Editing Book of Durrow (section)

==Description==
It is the oldest surviving complete illuminated Insular gospel book, for example predating the [[Book of Kells]] by over a century. The text includes the [[gospels]] of [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]], [[Gospel of Mark|Mark]], [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]] and [[Gospel of John|John]], plus several pieces of prefatory matter (the [[Letter of Jerome to Pope Damasus|Letter of Jerome]], prefaces, summaries, glossary of proper names and [[canon tables]]).<ref>{{cite book |last=De Breffny |first=Brian |author-link= |date=1983 |title=Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopedia |url= |location=London |publisher=Thames and Hudson |page=78 |isbn=}}</ref> Its pages measure 245 by 145&nbsp;mm and there are 248 [[vellum]] folios.  It contains a large illumination programme including six extant [[carpet page]]s,<ref name="on14" /> a full page miniature of the four [[evangelists' symbols]], four full page miniatures, each containing a single evangelist symbol, and six pages with significant decorated initials and text. It is written in [[majuscule]] [[insular script]] (in effect the block capitals of the day), with some [[Lacuna (manuscript)|lacunae]].

The page size has been reduced by subsequent rebindings, and most leaves are now single when unbound, where many or most would originally have been in "bifolia" or folded pairs.  It is clear that some pages have been inserted in the wrong places.<ref name="on14" /> The main significance of this is that it is unclear if there was originally a seventh carpet page.  Now Matthew does not have one, but there is, most unusually, one as the last page in the book.  Perhaps there were only ever six: one at the start of the book with a cross, one opposite the next page with the four symbols (as now), and one opposite each individual symbol at the start of each gospel.<ref>Meehan (1996), pp. 30-38</ref> Otherwise the original programme of illumination seems to be complete, which is rare in manuscripts of this age.

In the standard account of the development of the Insular gospel book, the Book of Durrow follows the fragmentary Northumbrian [[Gospel Book Fragment (Durham Cathedral Library, A. II. 10.)]] and precedes the [[Book of Lindisfarne]], which was begun around 700.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Lindisfarne Gospels: Society, Spirituality & the Scribe|last=Brown|first=Michelle|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2003|location=London, The British Library}}</ref>