anglo-saxon at the british library
with the exception of the 8th century Lindisfarne Gospels (30), acclaimed here as ‘the most spectacular manuscript to survive from Anglo-Saxon England’, yet crammed between two other manu- scripts, without proper emphasis on its stature. Such conspicuous underemphasis stands in contrast to the Codex Amiatinus (34), the earliest complete Latin Bible, produced at Wearmouth-Jarrow in the early 8th century and taken from there by Abbot Ceolfrith for presentation to the pope. He died on the journey and the manu- script never made it to Rome. Now, after more than 1300 years it makes its first return to England in from its home in the Biblioteca Medicinea Laurenziana in Florence. It is displayed separately, below eye level, open at its first full page miniature, with the enormous bulk of its text visible below (it has a leaf size of 505 x 340 mm, over 1000 leaves, and weighs more than seventy five pounds). To the left of it is the tiny (137 x 95 mm) St Cuthbert Gospels (32) from Wearmouth- Jarrow, with the earliest European binding, retrieved from Cuthbert’s co Y n in 1104. Not far away in the exhibition is the 9th century Canterbury Royal Bible (55) which su V ered a crueller fate. It was originally over 900 leaves and conceived as a manuscript of the highest quality, with some leaves stained in purple, with gold and silver lettering and a number of miniatures. Only seventy seven leaves remain, a poignant reminder of what the ravages of time have wrought. At the aesthetic extreme from these de-luxe manuscripts are those that embody the secular ‘word’ and form another distinctive aspect of the exhibition’s achievement. The four crucial manuscripts that contain the bulk of the Old English poetic corpus are all displayed together for the first time: the Beowulf (86) and the Junius (89), and manuscripts the Vercelli (87) and Exeter (90) books. Vercelli must be among the most notable loans. It returns to England for the first time in 900 years from the Bibliotheca Capitolare. The achievement in bringing these codices together a coup that deserves to be applauded. One final imaginative conjunction concludes the exhibition. Displayed in parallel are the Utrecht (137), Harley (138) and Eadwine (139) psalters. The first comes from 8th century France and it provided the model for the 11th century Harley psalter, one of the great productions of Christ Church, Canterbury. The Eadwine
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