BOOK OF KELLS Evangeliorum Quattuor Codex Cenannensis. Three volumes.

THE 9TH CENTURY BOOK OF KELLS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK IN THE WORLD

“THE WORK OF AN ANGELIC RATHER THAN A HUMAN HAND”

Berne: By Urs Graf-Verlag, 1950. Large folio. Full and quarter vellum. Limited to 500 numbered sets (90 / 111). Ex lib Milltown Park with label and stamps. In fine condition.
The Book of Kells or „Codex Cenannensis‟ is a manuscript copy of the four gospels in Latin, written in Celtic style. Originally it was known as „Soisceala Mor Columchille‟ or the „Great Gospel of Columcille‟. The book takes its name from the monastery of Kells, County Meath, where it remained for centuries. With the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII, the last Abbot, Richard Plunkett, gave it to his kinsman, Gerald Plunkett of Dublin, for safe keeping. Early in the following century it came into the possession of Archbishop James Ussher, who kept it in his library at his house in Drogheda. It narrowly escaped destruction during the Rebellion of 1641 and shortly afterwards when Ussher went to England hebrought this masterpiece with him. Some fifteen years later it was brought back to Ireland and kept safely in Dublin Castle until 1661 when it was given to Trinity College, where it is on permanent view to all. It is the finest example extant of the art of illumination. Giraldus Cambrensis, the Norman Chronicler, writing in the twelfth century stated: “If you look closely and penetrate the art, you will discover such delicate and subtle lines, so closely wrought, so finely curved, so intricately woven and so beautifully adorned with colours that are still so fresh, that you will acknowledge that all this is the work of an angelic rather than a human hand”, and he concludes “However often and however closely I scrutinize it, I am always astounded afresh, and always find more and more to admire in it”. The original manuscript was written on vellum which has stood the test of time. The Book of Kells‟ on offer here is a complete facsimile edition and limited to 500 sets. Forty-eight of its finest pages are in colour and six hundred and fifty two in monochrome. There is an excellent introduction by E.H. Alton; a study of the illuminations by Prof. Peter Meyer; and a collation of the text with the Vulgate by Dr. G.O. Simms, Archbishop of Dublin

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