On the Town: Ancient documents, scrolls and books, which were created in palaces and monasteries long ago, were unveiled at an exhibition in the Chester Beatty Library this week.
"It's very old and it's very beautiful," said Dr Michael Ryan, director of the library, looking at a 15th-century scroll. "It was restored for us in Japan in the mid-1990s. We couldn't have done it."
The hanging scroll was of Jizo, a bodhisattva, or enlightened being, who saves the souls of dead children and sufferers in evil realms, explained one of the library's curators, Shane McCausland.
Yoshiko Uskioda, who worked as a restorer in the library until she retired in 1997, peered at a scroll from the mid-17th century called Twelve Kinds of Beasts and Birds at a Poetry Contest. She recalled its poor condition - crumbling and needing to be re-lined - before it was restored.
Vera Murtagh, of Terenure, who works as a volunteer in the library, liked the Book of Job from the 16th century.
There are 35 items on view in the Keeping the Books exhibition, explained Jessica Baldwin, the library's conservation manager.
"I wanted people to appreciate why things are damaged and to highlight some of the conservation work that we have done," said Baldwin. Recalling Chester Beatty himself, she said his policy was always to go for quality and that he was "a very good employer and very generous", as the warmth of his letters to individuals such as his London-based bookbinder, Ida Dyson, bear out.
Guests who came to view the exhibition on opening night included Marc Ritchie, of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, and art historian Kieran O'Neill.
Keeping the Books continues at the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin Castle until Sunday, May 1st