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A 750 - year - old medieval manuscript , the oldest surviving knightly text write solely in Welsh , has let out even more intrigue , as researchers have reveal once - hidden ghostly face and text edition on the vellum pages . Here ’s a look at some of the Page of " The Black Book of Carmarthen " and the newly bring out passages . Images are courtesy of the National Library of Wales . [ Read thefull story on the chivalric manuscript ]
Hidden secrets
The faces recover by Myriah Williams and Paul Russell of the University of Cambridge are visible under UV light , but not to the naked eye . " The margins of manuscripts often control gothic and former modern reactions to the text , and these can cast brightness level on what our ancestors thought about what they were study , " Williamssaid in a statement . " The ' Black Book ' was especially intemperately annotated before the destruction of the 16th century . "
Ancient Sir Frederick Handley Page
One of the 54 pages from " The Black Book of Carmarthen , " which is at the National Library of Wales . A scriber pile up various verse form and versus over his life-time , the researchers said . In this compilation are some of the earliest reference to Arthur and Merlin , including a dialog between Arthur and Welsh poet Taliesin ( the first poem of .
What ’s in a name ?
illustrate a life-time aggregation , the Word takes on different styles of font , beginning with big , wide script written on take turns rule note of vellum and later pages fill with much lowly inscription and lines that are bunch together much nearer together .
Favorite cad ?
Williams ' favourite Thomas Nelson Page is 49r ( shown here ) , " because it provides a enough typesetter’s case study in itself for a lot of the different feature of the manuscript as a whole . A variety of styles and layouts are witness on this page , as well as an example of the Black Book scribe ’s own habit for collecting in the gross profit margin and add together to texts , " Williams read . " It also contain a fantastic stylise image of a domestic dog , possibly a greyhound . I am also tender of the central verse form of this page , a short serial of verses curse a goose for pull out the heart of Gwallawg , the image after whom the verse form has been named by scholars . "
close up up expression
page from the Black Book of Carmarthen in visible light .
More pages
More pages from the Black Book of Carmarthen .
A pocket-sized Christian Bible
The founder of the National Library of Wales , Sir John Williams , bought the Black Book , which assess 6.7 by 5 inches ( 17 by 12.5 cm ) , in 1904 . Its 54 Page are made from vellum , or animal hide .
spectral spook
When canvass using a combination of UV light and picture - redaction package , some pages of the book let out ghostly faces and text that had been added to the book in the 13th through 15th centuries . specially , the researchers found ghostly faces with an keep company line of verse line on one of the page .
A pink tint
Here , the ghostly front on the Sir Frederick Handley Page of the Black Book are visible under dissimilar division of the light spectrum .
