“It is important to preserve all the historical information of such a book,” says restorer Marijn de Valk. Restoring does not necessarily mean repairing or cleaning. Even if it is dirty, there is no need to do anything about it, because: “That just shows how much the books have been used.”
According to Mauritz, you don’t have to clean the traces in the books either. “Because that also takes away the story.” And it is precisely the story that the books tell that is so special. You can read the history in the pages. For example, masses against the plague have been added in one of the books. According to Mauritz, you then know what was going on in society at the time.
Here and there there is also writing or drawing in it. “Pooping men, or a singing donkey,” De Valk gives as an example. “A combination of the religious and the frivolous side.”
“They are living books in the sense that they contain more than what you do every day in the liturgy. You also read a picture of the times in them,” says Mauritz. According to those involved, this is sufficient reason to have these books restored.
The contents of the books can be viewed in an exhibition in the large church with sound examples that Mauritz has sung. “And that makes me the first cantor who also sings in church when he is not there.”
