Hadernfasern

Ingredients

Hadernfasern, Harz, Eisen, aluns contenant du fer

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The paper was identified as being composed of rag fibers (Hadernfasern) (p. 352). During the manufacturing process, the paper was sized with resin (Harz) (p. 352). It is hypothesized that different types of iron-containing alums (aluns contenant du fer) were added to the sizing (encollage) of the deteriorated folios (p. 353). The manuscript contains two distinct types of paper which accounts for the variation in preservation state (p. 352).

Evidence

"Mittels Herzberg Test konnten Hadernfasern als Rohmaterial für alle Papiere identifiziert werden; in den stark abgebauten Papieren wurden mittels Raspail Test Harz in der Leimung und mittels SEM-EDS Eisen in allen Papierbereichen nachgewiesen; in den gut erhaltenen Papieren war sowohl der Nachweis auf Harze als auch auf Eisen negativ."

Remarks

The study analyzed a 19th-century Koran written by Mehmed Şevki. It found that 28/30 folios showed severe deterioration while the others remained in good condition. Analysis showed that the degraded folios contained resin sizing and iron ions throughout all paper regions, whereas well-preserved folios lacked both (p. 352). The degradation is attributed to acid-catalyzed hydrolysis caused by resin sizing and oxidation processes accelerated by iron ions (p. 352). It is probable that all folios originally shared the same color, but the degraded sections darkened significantly due to iron-initiated decay (p. 353).