Ian Watson

Subject Tutor – School of Conservation, Books and Library Materials

Having been working with books for many years Ian first joined West Dean College as a student in 2009, gaining an MA (Distinction) in the Conservation of Books and Library Materials in 2011. He went on to work in the Conservation Department of Lambeth Palace Library from 2011 to 2016. In 2013 he began work in the private sector and has since been providing book and paper conservation services for clients including The National Trust, Historic Royal Palaces, Westminster Cathedral, The Royal Horticultural Society, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, Chawton House Library as well as many private clients.

Ian is an accredited member of the Institute of Conservation and a member of the IIC. and returned to West Dean College as Subject Tutor in 2021.

‘I am at my happiest at the start of a new project, with a book on the workbench, knowing that it will contain some detail which will bring to life the skill of the binder who made it, and the atmosphere they worked in. Helping the students of West Dean to understand these skills and preserve the objects they have produced gives me great excitement’.