The Book of Kells (Irish: Leabhar Cheanannais) (Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS A. I. (58), sometimes known as the Book of Columba)

"This book contains the harmony of the Four Evangelists according to Jerome, where for almost every page there are different designs, distinguished by varied colors. Here you may see the face of majesty, divinely drawn, here the mystic symbols of the Evangelists, each with wings, now six, now four, now two; here the eagle, there the calf, here the man and there the lion, and other forms almost infinite. Look at them superficially with the ordinary glance, and you would think it is an erasure, and not tracery. Fine craftsmanship is all about you, but you might not notice it. Look more keenly at it and you will penetrate to the very shrine of art. You will make out intricacies, so delicate and so subtle, so full of knots and links, with colors so fresh and vivid, that you might say that all this were the work of an angel, and not of a man."

At St. Brigid's Church in Kildare was a Book so beautifully illuminated that it is believed to rival that of the Book of Kells - indeed some believe that the Book of Kells may in fact be this book referred to by the welsh monk, Gerald of Wales. 

JKAS VOL II 1896/98 

KILDARE 

GIRADUS CAMBRENIS: Eye witness account 

'... among all the miraculous things at Kildare, nothing surprised me as much as that wonderful book, said to have been written from the dictation of an angel. The book contains the four gospels according to St. Jerames's version, it is adorned with almost as many illuminated figures as it has pages. Here you see the Majesty of the Dinne countenance, there the mystic figures of the Evangelists, together with other designs without number, which if carelessly surveyed; seem rather blots than intertuined ornaments, and appeared to be plain work where there was, in truth, nothing but intricacy. But on close examination the secrets of art were evident; and so delicate to subtle, so laboured and minute, so intertwined and knotted, so intricately and brilliantly coloured did you perceive them, that you were ready to say they were the work of an angel, and not of a man. the more intently I examined them , the more was I filled with fresh wonder and amazement. Neither could Apelles do the like. Indeed, mortal hand seemed incapable of forming or painting them.' 

'the first night preceding the morning on which the writer was to commence the book an angel stood by him in his sleep, showing him a picture painted on a tablet, which he held on his hand, and said: 'Think you that you can depict this representation on he first page of the book which you are about to write?' The scribe distrusting his skill to complete a work so artistic and unusual, answered that he could not. The angel then said: 'on tomorrow morning ask your mistress to offer prayers to the lord for you, that he may assist you both in mind and body, so that you maybe able to see and apprehend the task proposed to you, and be able to execute it. after this the angel again appeared to him on the next night, showing the same picture and also many others, all of which the scribe, apprehending through the aid of Divine Grace, fixed faithfully in his memory and carefully reproduced in their proper places throughout he volume. In this way was the book written, the angel showing the pattern, St. Brigid praying and the scribe copying.' 

the illustrations and ornamentation of the Book of Kells surpass that of other Insular Gospel books in extravagance and complexity. The decoration combines traditional Christian iconography with the ornate swirling motifs typical of Insular art. Figures of humans, animals and mythical beasts, together with Celtic knots and interlacing patterns in vibrant colours, enliven the manuscript's pages. Many of these minor decorative elements are imbued with Christian symbolism and so further emphasise the themes of the major illustrations. 

The manuscript today comprises 340 folios and, since 1953, has been bound in four volumes. The leaves are on high-quality calf vellum, and the unprecedentedly elaborate ornamentation that covers them includes ten full-page illustrations and text pages that are vibrant with historiated initials and interlinear miniatures and mark the furthest extension of the anti-classical and energetic qualities of Insular art. The Insular majuscule script of the text itself appears to be the work of at least three different scribes. The lettering is in iron gall ink, and the colours used were derived from a wide range of substances, many of which were imports from distant lands. 

The manuscript takes its name from the Abbey of Kells that was its home for centuries. Today, it is on permanent display at the Trinity College Library, Dublin. The library usually displays two of the current four volumes at a time, one showing a major illustration and the other showing typical text pages

The Book of Kells is the most famous, and one of the finest of a group of manuscripts in what is known as the Insular style, produced from the late 6th through the early 9th centuries in monasteries in Ireland, Scotland and England and in continental monasteries with Hiberno-Scottish or Anglo-Saxon foundations.These manuscripts include the Cathach of St. Columba, the Ambrosiana Orosius, a fragmentary Gospel in the Durham cathedral library (all from the early 7th century), and the Book of Durrow (from the second half of the 7th century). From the early 8th century come the Durham Gospels, the Echternach Gospels, the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Lichfield Gospels. Among others, the St. Gall Gospel Book belongs to the late 8th century and the Book of Armagh (dated to 807–809) to the early 9th century

Scholars place these manuscripts together based on similarities in artistic style, script, and textual traditions. The fully developed style of the ornamentation of the Book of Kells places it late in this series, either from the late 8th or early 9th century. The Book of Kells follows many of the iconographic and stylistic traditions found in these earlier manuscripts. For example, the form of the decorated letters found in the incipit pages for the Gospels is surprisingly consistent in Insular Gospels. Compare, for example, the incipit pages of the Gospel of Matthew in the Lindisfarne Gospels and in the Book of Kells, both of which feature intricate decorative knot work patterns inside the outlines formed by the enlarged initial letters of the text. (For a more complete list of related manuscripts, see: List of Hiberno-Saxon illustrated manuscripts)

The name Book of Kells is derived from the Abbey of Kells in Kells, County Meath, which was its home for much of the medieval period. The date and place of production of the manuscript have been the subject of considerable debate. Traditionally, the book was thought to have been created in the time of Columba,possibly even as the work of his own hands. This tradition has long been discredited on paleographic and stylistic grounds: most evidence points to a composition date ca. 800,long after St. Columba's death in 597. The proposed dating in the 9th century coincides with Viking raids on Iona, which began in 794 and eventually dispersed the monks and their holy relics into Ireland and Scotland.

There is another tradition, with some traction among Irish scholars, that suggests the manuscript was created for the 200th anniversary of the saint's death

The manuscript was never finished. There are at least five competing theories about the manuscript's place of origin and time of completion. First, the book, or perhaps just the text, may have been created at Iona, then brought to Kells, where the illuminations were perhaps added, and never finished. Second, the book may have been produced entirely at Iona. Third, the manuscript may have been produced entirely in the scriptorium at Kells. Fourth, it may have been produced in the north of England, perhaps at Lindisfarne, then brought to Iona and from there to Kells. Finally, it may have been the product of an unknown monastery in Pictish Scotland, though there is no actual evidence for this theory, especially considering the absence of any surviving manuscript from Pictland. Although the question of the exact location of the book's production will probably never be answered conclusively, the first theory, that it was begun at Iona and continued at Kells, is currently widely accepted

Regardless of which theory is true, it is certain that the Book of Kells was produced by Columban monks closely associated with the community at Iona