MS Paradise Lost, Book 1
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, POST- 1650 MS 0115
© Catalogue record by Peadar Ó Muircheartaigh 2025
19th century. Paper. 13 x 21 cm (dimensions of insertions vary). Pp. 88, without any pagination, comprising: pp. [i]–[iv] (wrapper and flyleaf) + pp. [1]–[72] + pp. [v]–[x] (loose unstitched insertions) + pp. [xi]–[xvi] (flyleaves and wrapper). Initial and end material, pp. [i]–[ii] and pp. [xix]–[xx], are wrappers on printed waste paper, as is the loose insertion at pp. [vii]–[viii]. Pp. [8], [10], [12], [14], [16], [18], [20], [22], [24], [26], [28], [30], [32], [34], [40], [42], [44], [48], [x], [xii], [xiii], [xiv], [xv] are blank. Scribe: Tomás ‘an tSneachta’ Ó Conchubhair, identifiable by his very distinctive hand. Signed: ‘T.O.C.’, p. [72] and p. [ix]. The main text of the manuscript (including the insertions) is written throughout in parallel with the longer edge of the manuscript page, the for- mat of the manuscript is, therefore, somewhat unusually, landscape. No explicit date or place of writing is given but the manuscript was written in London and the wrappers are dated 1866.
The manuscript is not bound in boards, but there are two different sets of stitching along the longer edge of the page keeping the manuscript together. The paper wrappers and other initial and end material, pp. [i]–[ii] and pp. [xi]–[xvi], have been sewn onto the main text block separately. Of these, the wrappers pp. [i]–[ii] and pp. [xv]–[xvi] are no longer attached. Pp. [v]–[x] are unstitched, loose insertions. There are no readily visible watermarks or countermarks in the manuscript. The paper in pp. [xi]–[xiv] is markedly thinner and almost translucent in comparison to the paper found in the rest of the manuscript.
Non-scribal notes, library and other markings: P. [2], inside front cover, bottom of page along the long side, in pencil, ‘2 Oct. 1958 Barry gift’. P. [3], upper right-hand corner, perpendicular to main text and starting from the gutter, in pencil, ‘Post-1650 MS 0115’. P. [x], library stamp and pencil note, 'Post-1650 MS 0115'.
p.
[i] . Printed advertisements: ‘Blackheath Park [London], September 15th, 1866. Mr. Swanson, Organist of Holy Trinity Church . . . continues to give Lessons on the Organ, Pianoforte, and in Singing . . . ’. Short scribal notes on the constellations of the stars in English, and two Irish phrases with English translation.
[ii] . List of Irish words and phrases with English translation.
[iii] – [iv] . ‘From the Irish Brehon Law’. Phrases in Irish with English translations, the phrases appear anachronistically archaic. Begins: Aslach o’n natair for Ébha, ⁊ toltnúghadh Ébha fra, i.e. the serpent presented the forbidden fruit to Eve, and Eve consented to receive it, imbaras is the prohibition of a legislator. . . . Ends (p. [iv]): Lucifer a drawer of light, in Irish. solus-tairgthech (sic). Many of the words and phrases here are concerned with Eve, Lucifer, and the Serpent.
[1] . Title: ‘Parathas Cailte, le Milton’.
[2] – [3] . ‘Suím an chéud leabhair’. Begins: Innsis an céud leabhair seo, céad amus, go h-aithgheár, an comhradh gach h-uile, easúmhlacht an duine, ⁊ d’a bhrígh sin cailleamhuin Parathais, mar ar suidhe é, . . . [Corresponding to Paradise lost, Book I, ‘The argument’: ‘This First Book proposes, first in brief, the whole subject, Man’s disobedience, and the loss there- upon of Paradise, wherein he was placed . . . ’, et seq.]. An interlinear scribal note: ‘In the Life of Saint Patrick by Saint Fiach, Satan is called Ciosal’ (p. [3]). This note explains the scribe’s idiosyncratic use of this word at l. 756 et passim (cf. eDIL s.v. císel). For the text to which the scribe refers and for its availability in print during the nineteenth century, see Sharpe 2018.
[4] . Title: ‘An chéud leabhar de Parathas / Cailte, taraingthe as / Sasc-bhéarla go Scuit-bhéarla / le duine de chinne-scuit. &c’.
[5] . Begins: D’easúmhlas an céud duine ⁊ toradh an / Chrainn úrgartha san, d’a bhlas marbhthac / Thug bás ’san domhan, le ár léun uile. . . . Ends (p. [72]): . . . Agus togairm iar léagha, thionsgain an cómhagal mór. [Corresponding to Paradise lost, Book I, lines 1–798: ‘OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast [sic] Brought Death into the World, and all our woe . . . And summons read, the great consult began’]. ‘Deireadh an chéad leabhair. T.O.C.’ (p. [72]). Lines are numbered by the scribe throughout at five-line intervals, in imitation of the printed original in English and corresponding closely to it. Numerous short textual notes and glosses in both Irish and English are written in the margins throughout. These include ‘Oisinn cct’: Togtha ga-greine re crann / bratach Fhinn, fa leór a d-treas / lan de clochaibh thír an oir / dar mo dhoith ba mhór a meas (at p. [56], l. 536); an t-e nach bh-fuil ládair, / ní fulair dho bheith glic (at p. [63], l. 649).
[v] – [vi] . Loose insertion. Singleton numbered ‘46’; it is not clear what this number relates to, but it may be a sequence in a now-lost draft. A draft Irish translation of ll. 786–798 of Book I of Paradise lost. Written as prose. Followed by scribal note: ‘Foirceann an cheud leabhair’. Overleaf, a list of three Irish phrases with translation.
[vii] – [viii] . Loose insertion. A folded singleton containing an Irish translation of Paradise lost, Book XII, ‘The argument’. Begins: Leannan an t-aingill Micheall air innsin o’ n-dílleadh cread thuitis amach annsan, s labhairt air Abratham, tigean fai dheoigh cum foilsuígh cia an siol san na mná do gealladh d’Adamh ⁊ Ebha air a ttuitim a geineamhuin, a bás, a easeighrighe . . . [Corresponding to Paradise lost, Book XII, ‘The argument’: ‘The Angel Michael continues from the Flood to relate what shall succeed; then, in the mention of Abraham, comes by degrees to explain, who that Seed of the Woman shall be, which was promised Adam and Eve in the Fall; his Incarnation, Death, Resurrection . . . ’]. Overleaf, in print: ‘Tea Dealer, Grocer, and Italian Warehouseman, No. 2, Charles Street, Grosvenor Square [London]’.
[ix] – [x] . Loose insertion. Singleton. ‘Uadh-Chomhrádh Adhaimh, Soliloquy of Adam’. Written as continuous prose. Begins: A dhocraidhe neam-íarraite: as mó de phúir na breith báis! A pharathais / an éigion dam thu d’fagain faoi mhasla . . . [Corresponding to Paradise lost, Book XI, ll. 268 et seq.: ‘O unexpected stroke, worse then of Death! Must I thus leave thee Paradise? . . . ’]. The scribe is mistaken in attributing this ‘soliloquy’ to Adam; this monologue is in fact spoken by Eve. Signed by the scribe: ‘T.O.C.’ (p. [ix]). Overleaf blank.
[xi] . [‘Peanaid Adhaimh’]: Aspeart Eua [superscript: Eve] fri hAdhumh, as misi as chintach ar sí ⁊ imbir bás forum a Adhaimh .i. comadh móide do dhenadh Día troccaire orrtsa, as leorr cheana do cruidhfimuir in coimhdhe air Adhumh, ⁊ ní dinganssa fingal fortsa, arse, aratai chena có truagh tarr=noct, ⁊ ni dailim m’fhuil féin for talmhuin uair rann dom chorpsa thusa féin. ‘Peanaid Adhaimh’. Followed by partial translation of the foregoing into English: For said he, thou art already miserably naked, and I shall not deliver my own blood to the earth, since a portion of my body art thou, etc. Both text (including some minor misreadings) and translation are ultimately derived from Mackenzie 1805: 310. Scribal note: ‘See the later part of the Tenth Book, where Eve advised Adam to kill themselves’.
[xii] – [xv] . Blank.
[xvi] . Blank except for the remainder of the printed advertisement appearing on p. [i] .
Further Reading:
For an in-depth discussion on the provenance of the Irish manuscript in Illinois:
📖 Peadar Ó Muircheartaigh "Paradise Lost and Found: The Story of an Irish Manuscript in Illinois" Published in the North American Journal of Celtic Studies Volume 8, Issue 1 (Spring 2024), pp. 103-113