The book of Kells is gorgeous and well worth a visit.
If you are in Dublin and enjoy this sort of thing, _please_ also take the very short walk over to the Chester Beatty Library (https://chesterbeatty.ie/) as well. It's free and has an absolutely fantastic collection of ancient and sacred manuscripts. I was lucky enough to live across the street from it for several years and it remains one of my favourite museums in the world.
Chester Beatty is a gem. I went into it not expecting much from "museum of books". But it's also in a way a museum of world's religions, which are tightly connected to writing and books. As an atheist who has low opinion on value of religion because of all the deaths they were and still are responsible for, it reminded me of their positive role in history. When you see all those ancient religious books you begin to question whether we would have writing at all without them? Who would go through a painstaking process of duplicating books before Gutenberg if not men devoting their lives to God? Thus carrying light of civilization and creating basis and tools for science to progress later. I know this is not some great revelation, but I felt enlightened a bit after leaving Chester Beatty.
He had collected the books over his lifetime and bequeathed the collection to the hospital, under conditions that were to result in the absolute protection of the books. The story of the collection's history is itself worth the visit, and the current librarians are always welcoming if you call in advance. I was at a lecture there last week, and they took great pains to tell everybody to come back.
The Chester Beatty Library has a much larger collection than is shown at any one time. Many sacred texts, but also much else, including some printed news-sheets from the French Revolution. And a lot of Chinese and Japanese stuff, including some gorgeous jade snuffboxes.
Agreed! We went last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. I understand that the Long Room in the Old Library is mostly empty for renovations, but the Book has been moved to a dedicated building during this time.
Pro-tip to any potential visitors: they turn the pages every so often, and I have heard some travel bloggers complain that the pages on display when they went weren't very interesting, but the university will show you what pages of the book of Kells are currently on display: https://www.visittrinity.ie/book-of-kells-pages-on-display/
At the moment, it appears that they have it open to a pair of canon tables which have some really lovely illuminations.
The animated film 'The Secret of Kells' is great and well worth a watch. Far more accessible/relatable to modern audiences than this historical Bible that was dug up in a field in Kells. I'm glad it got a mention but the other guy is right -- the link should have been to the digitized book.
Contrary to everyone I think it was pretty mediocre. The significance of the book is barely covered and the contents of it are not mentioned at all. The story itself is dancing around the “message of the book” and how it prevails over everything (see the allegory with the abbey’s wall) but somehow they just never say it’s the four Gospels of the New Testament which are the most important texts of Christianity. If you don’t know what the Book of Kells _really is_ then what’s left from the film itself? Not so much just a generic fantasy story.
Yes. As someone who practices Western calligraphy, I expected a lot more about the book from the movie. It was mostly style kind of fable with the book as a prop.
The others in the Irish mythology series are really great too - Song of the Sea is my favourite. Great to watch with kids, but also can be enjoyed with no embarrassment by adults!
Unfortunately, they recently removed most of the books from that hall due to conservation efforts. I didn't really give the feel or atmosphere of an old library.
I promised a coworker up north a bit in Meath that one day I’d come visit him and got that chance about seven years ago. Along the way we did the tourist in Dublin thing and part of it was the trinity long room and book of kells. Amusingly, a cabbie was asking me what I loved about Dublin and I said the history. He asked what in specific and I told him that there is probably chewing gum on the ground older than the founding of the United States. He got super offended and told me they clean the streets in Ireland, but then I mentioned the Aran Islands, Newgrange, and the Drombeg Stone Circle… What is “old” in Ireland is 3000-5000 years old. What is “old” in the USA is a few hundred years old at best.
This is a cool resource, but I'm side-eyeing them characterizing it as some new thing when this scan was uploaded more than ten years ago (as their own link to the college's archived blog post on it shows).
Glad you said this as it saved me checking my memory.
I first came across the Book of Kells over 20 years ago and I swear photos/scans were available online of some pages even back then (one of the 'Xp' at least). But certainly thought it had already been made available online before (albeit in one of those annoying interfaces where it's all tiles to try and stop you downloading any of it).
I believe the book was stolen at one point and the gold covers were ripped off. It was eventually found buried. Close to being gone for good like so many other remarkable items.
I saw the real life Book of Kells earlier this year and it was so pristine and high quality it didn't look real, like seriously looked like a modern fancy reprint, it was a bit confusing!
the indignity of the entire experience is comedic, and we've come to accept it. the op article is empty aggregation, a little superficial bit of dopamine noise, that's exclusively parasitizing on actual content. the direct link is probably better, but it throws a CAPCHA for me, where I need to click on Indian men on motorcycles to teach an AI what a motorcycle is. sister comment is reporting that the underlying site is down anyway, despite the "protection" provided by the internet muscle services.
which makes one wonder, why even go looking at the book of kells, like, who among the hackernews readership will sit down with an iPad or other high resolution device to peruse the entirety of the book at leisure, inspecting the subtle details of the illumination, taking notes etc.
I don't understand the point you're trying to make and how it relates to what I said.
the book of kell is available both as a facsimile from specialist publishers (/my/ local library has it in extended rotation) and as a 2006 dvd from trinity college library.
why even go looking at the book of kells is the sentiment about the deliberate versus knee jerk information consumption, which was prompted by the reflection on the levels of ugliness and indignity supporting the knew jerk consumption. it wasn't a comment on the value of book of kells, or the effort of making it available to the public.
The error message "The requested URL was rejected. Please consult with your administrator." is from an F5 Networks Application Security Manager
firewall and can usually be addessed by clearing certain cookies in your browser.
I was able to get it to load using Chrome with all cookies cleared, but it does appear to be getting the "hug of death" as well as mywacaday says in another comment.
I only see one cookie, for the captcha, and removing that just forces me to solve the captcha again.
The 503 error itself doesn't seem to be cookie related, looks like the site can't keep up with the kind of traffic they're getting.
Also, if clearing cookies prevents errors, it's likely related to caching. Depending on the server configuration, things like authentication cookies will cause the session to bypass caches for certain resources.
the og scan of book of kells was done by a Swiss publisher in the early 90s. since you can't copyright a scan, and the book itself is in public domain, anyone can then take the scans (if they can get hands on the high dpi originals or whatever, or do a high dpi scan of the reproduction) and publish them as whatever they want. "the complete encyclopedia of human knowledge (only $99.99 if you call now)" "the illuminated authoritative book of kells (comes with your own one of a kind handmade Irish cross)" etc. you can get the scans themselves (afaiu its at matching dpi, if not the same format) from a 2006 trinity college dvd of book of kells.
the op is an announcement of the completed rescan effort, with modern technologies and modern dpis. with a companion iPad app and a website that have consumer grade renditions of those modern research grade scans.
it's a statement of fact, so we can just leave it at that. but the explanation as I understand it and I'm not a lawyer, is that scan or a facsimile is a mechanism of reproduction, and the act of reproduction doesn't give you copyright. work, derivative work, original work, demonstration of originality have all precise definitions, but in laymen terms which is also my understanding, your derivative work has to be creative and original in its own right to have a copyright.
Presumably, because it isn’t transformative enough to constitute a derivative work. Otherwise, making a copy of free works would allow one to put those works back under copyright.
The book of Kells is gorgeous and well worth a visit.
If you are in Dublin and enjoy this sort of thing, _please_ also take the very short walk over to the Chester Beatty Library (https://chesterbeatty.ie/) as well. It's free and has an absolutely fantastic collection of ancient and sacred manuscripts. I was lucky enough to live across the street from it for several years and it remains one of my favourite museums in the world.
Chester Beatty is a gem. I went into it not expecting much from "museum of books". But it's also in a way a museum of world's religions, which are tightly connected to writing and books. As an atheist who has low opinion on value of religion because of all the deaths they were and still are responsible for, it reminded me of their positive role in history. When you see all those ancient religious books you begin to question whether we would have writing at all without them? Who would go through a painstaking process of duplicating books before Gutenberg if not men devoting their lives to God? Thus carrying light of civilization and creating basis and tools for science to progress later. I know this is not some great revelation, but I felt enlightened a bit after leaving Chester Beatty.
Your post reminded me of the story "A canticle for leibowitz".
It explores many of the ideas you've mentioned. I recommend reading it if you haven't already. I think you'd enjoy it.
Thanks for the recommendation, looks like the kind of book I'd enjoy.
There's also a pretty decent eatery!
Another amazing library, though one that you can't really access, is the Edward Worth library at Dr Steevens’ Hospital, beside Heuston train station.
https://edwardworthlibrary.ie/
He had collected the books over his lifetime and bequeathed the collection to the hospital, under conditions that were to result in the absolute protection of the books. The story of the collection's history is itself worth the visit, and the current librarians are always welcoming if you call in advance. I was at a lecture there last week, and they took great pains to tell everybody to come back.
The Chester Beatty Library has a much larger collection than is shown at any one time. Many sacred texts, but also much else, including some printed news-sheets from the French Revolution. And a lot of Chinese and Japanese stuff, including some gorgeous jade snuffboxes.
They have some gorgeous Asian exhibits as well from what I remember.
Agreed! We went last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. I understand that the Long Room in the Old Library is mostly empty for renovations, but the Book has been moved to a dedicated building during this time.
Pro-tip to any potential visitors: they turn the pages every so often, and I have heard some travel bloggers complain that the pages on display when they went weren't very interesting, but the university will show you what pages of the book of Kells are currently on display: https://www.visittrinity.ie/book-of-kells-pages-on-display/
At the moment, it appears that they have it open to a pair of canon tables which have some really lovely illuminations.
The animated film 'The Secret of Kells' is great and well worth a watch. Far more accessible/relatable to modern audiences than this historical Bible that was dug up in a field in Kells. I'm glad it got a mention but the other guy is right -- the link should have been to the digitized book.
Contrary to everyone I think it was pretty mediocre. The significance of the book is barely covered and the contents of it are not mentioned at all. The story itself is dancing around the “message of the book” and how it prevails over everything (see the allegory with the abbey’s wall) but somehow they just never say it’s the four Gospels of the New Testament which are the most important texts of Christianity. If you don’t know what the Book of Kells _really is_ then what’s left from the film itself? Not so much just a generic fantasy story.
Yes. As someone who practices Western calligraphy, I expected a lot more about the book from the movie. It was mostly style kind of fable with the book as a prop.
That studio is amazingly good. The Breadwinner is harrowing but fantastic.
The others in the Irish mythology series are really great too - Song of the Sea is my favourite. Great to watch with kids, but also can be enjoyed with no embarrassment by adults!
Agreed. Really unique and beautifully done.
I went to college in Trinity and the Book of Kells is housed in the old library.
Once you've finished seeing the book, you head upstairs through the Long Room, and that place is just special (they used it as the hall of the jedi)
As a student there you could visit for free. I used to just go up and hang in the library for 10 mins or so a few times a year. Loved it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Trinity_College_D...
Edit: fix link
I also did the same thing. I probably visited 30 times in the 5 years I was there.
Unfortunately, they recently removed most of the books from that hall due to conservation efforts. I didn't really give the feel or atmosphere of an old library.
First name checks out :)
I promised a coworker up north a bit in Meath that one day I’d come visit him and got that chance about seven years ago. Along the way we did the tourist in Dublin thing and part of it was the trinity long room and book of kells. Amusingly, a cabbie was asking me what I loved about Dublin and I said the history. He asked what in specific and I told him that there is probably chewing gum on the ground older than the founding of the United States. He got super offended and told me they clean the streets in Ireland, but then I mentioned the Aran Islands, Newgrange, and the Drombeg Stone Circle… What is “old” in Ireland is 3000-5000 years old. What is “old” in the USA is a few hundred years old at best.
Such a lovely place and people.
I once had a class in a room just off the old library. I had to go into the Long Room and step over a rope at the end. Very cool.
This is a cool resource, but I'm side-eyeing them characterizing it as some new thing when this scan was uploaded more than ten years ago (as their own link to the college's archived blog post on it shows).
Glad you said this as it saved me checking my memory.
I first came across the Book of Kells over 20 years ago and I swear photos/scans were available online of some pages even back then (one of the 'Xp' at least). But certainly thought it had already been made available online before (albeit in one of those annoying interfaces where it's all tiles to try and stop you downloading any of it).
I think there was a black-and-white photocopy from the early 90s, but the full-color digital one (with an iPad app!) is circa 2013.
I believe the book was stolen at one point and the gold covers were ripped off. It was eventually found buried. Close to being gone for good like so many other remarkable items.
I saw the real life Book of Kells earlier this year and it was so pristine and high quality it didn't look real, like seriously looked like a modern fancy reprint, it was a bit confusing!
Instead of the popup and affiliate-link-laden article, you could go right to it: https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/concern/works/hm50tr726?lo...
the indignity of the entire experience is comedic, and we've come to accept it. the op article is empty aggregation, a little superficial bit of dopamine noise, that's exclusively parasitizing on actual content. the direct link is probably better, but it throws a CAPCHA for me, where I need to click on Indian men on motorcycles to teach an AI what a motorcycle is. sister comment is reporting that the underlying site is down anyway, despite the "protection" provided by the internet muscle services.
which makes one wonder, why even go looking at the book of kells, like, who among the hackernews readership will sit down with an iPad or other high resolution device to peruse the entirety of the book at leisure, inspecting the subtle details of the illumination, taking notes etc.
it is a treasure of culture, available to the general public. Support your local library.
I don't understand the point you're trying to make and how it relates to what I said.
the book of kell is available both as a facsimile from specialist publishers (/my/ local library has it in extended rotation) and as a 2006 dvd from trinity college library.
but I'm not even talking about that
> why even go looking at the book of kells ... etc
why even go looking at the book of kells is the sentiment about the deliberate versus knee jerk information consumption, which was prompted by the reflection on the levels of ugliness and indignity supporting the knew jerk consumption. it wasn't a comment on the value of book of kells, or the effort of making it available to the public.
... and be forced to complete a captcha before getting 503 service unavailable.
"The requested URL was rejected. Please consult with your administrator. Error 503 - Service Unavailable"
Haven't seen a hug of death in a while.
Someone's Sunday just got ruined
The error message "The requested URL was rejected. Please consult with your administrator." is from an F5 Networks Application Security Manager firewall and can usually be addessed by clearing certain cookies in your browser.
I was able to get it to load using Chrome with all cookies cleared, but it does appear to be getting the "hug of death" as well as mywacaday says in another comment.
I only see one cookie, for the captcha, and removing that just forces me to solve the captcha again.
The 503 error itself doesn't seem to be cookie related, looks like the site can't keep up with the kind of traffic they're getting.
Also, if clearing cookies prevents errors, it's likely related to caching. Depending on the server configuration, things like authentication cookies will cause the session to bypass caches for certain resources.
Is this a different one from the one I found at Global Grey’s Collection https://www.globalgreyebooks.com/book-of-kells-ebook.html
Global Grey was popular on HN a few years back, and I bought the whole collection.
the og scan of book of kells was done by a Swiss publisher in the early 90s. since you can't copyright a scan, and the book itself is in public domain, anyone can then take the scans (if they can get hands on the high dpi originals or whatever, or do a high dpi scan of the reproduction) and publish them as whatever they want. "the complete encyclopedia of human knowledge (only $99.99 if you call now)" "the illuminated authoritative book of kells (comes with your own one of a kind handmade Irish cross)" etc. you can get the scans themselves (afaiu its at matching dpi, if not the same format) from a 2006 trinity college dvd of book of kells.
the op is an announcement of the completed rescan effort, with modern technologies and modern dpis. with a companion iPad app and a website that have consumer grade renditions of those modern research grade scans.
> you can't copyright a scan
Why not? It's derivative but it's still work.
"Work" as such is not protectable; it lacks the creative element that e.g. a translation of a book into another language exhibits.
it's a statement of fact, so we can just leave it at that. but the explanation as I understand it and I'm not a lawyer, is that scan or a facsimile is a mechanism of reproduction, and the act of reproduction doesn't give you copyright. work, derivative work, original work, demonstration of originality have all precise definitions, but in laymen terms which is also my understanding, your derivative work has to be creative and original in its own right to have a copyright.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeman_Art_Library_v._Cor....
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Reuse_of_PD-Art...
Presumably, because it isn’t transformative enough to constitute a derivative work. Otherwise, making a copy of free works would allow one to put those works back under copyright.
The animated film (same prod crew that made Song of the Sea) is excellent.
If you want more like these drawings , check wikisource
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Apoca...
Error 503 - Service Unavailable