THE VOLUME contains 258 leaves (1312 inches by 978 inches).
THE WRITING is an English—or rather Anglo-Irish—Half-Uncial, written at Lindisfarne (Holy I.) under Irish influence (p. [40]). ARRANGEMENT—two columns of 24 lines—long and short—to the page (note how eis is got into the fifth line): wide spacing.
The writing bears a strong resemblance to that of the “Book of Kells,” but is generally much plainer; it is also less graceful, being heavier and wider in proportion. The “Book of Kells” O is a circle, while the “Durham Book” O is considerably wider than its height, and all the other letters are correspondingly wide. The RULING in both books consists of double lines, ruled with a hard point on both sides of each leaf.
THE ILLUMINATION also resembles that of the “Book of Kells” (see opposite), but a small amount of gold is employed in it. (See also Palæographical Society’s 1st Series, Vol. II., Pl. 3–6, 22.)
Note.—The “Gloss,” or interlinear translation, is in the Northumbrian dialect, and was put in in the tenth century, more than 200 years after the book was written.
A hand founded to some extent on the “Durham Book” hand is given in Chap. IV. as an easy copy: see figs. [49], [50].
[PLATE VIII.]—English Tenth-century Writing. (Psalter). Brit. Mus., Harl. MS. 2904. (See enlargement, fig. [172]). (Shown B. M. Grenville Lib. Case 2, No. 9.)
THE VOLUME contains 214 leaves (1314 inches by 10 inches), 18 lines to the page; probably written at Winchester in late tenth century. (Pl. reduced scale 89ths.)
WRITING.—An extremely good, formal, “slanted-pen” writing, having great freedom (note the very slight [p416] slope forward) and simplicity. This type of letter may be regarded as a link between the Half-Uncial and the Roman Small-Letter (see p. [310]).
THE RULING: single lines (see footnote, p. [305]).