Conservation of Glass (Butterworths Series in Conservation and Museology)

Includes a complete chemical examination of the causes of the deterioration of glass and discusses the possibilities of damage by conservation techniques that have not been fully tested. Provides the theoretical background and the practical procedures used in conserving different kinds of glass.


Since the 1960s there has been a great upsurge of interest in the conservation of glass, and expecially of painted (stained) glass, with a concomitant change in emphasis from the work being carried out by museum technicians (or, in the case of painted glass, glaziers who have served an apprenticeship) to the use of trained conservator. This change has required by introduction of thoroughgoing instruction in conservation subjects, accompanied by scientific studies of the causes of deterioration of glass and of the possibilities of harm being done by conservation techniques that have not been fully tested. Much of the work on painted glass has been published only in various newsletters, and consequently there is a need for a book in which these techniques, and also those developed for vessel glass and for the conservation of excavated waterlogged glass, are described fully. This book, now for the first time in paperback, supplies both the theoretical background and the practical procedures used in conserving these different kinds of glass.

Includes theoretical background and practical procedures

Available in paperback for the first time

Sandra Davison trained as an archaeological objects conservator at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, U.K. She has worked as a practising conservator for over thirty years, including 14 years at the British Museum. In private practice since 1984, Sandra has lectured and published widely, and taught glass restoration in many countries. In 1979 she was made a Fellow of the IIC, and in 2000 became an accredited member of the UKIC.