Abstract

There are a large number of leather bound paper manuscripts in the Al-Azhar Library. These manuscripts suffer from deterioration because of unsuitable environmental conditions in their previous or current preservation places. This study aims to evaluate the condition of the leather binding of a copied historical manuscript of “The Low of Medicine by Ibn Sina” dated back to 1294 AH – 1877 AD which is preserved in the Al-Azhar Library. Digital microscopy and AutoCad were used to document the aspects of deterioration. The analytical techniques used for the explanation of the deterioration mechanism include the investigation of the surface morphology using digital and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and analysis by Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), pH measurement, and Attenuated Total Reflectance/Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR). The results showed that the common aspects of deterioration were various types of stains, insect holes, detachment, tears, and erosion. The analytical techniques showed that the studied leather binding suffered from adverse deterioration and chemical instability. It also suffers from a decreased pH value, which affects the chemical instability. The presence of some elements, such as calcium, silicon, and iron, indicates the influence of pollution from the various preservation environments in which the manuscript’s binding was preserved. The study recommends providing conservation treatment and preventive conservation for the leather binding of the manuscript studied.