MAHR, Adolph & RAFTERY, Joseph. Christian Art in Ancient Ireland. Selected objects illustrated and described. Edited on behalf of the Government of the Irish Free State by Adolph Mahr and Joseph Raftery. Two volumes.

Dublin: Published by the Stationery Office, 1932. Imperial quarto. pp. (1) xxvii, 80 [plates], (2) 184, 50 [plates] + errata. Half buckram on linen. A very good copy. Rare.  "This work traces pre-Christian Celtic art in all its forms. It also attempts to answer questions on the chronology and the connections of early Celtic art with the arts of Europe.
'Christian Art in Ancient Ireland' was cultivated by the stimulating force of early Irish Christianity. The Church was, effectively, the 'raison d'être' of the adaptation of an art already known and we can sense the ever-present urge to produce something really spectacular for the service of God.
With the excellent large format collotype plates of objects of Irish art, not only from the Irish museum and private collections but also from collections in Britain, Norway, Denmark, France and Belgium.

[L1 10G]