WORK IN PROGRESS

The first phase of the Project, which is now complete, involved identifying the different parts of the Paper Museum, gathering primary data for each drawing and inputting the data into a computerised database, obtaining study photographs of the material, photographing and classifying all the watermarks (on both drawings and mount-sheets), and defining the content of the two series and individual volumes. A publisher (Harvey Miller Publishers) was appointed along with Series Editors, authors and readers and scientific consultants (for the Natural History volumes), and a house style and format were devised for the publishing programme.

The second phase is concerned with seeing the volumes through the editorial process to publication, with 15 being published so far, seven in Series A (Antiquities and Architecture) and eight in Series B (Natural History):

A.I Ancient Mosaics and Wallpaintings by Helen Whitehouse. Published 2001

A.II Early Christian and Medieval Antiquities by John Osborne and Amanda Claridge
Volume 1 Mosaics and Wallpaintings in Roman Churches. Published 1996
Volume 2 Other Mosaics, Sarcophagi and Small Objects. Published 1998

A.VII Ancient Inscriptions by William Stenhouse. Published 2002

A.IX Ancient Roman Topography and Architecture (Three volumes) by Ian Campbell. Published 2004

B.I Citrus Fruit by David Freedberg and Enrico Baldini. Published 1997

B.II Fungi by David Pegler and David Freedberg. Published 2006

B.III Fossil Woods and Other Geological Specimens by Andrew C Scott and David Freedberg. Published 2000

B.VI Flora: The Erbario Miniato and Other Drawings by Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi and Fabio Garbari. Published 2007

B.VIII Flora: The Aztec Herbal by Martin Clayton, Luigi Guerrini and Alejandro de Àvila. Published 2009 

Further research on related material in Italian and French archives is continuing. This involves checking transcriptions and translations of the documents (many of which are unpublished), identifying collections of drawings and antiquities connected with Paper Museum drawings, examining the monuments themselves and making tracings of other versions of particular drawings, important to the study of copies.

In June 2003 the Project's administrative office moved from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, to the Warburg Institute, University of London, where the Managing Editor and Project Co-ordinator are based. The collaboration with the Warburg Institute was established with the appointment in November 2000 of the Managing Editor, under whose auspices the publication of the series came under the imprint of the Royal Collection Trust. A.VII Ancient Inscriptions was the first title to appear under this new arrangement, whereby the association with Harvey Miller Publishers is retained, and its parent organization, Brepols, is responsible for the distribution of all the published catalogues.

A selection of natural history drawings from the Paper Museum was recently on view at the Queen's Gallery in London and in Edinburgh as part of the exhibition `Amazing Rare Things. The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery' (2007-8). All images from this exhibition can be consulted online at the following URL: http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/amazingrarethings/