The Cathach of Colum Cille: An Introduction - With Accompanying CD-ROM

The Cathach is the oldest extant Irish illuminated manuscript, dated to c. CE 600. The surviving 58 folios contain Psalms 30:10 to 105:13 (Vulgate version). Legend has it that Colum Cille copied the manuscript from a psalter lent to him by St. Finnian. A dispute over the ownership of the copy was resolved by the King of Tara in a very early copyright ruling: "To every cow her calf, so to every book its copy". A full-color 84-page booklet introduces readers to the provenance, art history and biblical content of the manuscript. The accompanying interactive CD-ROM presents the manuscript in digitized form, with a brief overview of its origins and art history. The manuscript folios can be read against a transcription by H.J. Lawlor or an English version of the relevant psalms. A zoom facility up to 400% allows art historians, calligraphers, palaeographers and other researchers to examine the script and illuminated initials in detail.