On January 7, the eight-year-old restoration project of the Qing Palace of the National Library of China was declared a complete success. More than 300 first-class damaged ancient books have been properly restored with the help of scientific and technological means and in line with the principle of "repairing the old as old". "Now that the restoration is complete, it will not be a problem to store it in the museum's constant temperature and humidity warehouse for another 200 years." Zhu Zhenbin, senior restorer of the Guotu Ancient Books Museum, who served as the chief expert of the restoration project, introduced it.
The "Tianlu Linlang" restoration project is the largest special restoration action for precious ancient books of the national map since the implementation of the "Chinese Ancient Books Protection Plan" in 2007. "Tianlu Linlang" is an important collection of books made by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty who selected the old books of the Song, Jin, Yuan and Ming editions in the collections of the imperial palace, and placed them in the Zhaoren Hall. Although it was cherished by the Qing Palace, from its establishment until the 1950s, it experienced several ups and downs and frequent tribulations. During this period, fire, theft, soldiers, and beetles caused a large number of losses in the collection, and nearly 60 of the 664 books have disappeared, and more than 600 surviving parts are mainly stored in mainland China and Taiwan. At present, the National Library of China has 279 "Tianlu Linlang", of which the Song and Yuan engravings account for a relatively large proportion, and most of the most precious ancient books in the "Later Edition of the Tianlu Linlang Bibliography" are preserved. These ancient books are not only engraved for a long time, but some are still orphaned and precious.
In June 2013, the National Library of Ancient Books completed the cataloguing of the uneducated part of "Tianlu Linlang", and investigated and found that about 10% of the more than 3,500 ancient books of "Tianlu Linlang" in the collection of more than 270 books had serious problems such as paper decay, flocculation, adhesion, binding disintegration, etc., and some were even as stiff as bricks, all of which were first-class damage and urgently needed rescue repair. Due to the large time span of these ancient book editions, involving paper and binding in different periods, the national map decided to restore, study and teach at the same time. Because there are also many types of damage to ancient books, it also poses a great challenge to restorers. Subsequently, the National Center for the Protection of Ancient Books selected 12 backbones of the ancient book restoration business from Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi and other places who had outstanding performance in the front-line positions of ancient book restoration to receive training, exchange skills, and participate in the restoration of "Tianlu Linlang".
Unlike other major ancient book restoration projects such as the "Dunhuang Testament" and the "Zhao Cheng Jinzang", the damage to the collection of "Tianlu Linlang" is complex and diverse. Therefore, before restoration, each ancient book was tested and judged by advanced instruments. For example, when judging ancient book paper, it is no longer judged simply by touching and looking, but through the instrument to determine whether it is bamboo paper, leather paper, mixed paper, or rice paper, straw paper, chemical fiber paper (padded paper), so as to formulate a more accurate personalized restoration plan for each ancient book. The photographs, photographs, and transcripts in the restoration process have also left valuable materials, which not only provide detailed information for colleagues in the industry to learn the restoration of ancient books, but also provide the possibility of reversing restoration in the era of more developed science and technology in the future.
This year, the restored ancient books will be specially exhibited to the public.