The Irish standard., 1903-03-14
THE BOOK OF KELLs.
Critics Pronounce 1t a Wonderful
Work OF Arti

Dublin University, is the most beauti-
full book in the world He is not alone
in his opinion. Not only poetical his
torians like Henri Martin, but grave
scholars like Wyatt, Waagen, Keller
Ilmmcr and others grow almost lyri
cal when describing this marvel OF
art. In dclicacy Of handling, and
! minute but faultlcSS execution the
whole range of photography offers
nothing comparable to these early
Irish manuscripts, and the most mar
velous of all is the Book of kels,
some of the ornaments of which |
attempted to copy but broke down in
despair" says Mr.. Digby Wyatt
Waagen tells us that the ornamental
pages. h"lalrrs and initial letters OK
lihit such !; rich variety of beautiful
and peculiar designs, so admirable IL
taste in the arrangement of the cOlors
and such uncommon perfection and
finish that one is absolutely lost in
am;lZcment."
The Book of Kells is an Illuminated
manuscript of the -Four Gospels in
Latin; it contains prefaces, eNplana.
tons of the meaning of Hebrew
names. summaries. and the tables of
the Euscbian Canon, writes James \.
GARRISON i'm the Gael
1t was formerly believed to have
| been composed by st. COLUMBIA in the
second half of the sixth century. Con-
Srrvativc archaeolOgists are pretty gen
orally agreed at present that it was
produced during the second half of
| the seventh. 1t cannot we'll be later:
the saints in it are represented With
Il Celtic tOnSurc, which consisted in
shaving the front of the head from
ear to ear. AS the Roman tonsure
which is entirely different was uni
vcrSally accepted by tho Irish church
several years before the close of the
century, it seems a natural conclu-
sion that these saints would have had
the Roman tonsurc if the manuscript
had been composed after the year 100
The real manuscript of St Columbia
or what is left of it. is i'm the Library
of the Royal Irish Academy. 1t has
Il somewhat curious interest in con-
mccton with an incident which may
be regarded as the first attempted on
forrrment of a law of copyright. w"
arc told in an Irish manuscript of the
eleventh century published by Wind
isch that Columbia requested permits
sion of Bishop MolaiSc to copy the
gospels of st. I'inan. which had been
lately placed i'm the Episcopal Catlc-
dlal. Meeting With churlish refusal
he stole into the church night after
night until the whole had been copied.
When MolaiSc learned the trick that
bad been played on him, he fell into
Il terrible rage, demanded the copy.
and on Columba's refusal, appealed to
King Dinrmaid, then in residence at
Tara. After bearing both parties, Di
armaill sought for precedence in all
the libraries in Erin. bu, there never
before had been Il case in which tho
rights of an author or tlslns"ribcr in
Ills work were involved. ITt viewer.
there had been any number of eases
dealing with the ownership of cattle.
and on these was tho kings Judgment
based The calf" he said, "bclongs
| to the owner of the COW. ana the little
book to the owner of the big book"
Lc gacll boin IL hoinin. 'agus lc gach
/ lcahllar Il lrabhairin: literally: "to
each cow belongs her little cow, and
to each book her little book"
The text oil the liook of Kcils is
! written in the noble Semi-uncial char
tclcr adopted by all the Irish scribcs
OF the period, but ii is the Illustrations,
noldcrS, initials, letters, etc, that rcn-
der it Il perfect house of artistic
brclsis, who WAS sent by Henry III.
Oh an embassy to Ireland in 1lSJ,
should nave insisted that it could have
been written only by angels. Fancy
what seems Il mere colorcu dot to the
naked eye becoming, under the power
of the microscope, II conventional
bunch OF foliage with Il conventional
bird among the branches. In speak
/ ing of the minutcncSS and almost mir
aculouS correctness of the drawing,
Professor WeStwoou mentions that
With the aid of Il powerful lens, he
counted within the space of one inch
15S interluccmcnts of bands of rib
;ntls, each riband composed of Il strip
of white, bordcrcd on each side by IL
black strip!
mo words" says DIR. Middleton.
professor of Fine Arts in Cambridge
University in his remarkable work on
Illuminated manuscripts, can de-
scribe the intricate dclicacy of the
ornamcntation of this book, lavishly
decorated as it is with all the different
varieties of ingcnously intricate pat
terms formed by intcrlaced and knot
ted lines of color, plated in and out
with such complicated intcrlaccment
that one cannot look ut the page
| without nStOniShmpnt nt tho conn ,innI