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These two ghostly figures were noticed on an endleaf when the #ConservationAndPreservation team were checking the condition of a scrapbook (MS Kelvin SB1) in preparation for digitisation recently
Closer inspection revealed that the figures were not alone. They were part of a bigger crowd. But where had they come from? What did it mean?
Moving through the scrapbook, a photograph was found loosely inserted between two pages. There was the answer. It must have once been placed at the back of the scrapbook where the ghostly figures were found.
As paper deteriorates it can darken and discolour. Platinum particles in Platinotype prints catalyse this process, eventually leading to a mirror image of a photograph appearing on the paper in contact with it.
