LEMAN ALBUM

The Future

The Leman Album, England, about 1710-11. Museum no. E.1891-1991

These fabulous designs still have great power to stimulate designers and weavers. The Leman Album is extremely fragile and particularly sensitive to light. Digital technology would replace the need to handle the album while making it much more accessible to the public. We want to digitise the album and turn it into an interactive program for a potentially huge audience to enjoy.

The Victoria and Albert Museum has also committed funds to the conservation of the album. The binding must be replaced, with a more sympathetic one, to conserve the designs.

The photography and video-filming is complete. The video shows the album being opened and some of its pages being turned in its current binding.

We are seeking funds to edit this video and to collate the photographs into an interactive program. This would be available on this website and in the Study Room of the Word and Image department. We intend for this format to be a model for other fragile designs in the collections.

We believe that this work to complete the project, and lay the foundations for future preventive conservation of this type, will cost £12,000. We need your help to fill this shortfall, and to help us keep the album available to enjoy – hopefully for another 300 years!

If you think that you can help us with a donation or your services, please contact the Development Office on +44 (0)20 7942 2149 or at development@vam.ac.uk