Lecture on the Faddan More Psalter

"History, Discovery and Conservation of the Faddan More Psalter"
Johns Hopkins University
Homewood Campus (location TBD)
Baltimore, MD
April 1, 2016
6pm
A lecture by John Gillis, Senior Manuscript Conservator

Reception follows.

In July 2006, one of the most spectacular European archaeological
discoveries of the last decade was made in the small Irish town of
Faddan More, Co. Tipperary.  A man working in a peat bog uncovered
the first Irish manuscript to be found in over 200 years; within
days the manuscript was transferred to the National Museum of
Ireland, marking the beginning of a 4 1/2 year project to document,
analyze and conserve this wholly unique artifact.  This lecture will
tell the story of the discovery of the Faddan More Psalter and its
recovery from the bog, examine the contents of the manuscript and
its binding, and describe the innovative methodologies devised by
the conservation team to, among other things, disbind and dewater
the textblock.

Free and open to the public: for more information and to RSVP,
please direct emails to Cindy Simpson (csimpson<-at->jhu<.>edu)

About the Speaker: John Gillis, M.A is a Senior Manuscript
Conservator and has worked in the Trinity College Conservation
Department for over 20 years.  He also established and worked as
Head of Conservation in the Delmas Conservation Bindery at Marsh's
Library, Dublin.  In a private capacity, he works as conservator for
major manuscript collections in University College Dublin, and the
Royal Irish Academy and as consultant for a number of other
institutions.  He has been teaching book conservation techniques in
Italy, at schools including Spoleto and Cremona, for the past 15
years.  He lectures on various aspects of his profession to a range
of groups and has published in a number of journals and books.  His
major achievement to date has been the conservation of the Faddan
More Psalter at the National Museum of Ireland Conservation
Department over a four and a half year period, for which he won the
Heritage Council of Ireland Conservation Award in 2010.  In 2014,
John spent three months as a guest scholar at the Getty Museum in
Los Angeles.  He is currently writing a doctoral thesis focusing on
codicological aspects of the Faddan More Psalter.

Jennifer Jarvis
Book Conservator
Sheridan Libraries and University Museums
Johns Hopkins University
410-516-1475


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