SOURCE: "The Book," "The Decoration," and "Conclusion" in The Book of Kells, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974, pp. 149-62, 163-82, 213-21.

In the following excerpt, Henry examines The Book of Kells's history, background, variations in scribal hands, the pigments used in its paintings, ornamentation, the relation between its text and decoration, and evaluates theories concerning its models.

Gi; the Book =~ Sthe Book

The Book of Kells is one of the most splendid Western manuscripts of the early Middle Ages. Its Gospel text is interspersed with large illuminated pages covered with an incredibly fine maze of brilliantly coloured ornaments and with strange, hieratic figures wrapped in the near geometric folds of their draperies. Through the text pages runs the constant coloured arabesque of animated initials made of the bent bodies of fantastic elongated beasts. The student engrossed in the exploration of all these unexpected patterns is soon overpowered...