The restoration of the Antiphonarium

You may wonder, what is an antiphonary? An antiphonary is a choir book that was used by monks when singing the prayers of the hours. It is therefore also called a book of hours. Castle de Haar owns a colossal 16th-century Spanish copy, in parchment of course. The chants are Gregorian and are set to five-line musical bars. The book is almost a meter high and 14 cm thick and has 110 sheets. It cannot be lifted.

Baron and Baroness Van Zuylen van Nijevelt probably bought it at the end of the 19th century as 'decoration' for the castle. In September, when they traditionally stayed at the castle and received guests, the antiphonarium was displayed in the Main Hall. It was presented especially for September on an unprecedentedly large stand with a marble base. It is notable that the book is of Spanish origin. Perhaps it was purchased at the same time as the collection of Spanish altarpieces.

For the last few decades the beautiful work had been gathering dust in a tower room. The wooden and calfskin covered book bindings had suffered severely from woodworm. The entire manuscript was damaged. The leather was dry, dirty and torn. Many bindings broke in the pinch, seams were missing and the ink was flaking and letting go.

Since September 2024, the book was under restoration at Book Restoration De Valk. On November 22, 2025, on the feast day of Saint Cecilia, patron saint of musicians, church musicians and choirs, the restored antiphonary was unveiled in the chapel of Kasteel de Haar. After the official unveiling, several chants from the Antiphonarium were performed by Capella Academica The Hague.

Material description

The huge volume consists of a book block of parchment sheets joined in the spine to form double pages (folia). The fifteen quires are sewn on 13 double bindings of leather. The binding consists of wooden boards covered with calfskin in several sections and decorated with blind stamping. The capitals are dusted with twine around alu-etched cores. The text is written in black ink. Whether this is iron gallus ink can be investigated. Different shades of water-sensitive pigments were used for the aeration. Different types of aeration can be distinguished. Of the two locks on the front section, only remnants remain. The same applies to the brass knobs on the front and back.

The renovation

Performed treatments

1. Taking fungal samples, these were found to be inactive, disinfection of the manuscript is not necessary.

2. Documentation: photographs have been taken of the manuscript and all damages.
The book block has been collated; the quire structure has been noted as well as the foliation and custodes mentioned, see Appendix I. A separate column indicates which folios have which damage.

3. Careful dry cleaning of the band and all folia where possible using a latex sponge ('Smoke-sponge') and a soft brush; removing dust and surface dirt. This left traces of use.

4. Testing of the pigments used. These appear to be extremely water sensitive, which means that the treatment should avoid the use of moisture as much as possible.

5. Testing the inks used for water sensitivity. The inks appear to be less water sensitive. The inks bleed slightly, but do not bleed.

6 Testing the inks used with bathophenatroline, a specific indicator of iron(II) ions present in iron gallus ink. After applying a drop of demineralized water to the ink, a small piece of filter paper impregnated with a 0.16% solution of bathophenatroline was applied to the drop. The indicator paper did not turn pink, the indication that no iron gallus ink was used.

7. Checking of the inks and pigments used and where they loosen consolidate using the aerosol nebulizer and Klucel G in ethanol.

8. Conservation of the leather according to the updated 'Guidelines for the conservation of leather and parchment bands', from 1996, from the Royal Library in The Hague: measuring the pH, applying leather dressing and consolidating the damaged parts with Klucel G in ethanol.

9. Inspection of the seams and bindings. The intention was to retain the existing sewing material and strengthen and add to it where necessary. However, of the thirteen thick leather bindings, 12 appear to be broken. Because they are very thick bindings, necessary to give the book its strength, it is not possible to reinforce them strongly and nicely. It seems better to re-sew the book onto new, sturdy bindings, so that the book will again have a good "spine" that will give it the necessary strength during handling. An additional advantage of disassembling the manuscript is, that each leaf can be more beautifully and easily digitized as well as the corners more easily repaired.

10. Removing the binding and book block

11. Flattening of folds and creases in the parchment sheets by lightly moistening them with the aerosol spray and then drying them under objection.

12. Parchment restoration where necessary with Japanese paper in the appropriate color and thickness, glued with a mixture of pure wheat starch and Evacon-R, where necessary gaps can be inlaid with parchment in a matching shade and thickness.

Still to be discussed: what to do with the old repairs of parchment and paper.

13. Re-sewing the book block according to the original sewing schedule

14. Treatment of the woodworm in both covers. Gluing of the fractures in the wooden front cover. Completion of three corners.

15. Threading the new leather bindings.

16. Where necessary, re-thread the bindings through the wooden flat cores

17. Carving of two new capitals, following the example of the fragments still present. The core of the capitals consists of alu-tanned leather.

18. Gluing over the back with starch.

19. Applying a new calf leather backing under the original leather. The new leather is re-colored.

20. Consolidation of loose parts of the binding and finishing with colored Japanese paper.

Restorers
Marijn de Valk

Advisory committee
Katrien Timmers, curator Kasteel de Haar
Joyce van Loon MA, Collection Management Kasteel de Haar
Anetta de Jong, director Kasteel de Haar

Weak bonds and capital core

Example of palimpsest,
text and notes have been scratched away

Remnant of the capital core of leather