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The Book of Kells: An Illustrated Introduction to the Manuscript in Trinity College Dublin

The Book of Kells is the most spectacular of a group of manuscripts created in Ireland and northern Britain between the 7th and l0th centuries, a period when Irish monasticism was in the vanguard of Christian culture. Its earliest history remains controversial, but it was in the keeping of the monastery of Kells, Co. Meath, for most of the Middle Ages - hence its name - and has been in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, since the mid-17th century. This is a masterpiece of medieval art - a brilliantly decorated copy of the four Gospels with full-page depictions of Christ, the Virgin and the Evangelists as well as a wealth of smaller decorative painting that does not always relate to the sacred text. The strange imagination displayed in the pages, the impeccable technique and the very fine state of preservation make The Book of Kells an object of endless fascination. This edition reproduces the most important of the fully decorated pages plus a series of enlargements showing the almost unbelievable minuteness of the detail; spiral and interlaced patterns, human and animal ornament - a combination of high seriousness and humour. Accompanying the illustrations is a new text by Bernard Meehan, the Keeper of Manuscripts at Trinity College, Dublin. He provides an authoritative analysis of these exuberant inventions, the artists, the text and the writing, and a full account of the historical background to the miraculous world of the Book of Kells.

RRP £9.95 Paperback