The illuminated manuscripts of early Christian Ireland bear witness to the marvellous skill of Irish scribes - monks for the most part whose only pens were the quills of birds. The Four Masters name sixty-one scribes of note as having lived before A.D. 900. Monastic scribes excelled in the art of illumination and carried it to a high pitch of perfection. The culmination was reached in the Book of Kells, which for superb beauty and incomparable design remains unsurpassed.

1.1 Book of Kells - copy
The Book of Kells is by far the finest manuscript of the Gospels and the greatest monument of the art of illumination from Ireland's Golder Age. With the magnificence of its' exquisite colours, its beauty is inestimable, its value incalculable. The original manuscript consists of 340 leaves of thick vellum (originally 360), each 13" x 10". It is written in a fine bold Irish majuscule and illuminated with full-page decorations of Gospel-scenes, Evangelists and Canon-tables, etc. It is so named because it was probably written in the Monastery of Cenannus or Kells in Meath (founded by St Columba) where it was kept during the Middle Ages. It was probably a copy of the Four Gospels used there. In the year A.D. 1006 it is recorded that "the large Gospel of Colum Cille" was stolen out of the great Church of Kells and was later recovered "with sods over it". Gerald Plunkett (a Dublin relative of Richard Plunkett, the last abbott) became custodian after the suppression of the monastery in 1539, and later on it came into the possession of Archbishop Ussher. In 1661 it passed to Trinity College, Dublin, together with Ussher's books.

1.2 Fifteenth Century Antiphony
A magnificent illuminated fifteenth century Antiphony on 310 pages of vellum. It is on loan from the Dominican Priory, Tallaght. Illuminated manuscripts were the Liturgical books of the mediaeval church. Each monastery had its "scriptorium" where monks devoted their talents to the making of these beautiful books. They wrote on sheets of skin specially prepated from calves hides. The inks used were made from naturally occurring mineral pigments ground to a very fine powder and mixed with a gum. They were applied with "quill" pens made from the feathers of birds' wings. Black pigments were made from carbon which was obtained from soot. Red pigments were got from "Minium" "Red Lead" (Pb3O4), "Vermillion" (Mercuric Sulphide, HgS). Blue pigments were minerals containing Cobalt. Green came from Nickel-containing minerals. Yellow pigments were derived from Chromium minerals like Crocoite. Gold leaf too was frequently used. The resulting pictures and interlacings were unaffected by light and did not fade like organic colours derived from plants or synthetic dyes.
The four-lined stave of the Gregorian chant was used. Many abbreviations were used, but in those days the monks committed the psalms to memory. Where Psalm-tones are given, one usually finds the letters E.U.O.U.A.E. at the end. These letters are vowels of "saeculorum amen", the ending "Gloria Patri..."

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