With Michael Burke

Webinar to be rescheduled later in the year. We will notify you when it is rescheduled. Sorry for the inconvenience. 

This lecture tells the story of three ancient books that were buried underground, lost for centuries and then found again.

The  Nag Hammadi Codices were discovered in Egypt in 1945 a clay pot. These books, written in the Coptic language, contain the infamous Gnostic Gospels. Within a short time some had been smuggled and sold, and sent all over the world to various libraries. They have now been reunited and live in the library at Cairo. Michael will tell the story of their discovery, which involves murder, canabalism and international scholarly squabbling.

St Cuthbert’s Gospel was made by the monks of Lindisfarne in 692, buried with Cuthbert when he died, and discovered in his coffin in the year 1104 in exceptionally good condition. It is the earliest known decorated European binding, and was acquired for the nation in 2005 for £9 million. It is now on permanent exhibition in the treasures room of the British Library. Michael will talk about St Cuthbert’s extraordinary life, the monks of Lindisfarne, why they had to move on to new houses over the years, and how the book was made and decorated.

The Fadden More Psalter is one of the earliest surviving British manuscripts. It was found in a peat bog in Tipperary in 2005, an appalling mess of squashed and crumpled parchment and leather. Michael will tell the story of how it took over four years of painstaking work to unpick the damaged pages, removing 1,300 years of soil, moss and seed pods, before the book could be studied by the scholars.

This is a virtual event. The webinar will be recorded and sent to all registered attendees. Cost is $15.

Michael Burke is a bookbinder and paper conservator. For many years he has been interested in the structure of early and medieval bindings. His research into bookbinding history led him recently to completing an MA in the History of the Book from London University.