Books students' exclusive visit to Uppark’s hidden print room

- By Joanna Daborn, Graduate Conservation Assistant

During June, the Graduate Diploma and MA Books Conservation students were given the amazing opportunity to visit the 18th Century Print Room at the National Trust property, Uppark House. While the house is currently closed to the public due to structural conservation work, the Print Room itself is permanently closed to the public due to it’s position within the family’s living quarters, with even staff needing to book time in advance to access it within set hours. The Print Room is one of only four such existing rooms in the country that were dedicated rooms where individuals would paste prints that they had collected on their Grand Tours directly onto the walls. The prints would then be decorated with specially printed borders and finials from catalogues. These rooms would then be used as family boudoirs or for receiving special visitors, as a talking point and reminder of their travels.

Our students were very lucky to be shown the Print Room while it is also undergoing it’s own programme of conservation. The conservator, Emily O’Reilly, supported by Justyna Medon (the printing expert), gave a fascinating talk on the history of conservation and previous repair within the room, used UV spectrum torches to show up areas of previous

repairs on the prints, identify the different methods of printing on display, as well as sharing their current thought processes and approach to conserving each print. With over 80 prints, plus the borders and finials and a collection of contemporary watercolours thought to have been painted by Sarah, Lady Fetherstonhaugh around 1750-1760, also pasted to the walls as added decoration - all of which are to be treated separately - the conservation project is going to be extremely lengthy. Kym Gribble, the Custodian, spoke extensively and passionately about the history of the house and collection, general care considerations for the room, pest control, environmental conditions as well as financial support for upkeep within the National Trust and trying to move beyond the spectre of the famous Uppark fire in the 1980s. The visit was absolutely fascinating and a wonderful chance for students to chat candidly with experts about the challenges they face on the job and we thank them all enormously for their time and passion.

Learn more about our Book Conservation courses here.