Museum team delighted at book discovery
10/09/2010
The new find is being called the Faddan More Psalter, a collection of the Psalms from Jewish and Christian scripture, on fragmented, illuminated vellum manuscript encased in an unusual leather binding. Experts at the museum have concluded that the vellum dates back to the late eighth century and probably came from the scriptorum of an Irish monastery.
The origin of the leather cover is different, however. An expert book conservator, John Gillis, worked on the project and found fragments of older papyrus in the lining of the cover, concluding that it probably came to Ireland from Egypt and may have been used as the cover of an older book before becoming a folder to hold the sheaves of vellum on which monks had copied out Latin translations of the Psalms.
The team at the National Museum of Ireland believes this could represent the first tangible connection between early Irish Christianity and the Middle Eastern Coptic Church.
Dr Wallace has called it an unprecedented find as it is believed to be the first manuscript found in a water-logged state in a bog. He has commented: “It is not so much the fragments themselves but what they represent that is of such staggering importance. In my wildest hopes, I could only have dreamed of a discovery as fragile and rare as this. It testifies to the incredible richness of the Early Christian civilisation of this island and to the greatness of ancient Ireland.”
The book will go on display at the museum in June 2011.
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