Books like The Book of Kells by Sir Edward Sullivan

A young sailor takes up the ancient craft of illuminating the Book of Kells, blending sea adventures with medieval art to bring new life to the famed Bible manuscript.

Simms, an authority on the Book of Kells, provides an introduction to the manuscript. One of Ireland's national treasures, the Book of Kells is shown in full color reproductions, along with information on the life and work of the monks in the monasteries of ancient Ireland The making of the Book of Kells. Who made the Books of Kells? ; Two monasteries ; Why was the Book of Kells written? ; How was the Book of Kells produced? -- The contents of the Book of Kells. The four evangelists ; The full-page portraits: Christ, Matthew, John ; Full-page scenes from the life of Christ ; Christ's family tree ; The little animals ; The capital letters -- The present home of the Book of Kells. Trinity College -- Conclusion. A work of art ; We look back

The Book of Kells is the most spectacular of a group of manuscripts created in Ireland and northern Britain between the seventh and tenth 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-seventeenth century. It is a masterpiece of medieval art - a brilliantly decorated copy of the four Gospels with full-page illustrations of Christ, the Virgin and Child and the Evangelists, and 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 its preservation make it an object of endless fascination. . This edition includes the most important of the fully decorated pages plus a series of enlargements showing the almost unbelievable minuteness of the detail - spiral and interlace patterns, human and animal ornament - a combination of high seriousness and humor. Accompanying the illustrations is a new, up-to-date text by Bernard Meehan, the current Keeper of Manuscripts at Trinity College Dublin. It provides a scholarly 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.

The Book of Kells chronicles an American fantasy adventure where a contemporary artist and his warrior partner travel back to ancient Ireland to avenge a Viking raid, blending Celtic history with magical elements around the famed illuminated manuscript.