the book collector
Psalter is another Christ Church triumph of the same date and another copy of the Utrecht psalter, marked by both an increased visual and linguistic complexity: it incorporates material in Latin, French, Old English and Hebrew. It is unfortunate that the three manuscripts have been placed in a narrow passageway that may limit fill appreciation of their shared display. It is the range and depth within particular categories that is par- ticularly striking. This is especially so with the Gospel books. They form the largest single group in the exhibition. The earliest is the 6th century St Augustine Gospels (8) made in Italy and perhaps among the earliest books brought by Christian missions; from the 8th cen- tury is the breathtaking Stockholm Codex Aureus (58), decorated in gold and silver, with purple pages and other colour; from the 11th century are still more books from Christ Church, Canterbury, the Arenberg (132), Grimbald (133), Bury (135) and Cnut (144) Gospels. From Ireland comes the Echternach Gospels (20), the Book of Durrow (25), the MacDurnan Gospels (73), a tiny pocket Gospel book (74) and the MacGregor or Rushworth Gospels (with an interlinear Anglo-Saxon gloss). From the Continent comes the Harley Golden Gospels (50) and a Gospel book from Tours (51), both reflecting Insular influences, the Boulogne Gospels (129), done in France, but illustrated by an English artist and the Bodmin Gospels (150), from Brittany, but in Cornwall by the 10th century. The chronological and geographic range with the attendant diversi- ty of styles and formats makes these books a particularly rewarding aspect of the exhibition. The Catalogue generally succeeds in giving helpful accounts of the items exhibited and the inclusion of excellent colour photographs of all them (sometimes more than one) is a generous bonus. The catalogue also includes a series of five short essays: ‘Anglo-Saxon England and the Continent’ (Joanna Story); ‘Language, Learning and Literature’ (Andy Orchard); ‘Interactions with Ireland’ (Bernard Meehan); ‘The Emergence of a Kingdom of England’ (Simon Keynes); ‘Conquest and Continuities’ (Julia Crick). Some of these essays elaborate the odd disjunction of the sub title: ‘Art, Word, War’. The alliterative conjunction of ‘word’ and ‘war’ is scarcely a reflection of what is on display. There are very few items
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