The Book of Kells is a large/format manuscript codex of the Latin text of
the gospels.
It is the most lavishly decorated of a series of gospel manuscripts
produced between the seventh and ninth centuries, when Irish art and culture flourished at
home and in centers of Irish missionary activity overseas.
It contains the four gospels, preceded by prefaces, summaries, and canon tables or
concordances of gospel passages. It is written on vellum and contains a Latin text of the
Gospels
in insular majuscule script accompanied by magnificent and intricate whole pages of
decoration with smaller painted decorations appearing throughout the text. The manuscript
was given to Trinity College in the 17th century and since 1953 has been bound in four
volumes. It has been on display in the Old Library since the 19th century. Two volumes can
normally be seen, one opened to display a major decorated page, and one to show two pages
of script..
Click on the buttons to the left for more pages in the book, you
can also click on the images shown here to download a high res. version of it.