Book of Lismore
The Book of Lismore, also known as the Book of Mac Carthaigh Riabhach, is a late fifteenth-century Gaelic manuscript that was created at Kilbrittain in County Cork, Ireland, for Fínghean Mac Carthaigh, Lord of Carbery (1478–1505). Defective at beginning and end, 198 leaves survive today, containing a miscellany of religious and secular texts written entirely in Irish.
| Book of Lismore | |
|---|---|
Specimen page from the Book of Lismore, fo. 30 a. 1 | |
| Also known as | The Book of Mac Carthaigh Riabhach |
| Date | c. 1480 |
| Place of origin | Kilbrittain, County Cork, Ireland |
| Language(s) | Early Modern Irish |
| Patron | Fínghean Mac Carthaigh Riabhach |
| Material | Vellum |
| Size | 37cm x 25cm |
| Condition | Incomplete (missing at least 46 folios) |
| Script | Irish minuscule |
The main scribe of the manuscript did not sign his name. A second scribe, who wrote eleven leaves, signed himself Aonghus Ó Callanáin, and was probably a member of a well-known family of medical scholars from West Cork. Other relief scribes contribute short stints throughout the book.
The book also contains a reference (f. 158v) to a second manuscript, a duanaire or anthology of poetry dedicated to Mac Carthaigh, but this manuscript is now lost.