Endres' Illuminations Featured in Chronicle

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 6, 2010)-  University of Kentucky English professor William Endres' recent work on the St. Chad Gospels will help to preserve one of the world's most ancient treasures, and his story is featured this week in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

"These manuscripts are just magnificent," Endres said. "The interlace, the vellum, the colors, the full-page illustrations, the precision and artistry of the script and decoration: they all gather to create a stunning visual experience."
 
With the help of UK's Center for Visualization and Virtual Environments, Endres traveled to Lichfield Cathedral this summer to make digital copies of the St. Chad Gospels, written in Latin about 725, as well as a Wycliffe New Testament, illegally copied in 1410.

The UK crew was able to digitize both texts during the trip. It took computer science professor Brent Seales and his team about two weeks to complete the scanning.

"There hasn’t been as much study of these amazing manuscripts as they deserve," Endres said. "Digitization will allow greater access to the manuscripts for research that wouldn’t have otherwise happened."
 
While the goal of the Endres' mission is scholarly research, as well as UK student access, the manuscripts are aging, so conservation is a big part of the digital project as well.
 
"The pages have already been trimmed once, due to mold,” said Endres. "There's no way to stop time, but we will have what the pages looked like in 2010--forever."