Notes on the THE LETTERS combine extreme gracefulness
Plates with an unusual appearance of strength. This is mainly
due to the ends of all the strokes being finished ; the
thick strokes have large, triangular heads (p. 291) on
the left, and bases broadened by an additional stroke
below on the right (thus ’/, )• And the horizontal thin
strokes are either finished with a triangular terminal
(p. 210), or run on into the next letter—-joining the letters
together.

The extreme roundness of the letters is contributed to
by their being written between DOUBLE LINES (pp.
268, 54), the upper line of which tends to flatten the tops.

The pen not being quite “straight” (see footnote,
p. 268) together with a tendency to full the left
hand curves, gives a characteristic shape to the letters

a.c.b.e. q.D.

THE ILLUMINATION throughout the book is
most elaborate and beautiful. Each division has an
entire Initial page occupied with the first few letters.
The COLOURS were '’’’paled green, red, violet, and
yellow, intense black, and white, but no gold'"-, see descrip¬
tion of Celtic MSS., p. 40, Bradley’s “Illuminated
Letters and Borders,” and also the Palæographical
Society’s ist Series, Vol. II, PI. 55-58, 88, 89.

This notable book may be taken as an example of the
marvellous possibilities of pen-work and complex colour-
work (see p. 18oj.

In considering the value of the writing as a model,
it may be noted that its highly finished nature demands
practised skill on the part of the copyist, and that though
modern Irish writing (for which it would be an excellent
model) still employs A.?>."£. f. "C. these

letters would be apt to look peculiar in English. The Kells

ms. a. c.e.l).n).i).o. i>.q.TV. S'.u,

however, might be used, and a very beautiful ornamental
hand (p. 268) might be founded on this writing.

З76

PLATE VII.—Half-Uncial {English'), circa a.d. 700 Notes on
“Durham Book” {Latin Gospels). Brit. Mus., Plates

Cotton MSS. Nero D. IV.

THE VOLUME contains 258 leaves (13^ inches
by 9J inches).

THE WRITING is an English—or rather Anglo-
Irish—Half-Uncial, written at Lindisfarne {Holy I.)
under Irish influence (p. 6). ARRANGEMENT
—two columns of 24 lines—long and short—to the page
(note how eis is got into the fifth line): wide spacing.

The writing bears a strong resemblance to that of the
“Book of Kells,” but is generally much plainer; it is
also less graceful, being heavier and wider in proportion.

The “Book of Kells” О is a circle, while the “Durham
Book” О is considerably wider than its height, and all the
other letters are correspondingly wide. The RULING
in both books consists of double lines, ruled with a hard
point on both sides of each leaf.

THE ILLUMINATION also resembles that of the
“Book of Kells” (see opposite), but a small amount of
gold is employed in it. (See also Palæographical Society’s
ist Series, Vol. II, PI. 3-6, 22.)

Note.—The “Gloss,” or interlinear translation, is in
the Northumbrian dialect, and was put in in the tenth
century, more than 200 years after the book was written.

A hand founded to some extent on the “Durham
Book” hand is given in Chap. IV as an easy copy: see
figs. 49, 50.

PLATE VIII.—English Tenth-century Writing. {Psalteri)

Brit. Mus., Harl. MS. 2904. {See enlargement, fig.

172.) (Shown В. M. Grenville Lib. Case 1, No. 9.)

THE VOLUME contains 214 leaves (13*- inches by
10 inches), 18 lines to the page; probably written at
Winchester in late tenth century. {PI. reduced scale %thsl)

WRITING.—An extremely good, formal, “slanted-
pen” writing, having great freedom (note the very slight
slope forward) and simplicity. This type of letter may

377