About the "terrifying" job of preserving a 1,200-year-old psalm book

For some of us, a hundred-year-old book would be intimidating enough to handle.

Now imagine you not only encounter a 1,200-year-old book, but also are tasked with preserving it.

Gulp.

That’s the situation John Gillis, chief manuscript conservator at Trinity College Dublin, found himself in.

Back in 2006, a 1,200-year-old psalm book in its original cover was discovered in an Irish bog, and Gillis led the unprecedented work to save what's now known as the Faddan More Psalter.

Gillis details the five-year-long team effort to ensure the artifact’s survival in a new book, The Faddan More Psalter, The Discovery and Conservation of a Medieval Treasure.

But he also previews the Faddan More Psalter project in a conversation (which includes pictures) with the Guardian.

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