Old English Libraries | Page 8

the Bald had about him, was able to translate from Greek (c. 858-860). Well might Eric of Auxerre, writing to Charles, express his astonishment at this train of philosophers from Ireland, that barbarous land on the confines of the world.[3] All these wanderers, and many more, must have been responsible for the dissemination of the books produced by Irish hands; and, in fact, many manuscripts of Celtic origin and early in date, are still on the Continent, or have been found there and brought to Ireland.[4]
[1] Stokes (M.)2, 206-7, 247.
[2] Sandys, i. 463.
[3] Moore, Hist. of I., i. 299; Boll. Iul. t. vii. 222.
[45] The following, among others, are still on the Continent: Gospels of Willibrord (Bibl. Nat. Lat. 9389, 739), Gospel of St. John (Cod. 60 St. Gall c. 750-800); Book of Fragments (No. 1395, St. Gall, c. 750-800); The Golden Gospels (Royal library, Stockholm, 871); Gospels of St. Arnoul, Metz (Nuremberg Museum, 7th c.).--Cp. Maclean, 207-8; Hyde, 267.
In some respects the evidence of book-culture in Ireland in these early centuries is inconsistent. The jealous guard Longarad kept over his books, the quarrel over Columba's Psalter, and the great esteem in which scribes were held,[1] suggest a scarcity of books. The practice of enshrining them in cumdachs, or book-covers, points to a like conclusion. On the other hand, Bede tells us the Irish could lend foreign students books, so plentiful were they. His statement is corroborated by the number of scribes whose deaths have been recorded by the annalists, the Four Masters, for example, note sixty-one eminent scribes before the year 900, forty of whom belong to the eighth century.[17] In some of the monasteries a special room for books was provided. The Annals of Tigernach refer to the house of manuscripts.[3] An apartment of this kind is particularly mentioned as being saved from the flames when Armagh monastery was burned (1020). Another fact suggesting an abundance of books was the appointment of a librarian, which sometimes took place.[4] Although a special book-room and officer are only to be met with much later than the best age of Irish monachism, yet we may reasonably assume them to be the natural culmination of an old and established practice of making and using books.
[1] Adamnan, 365n.
[2] Hyde, 220; Stokes (M.), 10, "Connachtach, an Abbot of Iona who died in 802, is called in the Irish annals a scribe most choice.' "--Trenholme, Iona, 32.
[3] Tech-screptra; domus scripturarum.
[4] Leabhar coimedach. Adamnan, 359, note m.
Such statements, however, are not necessarily contradictory. Manuscripts over which the cleverest scribes and illuminators had spent much time and pains would be jealously preserved in cases or shrines; still, when we remember how many precious fruits of the past must have perished, the number of beautiful Irish manuscripts extant goes to prove that books even of this character could not have been extraordinarily rare. "Workaday" copies of books would be made as well, in comparatively large numbers, and would no doubt be used very freely. Besides books properly so called, the religious used waxed tablets of wood, which were sometimes called books. St. Ciaran, for example, wrote on staves, which are called in one place his tablets, and in two other places the whole collection of his staves is called a book.[1] Such tablets were indeed books in which the fugitive pieces of the time were written.[2] Considering all things, Bede was without doubt quite correct in saying the Irish had enough books to lend to foreign students.
[1] Joyce, i. 483
[2] At vero hoc audiens Colcius tempus et horan in tabula describers.--Adamnan, 66. Columba is said to have blessed one hundred polaires or tablets (Leabhar Breac, fo. 16-60; Stokes (M.), 51). The boy Benen, who followed Patrick, bore tablets on his back (folaire, corrupt for polaire).--Stokes (W.), T. L., 47. Patrick gave to Fiacc a case containing a tablet. Ib. 344. An example of a waxed tablet, with a case for it, is in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. The case is a wooden cover, divided into hollowed-out compartments for holding the styles. This specimen dates from the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Slates and pencils were also in use for temporary purposes.--Joyce, i. 483.

Section IV
Our account of the work accomplished by the Irish monks would be incomplete without reference to their writing, illuminating, and book-economy, the relics of which are so finely rare.
The old Irish runes gave place slowly to the Roman alphabet, which came into use, as we have already observed, after St. Patrick's mission. This new writing was in two forms--round and pointed--but both were derived from the Roman half-uncial style. The clear and beautifully-shaped Irish round hand is closely akin to the half-uncial character of fifth and sixth century Latin writings found on the Continent. The Book of Kells, written probably at the end