About
I am an Accredited Conservator and Queen Elizabeth Craft Scholar specialising in the care and repair of manuscripts and printed books. I have worked for the College Libraries and Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge for the last twenty years, repairing and rebinding books from the sixth to the twentieth centuries so that they can continue to be used by today’s readers and future generations.
Following postgraduate work in English and American poetry at the University of Durham, I trained in Book Conservation at West Dean College, Sussex. I am particularly interested in the history of British book binding and have taught on the subject of binding history and book conservation practice at West Dean College and City and Guilds of London Art School.
I work for a wide range of clients including public and academic institutions as well as private collectors and book-lovers. Beyond my professional work, I am a keen pianist and Pianola enthusiast, and amateur bonsai grower.
Publications:
With Barnard, S. ‘A book-collector’s progress: the origins and development of Richard Fitzwilliam’s library’, The Library (forthcoming).
With Fiorillo, F., Öberg Strådal, S., and Reynolds, S. ‘The extraordinary universe of Peter Apian: technical investigation of five copies of a 16th-century astronomical book.’ Heritage Science, 12, (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-024-01306-1
‘Problems and Possibilities: Binding and Conserving Books’, in Bookbinder: The Journal of the Society of Bookbinders, 36 (2022); pp. 59-66.
‘From Pelt to Painted Page: Western Medieval Manuscript Parchments’, in Panayatova, S. (ed.), The Art & Science of Illuminated Manuscripts: A Handbook, London and Turnhout: Brepols – Harvey Miller, 2021; pp. 73-94.
‘Under the covers: the conservation and rebinding of Fitzwilliam MS 251.’ 2015. https://fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/research/online-resources/under-the-covers-the-conservation-and-rebinding-of-fitzwilliam-ms-251
With Fiddyment, S. et al. ‘Animal origin of 13th-century uterine vellum revealed using noninvasive peptide fingerprinting’, in PNAS, 2013. https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1512264112