page_title: Book of Deer
hierarchical_section_title: Book of Deer
context_page_description: The Book of Deer is a 10th-century Latin Gospel Book with early 12th-century additions in Latin, Old Irish and Scottish Gaelic. It is noted for containing the earliest surviving Gaelic writing from Scotland.
  The origin of the book is uncertain, but it is reasonable to assume that the manuscript was at Deer, Aberdeenshire, Scotland when the marginalia were made. It may be the oldest surviving manuscript produced in Scotland, and is notable for having possibly originated in what is now considered a Lowland area. The manuscript belongs to the category of Irish pocket gospel books, which were produced for private use rather than for church services. While the manuscripts to which the Book of Deer is closest in character are all Irish, most scholars argue for a Scottish origin. The book has 86 folios; the leaves measure 157 mm by 108 mm, the text area 108 mm by 71 mm. It is written on vellum in brown ink and is in a modern binding.
  The Book of Deer has been in the ownership of the Cambridge University Library since 1715, when the library of John Moore, Bishop of Ely was presented to the University of Cambridge by King George I.
context_section_description: The Book of Deer  (Leabhar Dhèir in Gaelic) (Cambridge University Library, MS. Ii.6.32) is a 10th-century Latin Gospel Book  with early 12th-century additions in Latin, Old Irish and Scottish Gaelic. It is noted for containing the earliest surviving Gaelic writing from Scotland.
  The origin of the book is uncertain, but it is reasonable to assume that the manuscript was at Deer, Aberdeenshire, Scotland when the marginalia were made. It  may be the oldest surviving manuscript produced in Scotland (although see Book of Kells), and is notable for having possibly originated in what is now considered a Lowland area. The manuscript belongs to the category of Irish pocket gospel books, which were produced for private use rather than for church services. While the manuscripts to which the Book of Deer is closest in character are all Irish, most scholars  argue for a Scottish origin. The book has 86 folios; the leaves measure 157 mm by 108 mm, the text area 108 mm by 71 mm. It is written on vellum in brown ink and  is in a modern binding.
  The Book of Deer has been in the ownership of the Cambridge University Library since 1715, when the library of  John Moore, Bishop of Ely was presented to the University of Cambridge by King George I.
caption: Folio 29v contains a portrait of the Evangelist Luke.
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