both SEM and molecular analysis detected the presence of bacterial and fungal cells in the damaged areas. Halophilic, halotolerant proteolytic bacterial species were selected by the saline environment provided by the parchment samples. As common microbial denominators, members of the Actinobacteria, mainly Saccharopolyspora spp. and species of Aspergillus, were detected in all investigated cases. It is proposed that a relationship exists between the phenomenon of purple spots on ancient parchments and that of the ‘red heat’ phenomenon, known to be present in some products manufactured with marine salt.