Ann-Marie Miller ACR
Projects
About Me
I offer comprehensive conservation services for the conservation of library and archive material including manuscripts, printed books, ephemera, maps, plans, correspondence, parchment documents and their storage. This ranges from expert practical conservation treatments on individual items and their documentation, to advice on collection care provision, such as surveying, assessments, condition reports and handling for whole collections. Practical work may be required to enable loan agreements for exhibitions, or digitisation, and I have helped to establish and support several such programmes. Over the past 20 years I have worked on a variety of material from culturally diverse sources, including Jewish, Armenian, Islamic, Sikh and Japanese bindings; from the medieval period to the present day. Should you need support from an accredited professional for funding applications, I can provide guidance and reports as well as the necessary practical work.
Client Testimonials
Ann-Marie's work for us has always been stellar. In particular her work on conserving a number of 1920s-30s transport posters was exemplary, with the dirty and damaged paper coming back in better condition than we expected. Her understanding of materials and techniques is impressive and she is rightly confident in her abilities. Ann-Marie takes the time to fully explain conservation issues, treatment options and potential outcomes, making her wonderful to work with.
Lesley Ruthven
Special Collections & Archives , Goldsmiths, University of LondonIn August 2020 I acquired a 34 volume collection of art books with varying degrees of damage to the spines and wrappers, I came across Ann-Marie [who] kindly explained the process of conservation to me, and outlined the options for my 34 volumes requiring different degrees of conservation. We agreed that the six most damaged books needed to have their spines and wrappers restored. This was done in line with the reasonable cost estimate and ahead of schedule, despite the usual Covid-19 constraints. I would like to thank Ann-Marie and Codex-Conservation for her help in listening to my needs and restoring my 34 volumes as I wanted; I have no hesitation in recommending her conservation services.
Jeremy Seigal
Private CollectorHaving been fortunate enough to get my hands on an original NASA Apollo flight plan I wanted to do all I could to preserve it in it’s wonderfully used condition while keeping it safe as a historic document. My good fortune continued in choosing Ann-Marie at Codex Conservation to undertake the work. Not having used the services of a conservator before I wasn’t sure what to expect but Ann-Marie could not have been more helpful at every stage. With the work completed the end result is amazing. The flight plan now seems somehow ’newer’ while still obviously being a well used document - margin comments and all - which is exactly what I wanted. To keep it safe Ann-Marie also constructed for me a bespoke museum grade box which complements it beautifully. If I’m ever lucky enough to acquire something similar in the future I will not hesitate to get back in touch with Ann-Marie.
Steve Hill
Private CollectorI asked Ann-Marie to assess and make recommendations for...an old Japanese pouch bound (fukuro toji) book of woodblock prints which I had fallen in love with. It was clear from our conversation that she understood my requirements and she was prompt with the assessment including comprehensive photos. As part of the work I asked her to separate the book into its constituent pages and flatten them to remove all creases so it could be accurately scanned and this was very well done. The book is now repaired and reassembled to include new backing for the covers and she made a lovely "shiho chitsu" to protect the book for the future. I have found Ann-Marie to be prompt and understanding in all our conversations and I am very happy with the sympathetic nature of the restoration and the high quality of her work.
Nigel Simmonds
Private CollectorRHS Lindley Libraries have worked with Codex conservation for over four years, including work to conserve and rehouse our unique 19th-century plant collector papers. Ann-Marie’s work is of the highest standard, in particular the fascicule system she has devised to protect vulnerable letters.
Sarah McDonald
Heritage Collections Manager, Royal Horticultural Society, Lindley Libraries"Our first mortgage ledger – one of the jewels of our collections – was showing its age. Its binding was coming apart and some of the page edges were damaged and ripped. At some point, somebody had helpfully tried to mend it with some masking tape. I was becoming fearful about using it. However, it’s regarded as one of the touchstones of the organisation – one of our TV adverts was even based on it – and I often need to use it for research. It was in desperate need of some professional attention. Ann-Marie was recommended to me by a fellow business archive that had successfully used her services in the past. We quickly established what needed to be done and without further ado, the ledger was couriered to Ann-Marie. We asked her to remove the terrible masking tape repairs, mend any damaged pages and rebind the entire ledger. We also asked her to produce a custom-made box for the ledger. We were thrilled with the results. The masking tape has gone without a trace. The page repairs are unobtrusive but effective. The binding is now robust. The box is tough and handsome. The ledger is fit to face another 150 years."
Sara Kinsey
Head of Historical Archives, Nationwide Building SocietyIt is a pleasure to provide a testimonial for Ann-Marie, we contacted (her) to assess eight bound manuscripts in preparation for the Charles Dickens Museum applying for a grant for conservation and digitisation work. Ann-Marie was prompt in her reply and came onsite to see the eight manuscripts. She was extremely thorough assessing the items but also put aside time to discuss our options for repair and rehousing in light of how the manuscripts would be digitised and how they would be used in the future. The subsequent reports she provided were balanced and budgeted in a way that gave us options about what work we might do on the manuscripts. She understood exactly what we needed for the funding body, and the reports came in a format that meant we could use them straight away in our grant application.
We are delighted with Ann-Marie’s work on these 8 bound manuscripts and it’s a relief to know they have been so well cared for: repaired, consolidated and rehoused in a way that safeguards their future.
Louisa Price
Curator, Dickens MuseumTraining
2009 NVQ Level 3 Learning and Development British Library 2007 ACR Professional Accreditation Institute of Conservation (ICON) 2002 MA Conservation Camberwell College of Arts 2001 Post-graduate Diploma Conservation Camberwell College of Arts 2003 5 Certificates in Book Binding London College of Printing 2000 Chemical Science for Museum Conservators Hammersmith West London College 1999 BA History of Art 1st class honours Courtauld Institute of Art
Work History
British Library - Book Conservator 2001-2008 Working within the conservation department on manuscripts and documents from around the globe including Japanese, Syriac, Zoroastrian and Islamic bindings. Highlights included the conservation of one of the BL treasures, the Mercator Atlas, c.1570 which I subsequently published in peer-reviewed journals an international conferences.
