Leabhar na h-Uidhri (The Book of the Dun Cow)Ireland, circa 1100Irish minuscule Royal Irish Academy, Dublin (Ireland)
Date of Publication of the Facsimile: 1870 During the nineteenth century, learned societies in most european countries embarked on ambitious projects to make use of the new printing techniques to make their national manuscript treasures better known and available to a wider public. The Book of the Dun Cow was the first production by the Irish project. It is clear from the introduction to this facsimile, that while faithful reproduction was the goal, this was not always possible, "Every line corresponds with the original; contracted words and symbols of abbreviations are faithfully reproduced, and the measurement of the writing on the pages agrees closely with that of the manuscript. Obscure, illegible, and fractured places are indicated by equivalent spaces numbered within brackets, and a table is appended by reference to which the nature of each of these defects may be ascertained. No conjectural restoration has been admitted of any partially lost letter, aspirate, or accent." Note that production of the facsimile involved collation (that is, careful comparison letter by letter) with the original. This was to ensure that the initial drawings by the lithographer, and the preparation of the plates that followed, as well as the inking and printing of the plates by the printer, did not in any way alter the appearance of the text. Careful control of the end product against the original has remained a necessity, even after photography and (most recently) digitization were incorporated into the process.
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