Our Oriental manuscripts include a magnificent Koran from the Library of Tippoo, presented by the East India Company; also a very fine copy of the Shâh Nâmeh from the same library, likewise presented by the Company; some beautiful books from the Royal Library at Shiraz, presented, with other Oriental MSS., by W. Digges Latouche; and many fine Persian MSS., purchased from Sir W. Ouseley. An interesting and important Syriac MS. has been lately identified by Prof. Gwynn. It contains, besides a treatise of Ephraim Syrus, those parts of the New Testament which are not found in the Peshitto or Syriac Vulgate; and Dr. Gwynn has demonstrated that it is the actual MS. referred to by De Dieu and Walton as belonging to Ussher, and usually described erroneously as containing the whole New Testament. This is the MS. from which De Dieu, and subsequently Walton, printed the Pericopa de Adultera.[132]
To come to printed books. We have but one example of a block book—the Ars Moriendi—and that imperfect. So far as it goes, it agrees with the British Museum copy published by Mr. Rylands. We have a copy of the first German Bible [1466]; a single leaf (on vellum) of the famous Mazarin Bible; and a copy of the Latin Bible printed at Cologne by Nic. Goetz de Schletzstadt [1474].
The Quin collection includes the first edition of Petrarch: Sonetti e Trionfi (1470); the first of the Divina Commedia (1472), and the first of Boccaccio’s Theseide (1475), very rare; also a splendid copy, on vellum, of the second edition of Virgil (Venice: Vindelin de Spira, 1470); also, Ystoria de re Karlo Imperatore (1473), exceedingly rare; the only known vellum Elsevir (Heinsius: De Contemptu Mortis, 1621); Dita Mundi, by Fazio degl’ Uberti; and the Adventures of Tewerdanck, on vellum (Nuremberg, 1517), a magnificent specimen of printing. In the Fagel Library is an extremely fine Latin Plutarch, also on vellum (Jenson, 1478). We have only one Caxton: Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers (1477); unless we reckon a single leaf (an Indulgence), which Mr. Bradshaw considered to be from Caxton’s press.
Amongst rare books may be enumerated—a Sarum Horae (Paris: Poitevin, about 1498, unique); a Sarum Breviary (Paris: Levet. 1494, unique), which seems to have been in early times mistaken for a manuscript, and is consequently kept and catalogued among the MSS. We have a copy of Werner Rolevinck’s Fasciculus Temporum in Dutch, printed at Utrecht by Veldener, 1480—one of the earliest books with woodcuts in the text (coloured).
A book of some interest exhibited in the glass case is Theseus Ambrosius: Introductio in Chaldaicam Linguam (1539). It is of interest as being the first book in which Syriac types were used, and next as containing a specimen of spirit-writing dating from the sixteenth century. It seems that a question having arisen about some property of a deceased lady which was supposed to be concealed, it was resolved to evoke a demon to answer the question. A sheet of paper and a pen were placed on the table, and the proper incantation being gone through, the pen rose up, without anyone seeing the hand that held it, and wrote the characters of which Ambrosius gives a fac-simile, and which, unfortunately, no one has been able to decipher. I am informed that in the copy of this book in the Bodleian Library this particular leaf is pasted down, the “devil’s autograph,” no doubt, being deemed uncanny.
But to enumerate our rare books, or even our fifteenth-century books, would be tedious, if it were possible. I must not, however, omit to refer to some fine specimens of binding, most of which are in the Quin collection. We have six of Grolier’s books[133]—namely, Erasmus: Pacis Querella; Palladius: Coryciana; Greek Psalter (Aldus); Il Nuovo Cortegiano; Cynthio degli Fabritii; Della Origine delli Volgari Proverbi; and (perhaps the finest) Guilelmus Tyrius: Belli Sacri Historia (folio). Of Maioli we have—Ori Apollinis de Sacris Notis et Sculpturis, Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius; one by Monnier—Spaccio de la Bestia Trionfante; and last, but not least, a copy of Quintus Calaber, which belonged to Henry II. of France and Diane de Poitiers.
There are in the Library a few interesting objects other than books which deserve notice. The satchel of the Book of Armagh, and the shrines of the Books of Dimma and Mulling, have been already noticed. A very remarkable object is a Mosque Staff, presented by Dr. Jolliffe Tufnell, who professionally attended Omar Pasha’s army in 1854. Such a staff is used where there are no mosques, and being set up on a temporary structure, as a heap of stones, it represents a mosque. On each of the four sides is carved a sentence from the Koran. “I am in the house of the Lord.” “Evil and good are sent by God; be content with your lot.” “Every day we offer our prayers to Thee.” “Forgive us all our sins.” “With heart and soul we believe in Thee.”
An ancient Irish harp attracts the attention of visitors from the repute attaching to it, of being the harp of Brian Boroimhe (pron. Boru, d. 1014). It is elegantly carved, and in form much resembles the harp of Queen Mary, an engraving of which is exhibited beside it. It had thirty strings. The following is the tradition respecting this harp, as quoted in the Ulster Journal of Archæology, vol. vii., p. 99, from a MS. by Ralph Ouseley, 1783.[134] “It had been taken to Rome, and remained there until Innocent XI. sent it as a token of good will to Charles II., who deposited it in the Tower. Soon afterwards, the Earl of Clanricarde, seeing it, assured the King that he knew an Irish nobleman (meaning O’Brien, Earl of Thomond) who would probably give a limb of his estate for this relic of his great ancestor; on which his Majesty made him a present of it. Lord Clanricarde brought the instrument to Ireland; but Lord Thomond, being abroad, never became possessed of it. Some years after, a Lady Henley purchased it by barter, in exchange for twenty rams and as many ewes of English breed, in order to give it to her son-in-law, Henry M‘Mahon, Esq., of Clunagh, County Clare; from whom it passed through other hands to an accomplished gentleman, the Right Hon. William Conyngham,” who presented it to Trinity College. Conyngham seems to have been given the harp by Chevalier O’Gorman, who gave a history of it (published in Vallancey’s Collectanea, vol. iv. 7) differing from that just quoted. According to O’Gorman’s story, Brian’s son Donogh, on being deposed, took the harp (with the crown and regalia) to Rome, and gave them to the Pope.[135] He adds the fiction that it was on the ground of possessing these regalia that Pope Adrian claimed the right to dispose of the lordship of Ireland. The story goes on to say that a later Pope gave the harp to Henry VIII., who presented it to the first Earl of Clanricarde.[136] The celebrated antiquary, Dr. George Petrie, considered that our harp dated from about A.D. 1400, and was a portable instrument used for ecclesiastical purposes. One strong objection to the earlier date he based on the fact that it bore a silver badge with the arms of O’Neill, armorial bearings not having been in use much earlier than the date he assigned. This badge disappeared for some time, and fortunately came into the possession of a distinguished antiquary, Mr. Robert Day, of Cork, affixed to a piece of armour found in some recent excavations in the Phœnix Park. As soon as Mr. Day learned the history of the badge, he promptly presented it to the Library. In its absence it was easy to observe that the carving was continuous, so that the badge must have been a later addition. Petrie’s first argument, therefore, fell to the ground. It is true, however, that the figures of two wolf-dogs are carved on the harp itself. His second objection was founded on the occurrence of the letters IHC, which may be traced in a peculiar angular form near the top of the front arm. But this also, in the opinion of good judges, is later than the rest of the carving. The harp, therefore, may possibly be older than Petrie’s date. The sound-board is of oak (as ascertained by microscopical examination), but very much decayed.
The same case which contains the harp contains also a few gold and silver ornaments of elegant workmanship, and a large spear brooch, which, however, has none of the characteristic Irish work, and is in fact very similar to a Scandinavian brooch figured in M. Du Chaillu’s Viking Age, vol. ii., p. 329, but has more ornament. It is 13¾ in. long, 5½ wide across the circle, and weighs 18 oz. It is figured in Vallancey’s Collectanea, vol. i., where it is stated that it had recently (1786) been found near Cashel.