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Structure & Materials

Researcher
Reading Objects in Special Collections - Introduction
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Brotherton Collection Safe TRA Westminster 1480 final leaves
Reading objects in Special Collections - the importance of structure and materials
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Letter illustrated with various pen and ink sketches.
Reading Objects in Special Collections - handwriting
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Books on shelf
Reading Objects in Special Collections - Context
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Strong Room for. 4to 1488 AVI armorial bookplate of J Henryson Caird
Importance of provenance
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Leeds Student 24th November 1980
Reading Objects in Special Collections - Content
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The structure of an object and the materials used to create it can reveal information about its original purpose, its value, or the audience it was created for.

Researchers can examine how objects were made or can analyse the quality and type of materials used to make them.

The quality and decoration of any binding or the type of paper or parchment used can give clues about the time, location and original function of an object.

We use the word materiality when we speak about the physical qualities of a book: its structure, what it is made out of, and how it is bound for example, as distinguished from its contents.