Book of Kells Book of Kells The Book of Kells (; ; Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS A. I. [58], sometimes known as the Book of Columba) is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created in a Columban monastery in either Britain or Ireland and may have had contributions from various Columban institutions from both Britain and Ireland. It is believed to have been created 800 AD. The text of the Gospels is largely drawn from the Vulgate, although it also includes several passages drawn
The Great Book of Ireland painstakingly and rigorously prepared by hand -and then artists had to face the nightmare of working, one chance only, on an unfamiliar surface, a living material which stretched and shrank as it was wet or dry, a subtly uneven surface containing minute amounts of natural oils. The poets, scratching away with dip-pens on a surface pitted with microscopic bumps and hollows, found themselves writing with unfamiliar or half-forgotten implements on a material light years away from bleached, flat paper. The whole skin was used in each case, resulting in a book half as big as The Book of Kells again.