Graveyard books

That MacNeice reference to 'books in graveyards' has been loitering in my mind for the last few days. It reminded me of this post over here, exploring how some artists are giving books a new life. Surreal, beautiful images.

But 'books in graveyards' also reminded me of a man I met once - a Coptic scholar. While excavating a cemetery for the poor (called Al-Mudil) in Middle Egypt, a manuscript was found under the body of a 12-year old girl, and he was called in to consult with the antiquities inspectors. They dated the scene to the fourth century. Before burial, someone laid the book in the grave, like a pillow, and then lay the body of the child down, resting her head on the book.

Today (pretty much as then), the manuscript is priceless, one of the oldest 'books' (as in, sewn in quires and bound) in the world. No-one could explain its presence in a poor grave. It was the Book of Psalms - I remember us idling over possible precious words that might have meant so much to her, or those who buried her.

And I was thinking of those fourth-century psalmey words when I watched Martin Luther King's 'I Have A Dream' oration, filled as it is with biblical allusion.

I don't think I had ever seen the complete speech. Extraordinary.