The Book of Kells is one of the finest and most famous, and also one of the latest, of a group of manuscripts in what is … See more

The Book of Kells contains the four Gospels of the Christian scriptures written in black, red, purple, and yellow ink in an insular majuscule script, preceded by prefaces, summaries, and concordances of Gospel pas… See more

The book had a sacramental rather than educational purpose. Such a large, lavish Gospel would have been left on the high altar of the church and removed only for the reading of the Gospel during Mass, with the reader prob… See more

Some of the first faithful reproductions made of pages and elements of the Book of Kells were by the artist Helen Campbell D'Olier in the 19th century. She used vellum and reproduced the pigments used in the original ma… See more

The Ireland in which the Book of Kells was crafted and manufactured, writes Christopher de Hamel, "was clearly no primitive backwater but a civilization which could now read Latin, although never occupied b… See more