The Ancient Books of Ireland
Author: SLAVIN, Michael.
Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 2005. x, 198 pages. Illustrated. Hardback.
Foreword by Dr Patrick Wallace, National Museum of Ireland.
IRELAND’S ANCIENT BOOKS are among the most fascinating and beautiful in the world. In the lavishly-illustrated The Ancient Books of Ireland Michael Slavin uses stunning images from books such as The Annals of the Four Masters and The Book of Kells, to showcase the magnificent script and remarkable illuminations from sixteen heirlooms of early Irish literature. He also reveals the stories and legends within these exquisite 1,000-year-old manuscripts and describes how they survived Ireland’s turbulent history.
DELVE INTO:
The oldest Irish book - the sixth-century An Cathach, which is the world’s second oldest copy of the Psalms.
The ninth-century Book of Armagh which contains the earliest accounts of St Patrick’s arrival in Ireland and which was once pawned, for £5, to pay for the work of a British spy.
Ireland’s most revered sagas and legends — in the eleventh-century Book of the Dun Cow which was the cause of a battle between warring clans.
The twelfth-century Book of Leinster and the fourteenth-century Book of Ballymote which reveal ancient invasion legends.
Slavin brings these sixteen literary treasures back into the public domain so that, for the first time, readers can explore their origin and contents in one collection.
The Ancient Books of Ireland is a unique contribution to the treasure-trove of world literature.
Contents:-
Acknowledgements
The Celtic Church
Foreword
Introduction
Lebor na hUidre - Book of the Dun Cow (compiled 1090-1106)
Our Oldest Book of Irish Legends
Book of Leinster or Lebor na Nuachongbala (1152-1161)
The Great Pre-Norman Codex
Book of Ballymote (1400), Great Book of Lecan (1416), Yellow Book of Lecan (1391) and Book of Ui Mhaine (O’Kellys) (1394)
Scribal Treasures from the West
The Book of Armagh (AD 807)
Saluting Saint Patrick
The Cathach (c. AD 600)
Ireland’s Oldest Book
The Book of Durrow (c. AD 675) and the Book of Kells (c. AD 790)
Divine Illuminations
Books of the Brehon Laws
Recalling the Ancient Tradition
The Annals of Inisfallen and The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill
Immortalising Brian Boru
Annals of the Four Masters and Keating’s Foras Feasa ar Eirinn
The Gleaning of Irish History
Footnotes
Bibliography
Picture Credits
ISBN: 0863279287