「조선왕조실록」 밀납본의 열화특성 분석

Analysis on deterioration behaviors of the beewax-treated Annals of Joseon Dynasty

Paper cultural asset show various deterioration characteristics and behaviors according to the environmental conditions during the storage. The understanding of the paper itself and its conservation knowledge is thus prerequisite to preserve paper cultural assets and pass them to descendants in a good condition. The Annals of Joseon Dynasty is one of the most important our written cultural assets (National treasure No.151) and it is registered as a UNESCO Memory of the World. The Annals of Joseon Dynasty is composed of 1707 volumes and 1,187 books that were written on the official history of 472 years(AD 1392-1863) from King Taejo to King Chuljong (25 generations). Among them, beewax-treated Annals show severe damages due to the deterioration of wax materials such as breaking, hardening, darkening, discoloring and whitening. Urgent measures should be taken to preserve the Annals and prevent further deterioration. Therefore, a systematic and scientific approach on the conservation and restoration of the Annals of Joseon Dynasty is definitely necessary. So it can be used an example to show how much the preservation science can conserve the paper cultural assets. In this respect, this study focuses on analyzing paper properties and deterioration behaviors of the Annals of King Sejong, the most damaged one, using non-destructive micro analysis techniques.