ABOUT THE AUTHORS OF THE CURRICULUM DESIGN

Paul Hepworth

is a manuscript and paper conservator, specializing in Islamic manuscripts. After working at the Walters Art Museum, with particular responsibility for its Islamic manuscript collection, he came to Turkey and established an independent practice and presently works as a conservator at the Rare Books Library of Istanbul University. An educator for many years, recent projects in Iraq, Egypt, Algeria and Turkey have involved the training of conservators in these countries as well as treatment of Islamic manuscript collections.

Karin Scheper

is a book and paper conservator. She is head of the conservation workshop in Leiden University Library where she specialises in the conservation of the Islamic collections. She has taught book conservation for over 15 years, and is currently a guest lecturer for Leiden University and the University of Amsterdam. In 2015, her PhD thesis, The Technique of Islamic Bookbinding: Methods, Materials and Regional Varieties, (Leiden: Brill), was published.

Mandana Barkeshli

is a conservation scientist specializing in the materials technology of Islamic manuscripts and miniature paintings. Her discoveries in the area of traditional Persian preservation measures for manuscripts include: the use of saffron to counteract the destructive effect of copper-green pigments in Persian miniature paintings; and the use of henna dye as a fungicide in Persian paper dyeing during the 16th to 19th centuries. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Arts and Design in Faculty of Architecture and Environmental Design at the International Islamic University of Malaysia, where she teaches courses on conservation. She also serves on the editorial board of Restaurator, International Journal for the Preservation of Library and Archival Material.