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Tens of thousands of antique books are in danger. They are being eaten by beetles. The centuries-old books are being taken off the shelves of a library in a medieval abbey in Hungary. Pannonhalma Abbey was founded in the year 996. It is four years older than the Kingdom of Hungary. One of the books in danger is a complete Bible from the 13th century. There are also hundreds of manuscripts from before the invention of the printing press in the mid-15th century. Library staff are carefully putting the books and manuscripts in wooden boxes. The boxes are being sealed in large plastic sacks. The oxygen has been removed from the sacks. After six weeks without oxygen, all of the beetles should be dead.
The insect eating the priceless books is the drugstore beetle, also known as the bread beetle. It usually feeds on dried foodstuff, like wheat, flour and spices. The bugs like to eat the gelatin and starch-based glue that are used to make books. Library workers realized something was wrong when they found lots of dust on the bookshelves. The librarians then found holes in the books. These were caused by the beetles chewing through the paper. The person in charge of getting rid of the beetles said: "We've never encountered such a degree of infection before." She explained she felt a lot of responsibility for saving the books. She said if a book is ruined, "a piece of culture has been lost".
Back to the library book beetle lesson.
