This new book is a pleasure to read and to hold. This lavishly illustrated book makes the imagery of Kells accessible and taps into a generation of new scholarship about text and images in the manuscript. Instead, the keeper of manuscripts at Trinity College Dublin's library brings a sense of excited fascination to his subject, and a scholarly desire to unravel its mysteries. Bernard Meehan has been pivotal in bringing to the fore this beautiful artefact that combines stunning visual art, spirituality and literature in a way that is surely unique -The Belfast Telegraphīernard Meehan, the author, doesn't allow explanations to swamp the text. The Book of Kells may be many centuries old but it has been given a new lease of life -Books Ireland The Irish ExaminerĪn unprecedented backstage look at one of literature's rarest treasures -The Bookseller Thames & Hudson are to be commended for this magnificent publication. It runs to some 256 pages of superb colour reproductions and detailed texts that examine the making of the great manuscript. Published in a fine hardback volume, with dustcover and slipcase, Meehan's homage to the original is impressive. We explore the Book of Kells through its historical background a display of the elements of the book, actual size the spectacular openings of the texts that precede the Gospels a study of earlier and comparable manuscripts detailed examination of symbols and themes, with special enlarged details a look at the scribes and artists who worked on the manuscript and a consideration of technical aspects, illuminated by recent scientific research. Its illustrations feature 59 full-size reproductions of complete pages of the manuscript, and, in addition, enlarged details that allow one to relish the intricacy of elements barely visible to the naked eye. This new book, by the Keeper of Manuscripts at Trinity College Library, Dublin, represents on a generous scale the glories of the Book of Kells for todays readers, revealing the astounding detail and richness of one of the greatest treasures of medieval art. The Book of Kells is a masterpiece of medieval art a brilliantly decorated version of the four Gospels with full-page depictions of Christ, the Virgin and the Evangelists as well as a wealth of smaller decorative painting.

The book of kells by bernard meehan