Studies on the Book of Deer

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This hefty tome comprises fifteen commissioned papers on aspects of the Book of Deer (CUL, Ii.6.32), an Insular illuminated 'pocket' gospel book probably originating in tenth-century Scotland (palaeography permits the possibility of a ninth-century date, but is not considered here). The major folios are well reproduced in colour. The introduction discusses the project and its delayed publication, explaining why some papers were not updated to take account of work published over the intervening decade. It would have been helpful to have introduced the manuscript and to have synthesised contributors' conclusions. Sections examine the early medieval gospel book, property records added to it - the earliest extant Scottish Gaelic prose (here edited, transcribed and translated, with discussion of linguistic significance) - and the historical context of Deer (Aberdeenshire), to which they relate. The reader plunges into Thomas O'Loughlin's consideration of the text...