Celtic Illumination - Courtney Davis

This work presents re-created portraits of the saints, borders, Celtic symbols and elaborate initials from the Irish School manuscripts, spanning the period from the beginning of the 7th century until the 12th century. The accompanying text describes the historical background - the Christianization of Ireland, the Viking raids and the fleeing of monks with their precious books to libraries abroad. From the "Book of Durrow" to the "Corpus Missal", the origin of each manuscript is given, with an account of how, where and by whom it was made, its purpose and the symbolism of its designs.