Topics in Preservation Series (TOPS): Inks and Skins
The manuscripts created from calfskin by secular scholars in Ireland prior to 1600 contain vernacular traditions that are extraordinary witnesses to Gaelic civilization and learning on the western limit of the known world. As artefacts of that civilization, the manuscripts themselves, their creation and survival, have their own tales to tell.
One current project, Inks and Skins, seeks to unearth that narrative by focusing on how and by whom these handmade books were created. It is led by Prof. Pádraig Ó Macháin, Professor of Modern Irish in University College Cork. In 2019 Prof. Ó Macháin was the recipient of an Irish Research Council Advanced Laureate Award, which funds the project. The research has involved a combination of enhanced visual analysis, multi-spectral imaging, and X-Ray Fluorescence scanning, together with a range of complementary spectroscopies and techniques. The object has been to understand the writing supports and the composition of inks and pigments used by the secular scholars who created Gaelic vellum hand-written books in the period 1100-1600. Manuscripts before and after the medieval period are studied for comparative and contextual purposes, as are other manuscripts of the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Early in the project a fruitful collaboration was established with the Library of Congress, where staff of the Library's Preservation, Research and Testing Division, led by Dr Fenella France, provided their skill and expertise in the analysis of the manuscripts. Speakers will address the history of the Irish manuscripts, complementary research projects in which they are involved, and the results of the analytical techniques involved in the research.
Come join us for a series of lectures on this project September 13, from 10am to 4pm. Register to attend in person at the James Madison Building 101 Independence Ave SE, Washington DC
Mumford Room – 6th Floor
Or you can join us through Zoom.
Please request ADA accommodations at least five business days in advance by contacting (202) 707-6362 or ada@loc.gov.
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Amelia Parks
Preservation Education Specialist
Library of Congress
She/Her/Hers
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