sábado, 30 de novembro de 2019

Calligraphy in the Book of Kells The script in the Book of Kells



The script in the Book of Kells

One of the most distinctive features of the Book of Kells is its neat script, a form instantly recognisable as being of distinctively Irish or Insular in style.
A library catalogue compiled for the monastery at St Gallen in Switzerland c. AD 850 described the presence of libri Scottice scripti (books in ‘Scottish’ [Irish] script). The singling out of a group of manuscripts specifically for their ethnic distinctiveness was quite unusual at this time, and emphasizes how even in the early medieval period, manuscripts produced by the Irish Church were seen as different.
Figure 1, a comparison between insular and Roman lettering styles Fig 1. Insular letter forms compared with contemporary ‘Roman’ forms
Roman scripts were probably introduced to Ireland from Britain, possibly from as early as the fourth century. However, by the late sixth century, possibly due to isolation from continental developments, a distinctive ‘Insular’ script had developed. This first emerged in majuscule (‘uppercase’ letters usually of even height, also known as Insular half uncial). This is the script that is used predominantly in the Book of Kells.
Figure 2, from the Book of Kells, an example of majuscule script Fig 2. Example of majuscule script in the Book of Kells © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
Once established, the script was also written more cursively, producing minuscule (‘lower case’ letters where the ascenders and descenders extend beyond the body of the letter). Minuscule was used to create manuscripts for personal or everyday use, while majuscule, which took longer to write, is often a feature of higher status books.
Figure 3, from the Book of Kells, an example of miniscule script Fig 3. Example of minuscule script from the Book of Mulling (fol. 97r). © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
Typical insular script is characterised by the triangular forms (known as wedge serifs) of ascenders (such as b, d, h etc.) and sometimes descenders, and the particularly broad bows of letters such as b, p and q. Specific combinations of consecutive letters (known as ligatures) and standardised abbreviations were also developed. Diminuendo, where letters diminish in size from an opening large initial, and stippling, or dotted backgrounds to letters, are also common features.
Figure 4, from the Book of Durrow, an example of diminuendo Fig 4. Example of diminuendo from the Book of Durrow (fol. 19v.). © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
For particularly important passages in manuscripts, including the Book of Kells, a distinctively geometric form of display capital was used. These letter forms are thought to have originated in Northumbria, where they are most common, possibly under the influence of angular runic script.
Figure 5, from the Book of Kells, an example of display script Fig 5. Example of display script from fol. 8r, a passage from the Breves causae of Matthew that refers to the birth of Jesus Christ. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
Although most common to manuscripts, Insular scripts were used for inscriptions on contemporary carved stones and fine metalwork. They continued in use for texts in the Irish language in both manuscripts and inscriptions throughout the medieval period, and only finally fell out of use in the early twentieth century.


Skip to 0 minutes and 8 secondsTim O'Neill is widely regarded as one of Ireland's finest calligraphers. His artwork ranges from designs for British Airways planes in Celtic style, to designs for Irish postage stamps. A research fellow here at Trinity College, he's also an authority on the Irish scribal tradition. Let's imagine we are back in early Ireland, and you are a student learning to write in the scriptorium. Now, we don't know for certain how they did this, but here's a possibility. That they broke the alphabet down into its basic forms. And the first thing you learned to make was the key letter of the alphabet -- you could call it the father of the alphabet -- would be the letter I.
Skip to 0 minutes and 52 secondsIt was made very simply, across like this, and then down. And then you come to the mother letter of the alphabet, which is the letter O. It's made in two parts, starting at the top and coming down like this, going back up, and coming down the other side. Always made in two parts. So with the I and the O, if you can master those, you have about one third of the letters of the alphabet. Because the rest of them, it's almost like playing with LEGO. You're putting little bits together.
Skip to 1 minute and 26 secondsFor example, if you want to make a letter C, you start off exactly like O, and then you go back up and you come down the other side, and then you stop. And that becomes -- start again like a C, and then you go out like this and it becomes an E. So then you get three letters at the one time. Similarly with the I. And then if you want to make a J, you just come a little bit below the line like this. And so that's the way they learn the elements of putting them together. For us, nowadays, in about an hour or two, you can learn the whole 26 letters.
Skip to 2 minutes and 6 secondsIn the Book of Kells, and in all the early Irish manuscripts, you'll find that there are basically two design elements. One is based on spirals, and the other is based on interlace. The spiral is a very old motif in the Irish tradition, goes back to the Neolithic, even. And it's really a circular form, which goes around like the shell of a snail. So that's a basic spiral. And then the next thing you can do with it is make it like in the shape of an S, or then possibly in the shape of a C. Now, the only other thing you can do with these spirals is link them up.
Skip to 2 minutes and 54 secondsSo if you're trying to link them up -- do your S like this -- and you just make sure there's enough room to come out, like this, and then down into the next one here. And then it comes out like this, and so on. Very, very simple shape and form. Now, when we come to the other, the interlace, there's two ways of doing it. The simplest and most basic would be look at what is the simplest knot you can make. And it's this one. Like this, like this, and then you link up those two. And you go double it up into a ribbon. Follow around the same way.
Skip to 3 minutes and 47 secondsAnd then you go and you do over and under, like you can imagine you go along. Say it goes over this one, and then it gets to go under the next one, and then under this one, and then over here, again. And it always works out as over and under, like so. And these would've been used basically as a space filler. So if you can imagine the middle of a letter A, capital A here, into the space, they would put one of these interlaced patterns. And it could be very, very tiny. That's a very, very absolute basic way. Now, the more complicated designs -- apparently they used a grid, where they use dots.
Skip to 4 minutes and 29 secondsAnd they went using the dots as guides. They were able to construct very, very elaborate patterns. The secret being that you never join the dots. You keep away from the dots, but you used them as guides. But if you join the dots, you can't get it right, it won't work out. But if you keep away from the dots, and use them to go around them, and use it as a basic pattern you can create very, very elaborate designs. And then, of course, what you're working with is a ribbon. And within the ribbon itself, you can put a border on the ribbon, which makes it even -- looks more complicated, but actually it's very, very simple.
Skip to 5 minutes and 6 secondsIt's just a multiplication of detail. It's the secret of the decoration in Kells.

Calligraphy in the Book of Kells


The neat hand used to transcribe the bible text into the Book of Kells is a beautiful example of the skill of the medieval scribe. We look at some of the basic skills required to form the individual letters used in the Book of Kells. We also take two of the basic motifs, spirals and interlace, and show how to start building a design of the type that proliferated throughout the manuscript.
In the next step, we will be asking you to try some simple calligraphy and share it with other learners.
© Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin

Share your illustration

In the last video, Tim O’Neill showed us how to do some simple illustrations that can be found in the Book of Kells.

Spirals

Spiral patterns

Interlace

Interlace patterns Simple knot, ribbon
Dotted grid used to help make interlace patterns Interlace ribbon created with a grid

Thinking about these illustrations

We would like you decorate a letter in the style of the Book of Kells. You can use spirals, interlaces, or any of the symbols or animals you have come across in the book or in this course.
  • Pick and draw any letter of the alphabet, or print out this page that has two example letters, T and G
  • Use any pen, pencil or markers to decorate the letters
  • Consider how a scribe would have decorated the letters using spirals, interlace, crosses, lozenges etc…
  • Think about the amount of time it took you to complete this drawing, and its scale. This will give you some insight into the skill of the Book of Kells scribes and artists.
  • Take a photo or scan your picture.
  • Upload the picture onto our Padlet which you can access below.
Note: this is an optional exercise.

postado por professorpier @ novembro 30, 2019   0 Comentários

sexta-feira, 29 de novembro de 2019

Pigments in the Book of Kells



Skip to 0 minutes and 8 secondsJohn Gillis is a conservator in the library at Trinity College, specialising in vellum. He's worked on a number of early Irish manuscripts, including The Faddan More Psalter, giving him a unique insight into how these manuscripts were made. The production of parchment, or vellum, is historically ancient and the use of it as a writing substrate harks back to kind of the development of the codex, or the book form as the Book of Kells is. Basically, it's produced from an animal pelt, where they would flay the animal. In the case of Kells, it's calfskin. If we look at what we've got here, this is the full pelt of a very young calfskin.
Skip to 0 minutes and 51 secondsAnd it's a natural product, so it has, unlike paper -- which you can control, and you can create a uniform end product -- with a natural product like a skin, then you don't have that sort of control. So it retains a lot of its features -- anatomical features, if you like -- because there is the area where the tail was. There's the clear feature, the marking of the spine, which of course runs from one end to the skin to the other. And there's the axilla, where the legs and neck are. And these all create particular features within the skin. We're rarely this lucky, as to find the evidence that easy.
Skip to 1 minute and 29 secondsBut there you can clearly see this is a part of a skin. Obviously, it's not a full skin. This is a goat skin. But you can clearly see the impact of the spine on the skin. And we even see it on one of the illuminated pages, the portrait of Matthew. As I say, it's that sort of evidence that we look for and it gives us an idea of how they laid out the manuscript, how they designed the manuscript, before they put it together. But the actual physical preparation of the skin then involved obviously folding it into what we call a bifolium. So a fold that you see inside a book -- like this.
Skip to 2 minutes and 7 secondsSo these folded sheets are inserted into each other, and create what we call a quire. So again, there can be conventions in how this is done. So a number of folders inserted into each other create a quire. You basically had a series of gatherings. In the Book of Kells, for example, there are 38 of these quires. So you've got quires of various folio counts-- fours and twelves. And then they're gathered together-- literally assembled together. And they're sewn together by a sewing support, through a back fold. In the case of Kells, we have no evidence of the original structure -- because of damage, because of rebinding over the years.
Skip to 2 minutes and 48 secondsIt's estimated the Book of Kells has had up to five rebinding over that period of time. So as a result of all this interference, we've lost evidence of what was possibly the original structure. But basically what they're doing is, they're sowing one quire to the next -- either with an additional support on the spine, or possibly without, just using the threads. In effect, it's a single length of thread running the entire length of the book. You know, quite a feat when you think about it. Obviously, they're adding on threads as they sew along. But with Kells, the end product was a considerable end product. And you can see it here.
Skip to 3 minutes and 26 secondsI mean, this is one weighty tome, which can't have been easy to move about and transport. But I guess-- like everything in Kells, its visual impact, even as an object, must have been quite impressive in its size.

Vellum and the making of a book

During the early medieval period in Western Europe, parchment or young animal skins were the preferred writing surface for manuscripts.
We explore some of the characteristics of the material, and how it was cut down and sewn together to create the book form with which we are so familiar today.
© Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin


Voices of Irish scribes

It was not uncommon for Irish scribes to take a break from the copying of texts to make comments on their materials, excuse the poor quality of their work, or make reference to the events going on around them. These ‘marginalia’, usually written in the vernacular Irish give us an insight into their lives.
The bitter wind is high tonight, it lifts the white locks of the sea; in such wild winter storm no fright of savage Vikings troubles me.
St Gall, Cod. Sang. 904, p. 112. Ninth-century copy of Institutiones grammaticae by Priscian by Irish scribes.
‘the vellum is defective, and the writing’
St Gallen Priscian St Gall, Cod. Sang. 904, p.195. Ninth-century copy of Institutiones grammaticae by Priscian by Irish scribes.
‘This page has not been written very slowly’
St Gallen Priscian St Gall, Cod. Sang. 904, p.195. Ninth-century copy of Institutiones grammaticae by Priscian by Irish scribes.
‘Of Patrick and Brigit on Máel Brigte, that he may not be angry with me for writing that has been written at this time’
St Gall, Cod. Sang. 904, p. 202. Ninth-century copy of Institutiones grammaticae by Priscian by Irish scribes.
‘A hedge of trees surrounds me: a blackbird’s lay sings to me – praise which I will not hide – above my booklet the lined one the trilling of the birds sings to me. In the grey mantle of the beautiful chant sings to me from the top of the bushes: may the Lord protect me from Doom. I write under the greenwood’.
St Gall, Cod. Sang. 904, p. 203. Ninth-century copy of Institutiones grammaticae by Priscian by Irish scribes.
‘massive hangover’
St Gall, Cod. Sang. 904, p. 204. Ninth-century copy of Institutiones grammaticae by Priscian by Irish scribes.
Figure 1, a section of Ogham script
Fig 1. Marginal note in ogham script that reads Ale [Lait] + killed [ort], i.e. an ale-induced hangover. St Gall, Cod. Sang. 904, p. 204. CC-BY-NC
‘New parchment, bad ink, O I say nothing more’
St Gallen Priscian St Gall, Cod. Sang. 904, p. 214.
‘The last column of writing was completed with three dips of the pen’
Book of Armagh, Dublin TCD MS 52, fol. 78r. Ninth-century New Testament and saints lives, Armagh.
‘God bless my hands today’
Cassiodorus in Psalmos, Laon MS 26, f18v. Early ninth-century by an Irish scribe.
‘Pray for Maelbrigte, who wrote this book in his 28th year’
British Library, Harley 1802, fol. 127v. Written in Armagh, 1138AD.
‘Had I wished, I could have written the whole commentary like this’
Written in tiny letters on a slip of vellum between two folios. British Library, Harley 1802. Written in Armagh, 1138AD.
‘the cat has gone astray’
Leabar Breac, RIA MS p. 164. Historical miscellany.
‘May God forgive Edmund the putting of colour on this book on the eve of Sunday’
Oxford, Bodleian, MS Laud. 610, fol. 116r. Historical miscellany, late fifteenth century, Counties Kilkenny and Tipperary.
‘the phlegm is upon me like a mighty river, and my breathing is laboured.’
Egerton 88 fol. 26, Law tract by Law tract Domhnall O Duibhdabhoirenn, c. 1564, Co. Clare.
‘blood from the finger of Maelaghlin’
Note beside a blood stain, Dublin, Kings Inns MS 16, fol 5v. 16th century Irish medical text.

Skip to 0 minutes and 11 secondsSusie Bioletti is keeper of conservation and preservation in a library at Trinity College. Over the past few years, she's been conducting research into the inks and pigments made to create early Irish manuscripts. The brilliance of the colours in the Book of Kells has fascinated people through the centuries, and there's been a lot of discussion about what those products might be. So coming to the present day, we're really fortunate in that we have technologies available now to use for manuscripts such as the Book of Kells, which are absolutely nondestructive and noninvasive. So here in Trinity, the two techniques that we've had available have been Raman spectroscopy, which is widely used for pigment analysis. And we also use X-ray fluorescence.
Skip to 0 minutes and 55 secondsIn combination, they're quite powerful tools because you can support the evidence you get from one piece of equipment with the results from another. And both of them are used directly onto the manuscript, and we get instant results. They'll tell us information about the chemistry of the pigment, and from that, we then have to do some detective work in matching the chemical profile back to the colour. So at the end of the work that we've carried out here, we've narrowed the pellet down to 10 pigments. So the pigments that we have on the manuscript have been created from a number of different products, from dye stuff extracted from plants, from minerals that have been ground and pulverised.
Skip to 1 minute and 36 secondsAnd they've also been created or manufactured from products and transformed into another product. So we have lichen producing a purple pink dye, which is identified on the manuscript as our principal purple. The dye would have to be extracted from this. So the principal ink is an ink known as iron-gall ink and this was created by extracting a gallotannic acid from an oak apple. And that would have been pulverised and soaked in water, then mixed with iron sulphide. And as it oxidises, a beautiful link is formed, which has a range of tones from quite warm brown to warm black. And along with a few other pigments, this black is the principal ink.
Skip to 2 minutes and 25 secondsThe brilliant yellow throughout the manuscript is in all cases a product called orpiment. It's a mineral pigment, and it's incredibly toxic. The vibrant yellow is used in a manner that gold perhaps would have been used. Gold was used at this time on manuscripts. However, we have no gold used on this manuscript. It's the sheer brilliance of the orpiment that replicates the gold effect.

Pigments in the Book of Kells


The vibrancy, beauty, application and combinations of colour in the Book of Kells has fascinated viewers through the centuries.
Determining what materials were used requires analytical work. We can only use non-destructive techniques as we have a policy of non-sampling, so the techniques need to be safe to use directly on the manuscript.
Originally it was thought that up to thirty different pigments were used, but we have narrowed down the number and discovered the very clever use of a small number of plant- and mineral- based pigments which are mixed with white to lighten them, or with extra binder to make them glossier, or layered to create the rich and colourful impression conveyed by the manuscript today.
Pigments: Carbon Black, Iron Gall, Red Lead, Orpiment, Gypsum, Indigo, Orecin, Verdigris Some of the most extensively used pigments in the Book of Kells (Bioletti et al. 2009).

postado por professorpier @ novembro 29, 2019   0 Comentários

quinta-feira, 28 de novembro de 2019

Working practice

Who were the scribes?

Admiration for great works of art during the medieval period was often expressed in supernatural or magical terms. A great gospel book was more likely to be described as the ‘work of angels’ or of a saintly hand than of a mere mortal. Indeed, a common theme of early Irish saints’ lives is the divine aid given to them or by them in the creation or completion of holy books. St Comgall of Bangor, for example, was said to have blessed the hand of a novice to transform his writing from ‘the scratching of a bird’s claw’ to brilliant calligraphy.
figure 1. the image of St John from the Book of KellsFig 1. Fol. 291v The image of St John in the Book of Kells. As author of his gospel John holds a pen and has an inkwell at his foot. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
As a result of this, relatively few early Irish manuscripts preserve the names of their makers. Around 807AD a scribe called Ferdomnach, working in Armagh, recorded that he had worked on the Book of Armagh for the abbot of that monastery. He was clearly much-admired for his craft, as his death was recorded in monastic chronicle of 846 where he was described as a ‘sage and choice scribe’ of the church at Armagh. A note at the end of the MacRegol Gospels of around the same date asked the reader to remember in their prayers MacRegol, who both wrote and painted the book. This individual is thought to be the same ‘Macregol…scribe, bishop and abbot of Birr [Co. Offaly]’, whose death was recorded in 822.
figure 2, a sample of handwriting by Ferdomnach, scribe of the Book of ArmaghFig 2. A sample of the handwriting of Ferdomnach, scribe of the Book of Armagh. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
Such relative celebrity was, however unusual, and for most manuscripts, including the Book of Kells, the name or names of scribes remain unknown.
As both training and scribal practice was focused on copying, particular schools and scriptoria developed distinctive styles of calligraphy and decoration, making it often quite difficult to distinguish one hand from another. Some texts were compiled by one individual, others are collaborative works, with scribes working simultaneously on different quires (gatherings of folios) or, where pages were particularly densely ornamented, on separate leaves.
Despite much careful analysis of the pages of the Book of Kells, there remains disagreement as to how many scribes were involved. Some suggest that at least four were involved, each with their own particular expertise, while others have suggested that the Book was the work of just two individuals. Although sometimes the scribe was also responsible for the illustrations in a book, in the case of the Book of Kells it is thought that there were at least two or three specialist artists.
Although largely anonymous, we can gain some insight into the personality of early Irish scribes through comments, poems and drawings left by them in the margins of their manuscripts.
© Trinity College Dublin


Working practice

The preparation of the parchment for script and painting was a complex and carefully thought through process.
First the quires were prepared and loosely held together with a temporary stitch to ensure that the position and flow of the text across the folio would be kept in order. In a quire with 4 bi-folia the first two pages and seventh and eighth pages of the text are written on the same folded piece of parchment. Then the outer margins of the text would be determined and the position of the lines marked with the point of a knife or a prick mark from an awl, or small pointed tool. These marks are visible on many pages at both the beginning and end of script lines. Guide lines for the scribe were ruled between the prick marks with a hard-point, a sharpened bone perhaps, leaving an impression rather than a drawn line.
Figure 1, from the Book of Kells, a line ending made by a series of prick marks Fig 1. The line endings of fol. 76v are clearly shown by a series of prick marks. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
The script was kept very uniform with the words and decoration evenly positioned to the left and right margins to maximise the use of the vellum and create a harmony and precision for which the manuscript is renowned. The number of lines of script per folio ranges from 17 to 19. The order of script and paint application seems to have been organised so that script was completed first, leaving the pages ready for decoration. This way the script and decoration could be completed by the same hand, or with two scribes working closely together.
Figure 2, from the Book of Kells, a lion Fig 2. Detail of a lion on fol. 111r Showing how it has been added after the script. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
Several folios in the Book of Kells are incomplete and others have unfinished details, which provide us with useful evidence of working practice. This visual evidence indicates that the preparation for intricate design elements was extremely well planned, providing complex patterns to guide the application of pigment. Under-drawing or guidelines, which are revealed in damaged areas as well as unfinished passages, were created with iron gall ink and strengthened as the design was built up. The ink was also used to articulate features, to provide outline to form, as well as to mark the boundaries for the application of the coloured details.
Figure 3, from the Book of Kells, a design that has partially flaked away Fig 3. Detail from canon table on fol. 2r. Pigment has flaked away revealing preparatory drawings below. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
Compasses and straight-edges were readily used for design layout along with free-hand line-work. A good example of this in the Book is in the script for fol. 29v. The script has been completed, and the position of the border decoration has been indicated by lines lightly ruled in iron gall ink. Using this scheme a scribe and an artist could work together to complete the page.
Figure 4, lines of text from the Book of Kells Fig 4. Lines of text from fol. 29v © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
Figure 5, lines of text from the Book of Kells Fig 5. Detail of fol. 29v © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
Folio 30v is also unfinished. Here the decoration is beginning to take shape, with the pigment applied between the lightly drawn outlines. These outlines would be strengthened as the design was completed, with the brown-black script ink also serving as a pigment and a dark accent to the bright colours.
Figure 6, from the Book of Kells, a corner illustration Fig 6. Detail of fol. 30v © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
The full-page illuminations were created on single sheets of parchment and attached to the text quire, which meant they could be created independently and by a different scribe/artist. These were typically painted on one side only, with the verso or back of the page kept blank. Because of this we have been able to detect the markings used in the preparation of the design. For these picture pages sharp points were used to mark the ends of design elements that were then ruled with a straight-edge. Circles and semi-circles were drawn with compasses, which left fine pin-pricks at the centre of the diameter. The eight circle cross page exemplifies this with compass marks present in the centre of all circles, and pin marks at the start and finish of all ruled lines.
Figure 7, from the Book of Kells, a full-page illustration Fig 7. Fol. 33r A complex design used to preface Matthew 1:18. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
Figure 8, from the Book of Kells, close-up on compass marks Fig 8. Detail of fol. 33v showing the compass marks used to layout the design on the other side of the page © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
They are also evident in the portrait of St John (fol. 291v) where the artist has used a compass to mark the centre point to the halo and all surrounding semi-circular patterning, with lines pricked and ruled to locate adjacent elements.
Figures 9-10, from the Book of Kells, portrait of St John and the back of the portrait, respectively Fig 9 and 10. Details of fol. 291r the back of the portrait of John. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.

In the comments section below

  • The Book of Kells originally had around 700 pages (we are not sure of the exact number).
  • Thinking about the different elements that went in to creating the book, how long do you think it might have taken to make?
  • What factors would you have to consider?
© Trinity College Dublin

postado por professorpier @ novembro 28, 2019   0 Comentários

Binding the Book of Kells

The scriptorium

The scriptorium was the writing room usually at or near a Church settlement; the physical space where the act of transcribing books was carried out.
Some early sources refer to saints and holy people withdrawing to a quiet place in order to transcribe a gospel, implying that it was a form of solitary, meditative, devotional activity. In his late seventh-century account of the Life of Colum Cille, the abbot of Iona referred to Colum Cille’s ‘writing place’ as located on a hill overlooking the monastery at Iona in Scotland. The foundations of this have recently been identified by archaeologists in the University of Glasgow.
Figure 1, the abbey of Iona Fig 1. The (restored) abbey of Iona. The writing hut of Colum Cille is thought to have been located on the hill in front of the abbey building (to the left of the picture). Photo: Rachel Moss
The making of a new manuscript required significant resources; a library, containing books from which to make copies, and access to sources of vellum and pigments. So, by the late eighth and ninth centuries, when the Book of Kells was made, it is likely that the production of books was limited to a number of major centres. Iona is known to have been a centre of significant manuscript production, and renowned scriptoria in Ireland included Kildare, Clonmacnoise, Co. Offaly, Bangor, Co. Down, Clonard, Co. Meath and Armagh.
Figure 2, a manuscript depiction of a scribe at work Fig 2. A scribe at work, with his materials and book cupboard behind him. From the Codex Amiatinus, made c. AD700 in the north-east of England. Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS Amiatinus 1, fol. 5r. CC-PD-Mark.
Records of a fire at the monastery of Armagh in 1020 note the survival of the teach screaptra (‘house of the scriptures’), presumably a reference to a dedicated scriptorium building. However, clearly not all of the books were kept here, as the destruction of books kept in the students’ houses is also noted.
Ard-Macha [Armagh] was burned … without the saving of any house within it, except the house of the scriptures, and many houses were burned … and the large stone church was burned, and the cloictheach [round tower], with its bells; and Daimhliag-na-Toe, and Daimhliag-an-tSabhaill; and the old preaching chair, and the chariot of the abbots, and their books in the houses of the students, with much gold, silver, and other precious things.
Annals of the Four Masters, 1020
We know nothing of the original form of Irish scriptoria, but there were certain challenges to overcome. In the era before artificial light, large windows would have been needed, although we have no records of window glass in Ireland during the period in question, so another covering, such as vellum, may have been used. The dangers posed by fire may also have placed restrictions on heating, and complaints about the cold are not unusual in the margins of manuscripts.



Binding the Book of Kells

Medieval gospel books were sometimes bound in a single volume, or might be bound into separate gospels, or kept in loose gatherings in a folder-like cover so that sections could be consulted separately.
The original binding of the Book of Kells has long since been lost, and the trimming of the edges of some of the pages mean that valuable clues as to the original composition of the manuscript are now difficult to piece together with absolute certainty.
However, numerous closed books are illustrated throughout the pages of the manuscript, giving us some sense of the manner in which book covers were decorated at the time. Typically, these were made with wooden boards, covered with leather either stamped with a design while wet, or decorated with additional metal fittings.
Folio 2v, Folio 4r, from the Book of Kells, two depictions of a man holding a book Fig 1. Fol. 2v from the Book of Kells © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin, Fig 2. Fol. 4r from the Book of Kells © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin. Folio 28v - Fol. 32v, from the Book of Kells, two depictions of a man holding a book Fig 3. Fol. 28v from the Book of Kells. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin, Fig 4. Fol. 32v from the Book of Kells. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
We know that by the early eleventh century the manuscript was either kept in a decorated box, known as a cumdach or book shrine, or had a treasure binding – in other words a wooden cover decorated with jewels. It was this covering that attracted thieves to steal the book in 1007.
Figure 5. The cover of Book of Dimma Fig 5. Cover of the cumdach or shrine of the Book of Dimma, reflecting the type of precious ornament used to decorate book covers (twelfth-century with later additions). © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
Since that time the manuscript has been rebound several times. In 1742, in conjunction with the opening of the new library building a decade earlier (now known as the Old Library), the Book of Kells was rebound by Dublin bookseller, printer and binder John Exshaw for the sum of 3s 6d. This binding remained in place for just under a century, when, in 1826, the manuscript was entrusted into the care of binder George Mullen Jnr. Belonging to an era when ‘tidiness’ was the preferred aesthetic, Mullen’s intervention has since been described as ‘disastrous’.
Mullen first washed the manuscript, causing the pages to shrink unevenly, and then pressed them together to flatten them, causing considerable loss of colour. He then painted some of the margins with white oil paint, and filled and tinted flaws in the vellum. Worst of all, he trimmed the formerly uneven edges of the manuscript so that the edges could be gilded, removing parts of decoration of some of the pages in the process.
Folio 32v, Folio 183r, from the Book of Kells, a depiction of a man holding a book and another man holding two books, respectively Fig 6. Fol. 183r from the Book of Kells. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin, Fig 7. Fol. 290v from the Book of Kells. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin. Folio 291v, Folio 3v, Folio 29r, from the Book of Kells, each image depicts a man holding a book Fig 8. Fol. 291v from the Book of Kells. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin, Fig 9. Fol. 3v, Fig 10. Fol. 29r from the Book of Kells. © The Board of Trinity College, University of Dublin.
Controversially, the manuscript was sent to London for yet another rebinding in 1874 causing widespread alarm that the book had been spirited out of the country without the proper permissions in place. By 1950, some of the leaves of the manuscript had become loose from this binding, and it was resolved to employ the conservation binder Roger Powell to work on the manuscript; it is his work which continues to protect the manuscript to the present day. His very sensitive treatment saw the manuscript bound into four separate volumes, one for each gospel.
This had many benefits, among them, allowing for more than one opening of the manuscript to be displayed at the same time. At present openings from two volumes are displayed while two volumes are kept in safe storage.

postado por professorpier @ novembro 28, 2019   0 Comentários